She was the voice of the "glamour gal of the gas pedal", a character fleeing the hot pursuit of her nemesis the Hooded Claw with her trademark Southern-belle cry "hay-ulp".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The hugely familiar voice behind Penelope Pitstop, Janet Waldo, has died aged 96.
One of the last remaining voice actors from the legendary Hanna-Barbera stable, Waldo died on Sunday in the US from a brain tumour, reports ABC7.
She was also the voice behind Judy Jetson, the teenage daughter of George and Jane Jetson, in The Jetsons about a family living a futuristic world in a space colony in the series which ran 1962-63.
She then took the wheel as Penelope Pitstop in Wacky Races in 1968. The only woman racer alongside competitors including Dick Dastardly and Muttley and the Ant Hill Mob, she competed in her trusty pink sports car the Compact Pussycat, which featured the unlikely gear settings of hairspray, lipstick, hairdryer and make-up, according to the show's intro.
Later, she voiced The Perils of Penelope Pitstop in 1969, in which she plays an heiress to a vast fortune who is in "perpetual peril from her fortune-seeking guardian Sylvester Sneekly who unbeknown to her is really the Hooded Claw".
Waldo also appeared on shows including I Love Lucy and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in the 1950s. Her other voice credits included Pearl Slaghoople, the mother of Wilma, on The Flintstones and Josie on Josie and the Pussycats.
She was first discovered as a student at the University of Washington, after winning an award for theatre, which was given to her by Bing Crosby. Crosby a talent scout for Paramount Pictures accompanying him. Waldo was signed up by the studio and featured in a number of small roles before her career took off with work in radio and television.
/p>
