If the name of Harvey Atkin may not be familiar to you Super Mario fans, perhaps his voice will be.
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The actor, who appeared in the Cagney & Lacey series and played the role of Morty (the guy whose bed is consistently moved around) in the Bill Murray classic Meatballs, passed away at the age of 74.
But gamers will probably remember Atkin best at the voice of the vile King Koopa in a number of Super Mario animated shows that ran in the 80’s and early 90’s. In fact, he was a consistent element in the three animated series that ran over the years, as he was the only one that played the role of Koopa.
Atkin first took up the role in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, which debuted in 1989 and featured the likes of Captain Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. Atkin’s voice really brought the vileness of King Koopa to life, in pure, cartoony fashion.
He would be asked to voice the character once again in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, which made its debut in 1990. The series tied in closely with the Nintendo Entertainment System game of the same name, and lasted 26 episodes.
Atkin would return once more for The New Super Mario World series, which debuted in 1991 and, once again, was based on a Nintendo game – this time, the just-released Super Mario World for the Super NES, which debuted on the market in the same year. The show lasted one season, but was a big hit with fans.
The actor then went on to provide voiceovers for other TV shows, including The Adventures of Sam + Max: Freelance Police, which was based on the popular PC series of the same name; and The Ripping Friends, where he portrayed a number of characters, including Crag, Punchinpuss and Mr. Wilson. His final role will be with the movie Progress (And Unrelated Things), which is currently in post-production.
Our thoughts are with Atkin’s family and friends. We’ve included a clip of his fine work as King Koopa in the below video clip. He really did pretty damn well with the character.
