Dick Beals

Dick Beals provided the voice for the commercial character Speedy Alka-Seltzer and originated the voice of Gumby and the first Davey from the TV series "Davey and Goliath," As a child, he was too small to play sports so started cheerleading for his local high school at age 7. At Michigan State, he was a member of the cheerleading squad and earned his bachelor's degree in 1949. Beals began his voice-over career in the 1940s with such radio shows as "The Lone Ranger," "The Green Hornet" and "Dragnet." His Speedy Alka-Seltzer character was featured in more than 200 TV and radio commercials that aired from 1954 to 1964. His stop-motion animation voice-over roles included the original Gumby from "The Gumby Show" in the 1950s and the voice of the first Davey from the 1960s TV series, "Davey and Goliath." Nearly 300 boys tried out for the role of N.J. Normanmeyer in the early 1990s animated series "The Addams Family," but Beals nabbed the part when he was 65. Because of a glandular condition