Corey Burton is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on The Transformers, Brainiac in the DC Animated Universe, Count Dooku and Cad Bane in the Star Wars franchise, Zeus in the God of War series and Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City.
Career
Early career
Burton started his career at age 17 under the stage name Corey Weinman, with an imitation performance of Hans Conried for Disney. He studied radio acting with Daws Butler for four years and went on to work with nearly all of the original Hollywood radio actors in classic-style radio dramas. He was unsure at first about pursuing voice-work, due to his shy demeanor and Autism Spectrum Disorder, but credits the diverse world and character design of Disney's The Haunted Mansion attraction as his inspiration to move forward.
Disney
Burton has done extensive voice-work for Disney, including animated features and theme park attractions at the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disney Resort. He provides the "Feature Presentation" voice on direct-to-video video releases and can be heard as the narration voice at Disneyland. He provided the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Return to Never Land and dubbed the voice of Deems Taylor in Fantasia for the film's 2000 and 2010 re-releases.
Burton has voiced sound-alikes and original characters for over 50 Disney Storyteller records. His roles include: Ludwig Von Drake since 1987 Dale and Zipper in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. The How-to Narrator in Goof Troop and later Disney media The White Rabbit and Mad Hatter in House of Mouse. Gruffi Gummi and Toadwart in Adventures of the Gummi Bears (following the death of Bill Scott). Zeus in the animated series Hercules (replacing Rip Torn). Quint and Speedy the Snail in Timon & Pumbaa. Gaetan "Mole" Molière in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo's Return. Ansem the Wise in the Kingdom Hearts series. Professor Owl in the Disney Sing-Along Songs series. King Stefan in Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams. Buzz Lightyear in the Disney on Ice adaptation of Toy Story 3. Yen Sid and Captain Hook in the Epic Mickey and Kingdom Hearts series. Doc Hudson in various Cars media and Radiator Springs Racers (replacing Paul Newman). General Knowledge from the former Cranium Command attraction at Epcot. Dale, Bruno Biggs, and Moe Whiplash from Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.
Paul Frees
Burton, for many years, served as a protégé to voice actor Paul Frees. Following Frees' death and his son Fred's temporary takeover, Burton stepped in and imitated Frees' voice as the Ghost Host in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction. He also recited the classic line "Welcome, foolish mortals" in the opening of the 2003 film adaption and currently serves as the Ghost Host's voice in every Haunted Mansion franchise-related media, adoptions, and events.
He was approached to record a new safety spiel for the intro to the original Haunted Mansion ride. He declined and the spiel was instead recorded by voice actor Joe Leahy.
He provides many other Paul Frees-like voices for Disneyland Park, including several newer pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (like the "Pooped Pirate" and the pirate voice that guides you on and off the boat), Grumpy on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction, and several voices in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
He performed another Frees imitation for comedian Stan Freberg's album Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America, Volume Two.
He performed a Frees imitation as the voice of the announcer in the 1999 film Dudley Do-Right and did likewise as the voices of the alien foreheads in Larry Blamire's 2008 satire Trail of the Screaming Forehead.
Fantasia
In the 60th Anniversary Edition and 2010 special edition of Disney's Fantasia, Burton re-recorded all of Deems Taylor's commentaries.
Transformers
Burton appeared as Shockwave, Sunstreaker, Brawn, and Spike Witwicky in the original Transformers animated series by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. He would later voice Megatron, Ratchet, Ironhide, Brawn, Cyrus "The Colossus" Rhodes, Spike Witwicky, and Longarm Prime / Shockwave in Transformers: Animated by Cartoon Network.
Burton stated in an interview that Shockwave was by far his favorite character to perform in the original series. Despite this, he turned down the offer to reprise the role in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, as he felt he had voiced the character enough times. Consequently, the part was given to Frank Welker, the voice of Megatron / Galvatron.