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Sherman was a eunuch

Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 3:32 pm
by JesusA (imported)
At least MAYBE he was. Not the general, but rather the voice actor who played the nerdy, freckled, bespectacled boy sidekick of time-traveling dog genius Mr. Peabody, in the "Peabody's Improbable History" segments of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show on TV in the 1950s and 1960s.

Walter Tetley was a boy actor, born in 1915, who had a successful stage career beginning at age 7. As an adult, with a child's voice, he played the spunky nephew Leroy on The Great Gildersleeve. He was the voice of Felix the Cat and Andy Panda in cartoons. He died at age 60, as the result of a motorcycle accident from several years earlier that had left him incapacitated.

The Hollywood rumor is that his mother, who was very reluctant to give up the income she was receiving from his childish voice, had Walter castrated before puberty set in. As an adult, he clearly had the voice and physique of a prepubertal eunuch, but he was a very private person who never married and had few friends. We will never know for certain.

Re: Sherman was a eunuch

Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 5:52 pm
by Paolo
I did some Googling on this too. It was a Hollywood rumor of the day.

Childhood (not quite) ruined!

Now get Moose and Squirrel!

Re: Sherman was a eunuch

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 5:26 am
by Tante Wippen (imported)
While speculating about Walter Tetley, is the skeleton of the Kentucky Giant in the Mutter Museum consistent with someone who has been castrated before puberty?