Peter Renaday, original voice of Master Splinter on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, dies at 89

[Music] Peter Rady the veteran voice actor who originated the role of Master Splinter on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated TV series that marked the franchise's onscreen debut has died at 89 his agent Cathy lizo confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly writing Peter was not only a multi-talented actor he was kind gracious and it is an honor to have ever had the pleasure of KN Rady whose legal name was Pierre reinet was found deceased in his Southern California home on Sunday a spokesperson for the Burbank Police Department told ew officers and paramedics were responding to a welfare check at his residence where they discovered rity on the floor there were no signs of trauma or Foul Play authorities said and the death will not be handled by the medical examiner news of rado's death prompted meaningful tributes from friends and former co-star towns and Coleman who voiced Michelangelo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shared photos of the cartoon's original castmates together in a heartfelt Facebook post Tuesday folks I'm devastated this morning to learn of the passing yesterday of our dear Sensei Peter Rady he wrote Pete was one of the most genuine salt of the earth people I have ever known and I will miss him dearly he added I had the privilege of visiting with him a month ago and he was as vibrant as ever at 89 just as endearingly silly smart and talented as I've always known him to be ug this is hard a Disney Legend and our dear Master Splinter rest well my sweet friend Cam Clark the voice of Leonardo shared his own post writing by now many of you have already heard but we just lost our amazing Sensei Master Splinter and dearest friend Peter Rady as I write this the tears in my eyes make it hard to see enough to write this post he continued he and I and the rest of our wonderful cast laughed a lot we were fortunate to take Pete out for his 88th birthday last year to reminisce honor him and yes laugh some more thanks for all our time together Turtle Power my friend and Beyond Renee Jacobs the voice of April O'Neal shared a photo of the cast as well writing on Instagram we are heartbroken our dear Sensei Peter Rady has left us he imparted his wisdom humor and great talent to us all he will forever be in our hearts in his own tribute post Sam quasman a season voice actor who spent 17 years portraying Donald Duck referenced Rady's work as Mickey Mouse on several Disney albums throughout the 1970s and 80s Peter and I were part of a team at Disney Studios along with Tony Pope who was the voice of goofy rip he wrote starting in 1975 all three of us were a team that did records toys talking books audio animatronic talking dolls and commercials for Disney Studios after recalling how they would regularly meet for brunch with other voice actors at a Burbank Cafe he noted that Rady had a beautiful singing voice and a wonderful acting range he concluded I will miss his stories about the theater and working for Disney he will be sorely missed born in Louisiana in 1935 Rady would acrew more than 200 credits across his voice acting career one of his earliest gigs was voicing grapple on 1985's the Transformers 2 years later he would land the role of ham Yoshi AKA Master Splinter the wise rat Sensei who acts as a mentor and Father Figure to the show's titular Ninja Turtles Rady filled the role throughout the show's 10 season run from 1987 to 1996 the hit series marked the first television appearance of the Ninja Turtles who were created by comic book scribes Eastman and Peter leair launching them in a mainstream popularity the cartoon significantly toned down the darker elements of the comics to make the story more suited to children and its success led to the popularity of Ninja Turtles branded action figures breakfast cereal and more the franchise now includes several TV and movie adaptations Rady would later reprise his role as Splinter for the non-musical portions of the liveaction concert event tmn coming out of their shells in 1990 he voiced hundreds of other characters across TV and film with credits including Darkwing Duck Alvin and the Chipmunks Animaniacs gargoyles Superman the animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Batman the Brave and the Bold and Ben 10 Ultimate Alien