Danny Goldman, Voice of Brainy Smurf, Dies at 80

Longtime actor Danny Goldman, who is best known for voicing Brainy Smurf in The Smurfs, died in his home on Sunday night. Goldman passed away surrounded by his friends and family while under hospice care, following multiple strokes a couple of months ago. The actor’s decades-long friend and agent Doug Ely confirmed the news online, sharing a touching tribute on social media.

“Danny was truly one of a kind,” Ely wrote on Facebook. “He always had strong opinions and didn’t mind telling you about them. He was incredibly funny. He loved to root for the little guy and help wherever he could. We lost a good one today. He will be missed.”

Goldman’s screen acting career began in 1963 with an appearance on General Hospital, followed by appearances on That Girl, The Good Life, MASH, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, CHiPs, and Busting Loose. He also had a small role opposite Gene Wilder in 1974’s Young Frankenstein.

The big break for Goldman came at the start of the ’80s, when he was cast to provide the voice for Brainy Smurf on The Smurfs, which started airing in 1981. The series ran from 1981 to 1990, airing a whopping 258 episodes during that time. Goldman was the actor who appeared in the second-most episodes overall. His Brainy Smurf showed up 225 episodes, second only to Don Messick, who voiced Papa Smurf in 240 episodes. Goldman later reprised the role of Brainy Smurf in several episodes of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken.

Aside from Robot Chicken episodes, Goldman only appeared on screen twice over the past 15 years. He played a character named Jacob in a 2005 episode of The King of Queens, and later appeared on two episodes of Criminal Minds in 2011 and 2012 as Bob Zablonski.

In the recent big screen Smurf films, Community and DuckTales star Danny Pudi took over the role of Brainy Smurf.