Hanna-Barbera voice actor, Fresno television pioneer ‘Uncle’ Jimmy Weldon has died

Jimmy Weldon was a mainstay of Fresno TV programming in the 1960s, hosting a morning children’s show on KJEO (channel 47) alongside a puppet sidekick named Webster Webfoot.

It was a duck.

Weldon, known as Uncle Jimmy to fans of the show, died July 6 at an assisted living residence in Paso Robles. He was months shy of his 100th birthday. News of his death was confirmed by American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood (where he had served as chaplain emeritus) and reported in Hollywood trade publications such as Deadline and the Hollywood Reporter.

Weldon was known for the Webster Webfoot character (which was so popular it had its own doll, T-shirts and other merchandise), but also as the voice of Yakky Doodle in recurring segments of The Yogi Bear Show in 1961-62. He did voice work for other Hanna-Barbera cartoons into the 1980s and was the voice of Solomon Grundy on “The Super Friends.”

Weldon also appeared on a series of mainstream TV shows in the ’70s and ’80s such as Dragnet and The Waltons, B.J. and the Bear, Dallas, The Rockford Files and Diff’rent Strokes.

After TV, Weldon worked as a motivational speaker into his late 80s. While he had settled in Burbank, he was a pilot and was known to fly to Fresno on occasion just to play a round of golf with friends, or speak with service groups and the like.

In 2004, he was inducted into the Clovis Hall of Fame.

A Celebration of Life is being organized by American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood to celebrate Walton on what would have been his 100th birthday, Sept. 23.