Wayne Allwine, who voiced Mickey Mouse for over 30 years, was married to the woman who voices Minnie Mouse, Russi Taylor.
A Love Story Unfolds
That sounds pretty cute, huh? The two were married for nearly two decades until Allwine passed away in 2009. He was only 62. It wasn’t until his passing was announced that the public began to realize the fact that he was married to the woman who voiced his love interest on the big screen.
The Allwines
So, how did the two get together?
Allwine first joined Disney in 1966 as a clerk in the mailroom. He later worked in the sound production department before landing the gig of Mickey Mouse’s voice. Allwine was the third person to voice the world-famous mouse. The first was Walt Disney, who had to step down from voice acting due to vocal chord damage from smoking too much. Fortunately, he was followed by sound effects guru, and Allwine’s mentor, British voice actor Jimmy MacDonald.
Allwine got the job during an open voice audition after another actor was a no show. He claimed to have simply done his best to conjure up Mickey’s voice from memory. It definitely worked out.
The Allwines Mickey Minnie side
Russi’s road to Minnie was a lot simpler. She got the role of Mickey’s girlfriend after auditioning in 1986. She is the longest-running performer for that character today. And has been making a living as a voice actress since 1977. Nonetheless, she’s also famous for a lot of other roles that aren’t Minnie. She has also voiced Scrooge’s grand-nephews, triplets Huey, Duey and Louie, part of the classic animated show Ducktales, as well as Martin Prince, Sherri and Terri (the purple-haired twins), and even the German exchange student Üter on The Simpsons.
The Allwines Mickey and M
innie
Exact details of how the Allwine’s met are unknown, but it’s safe to assume they met on the job. Since only five years after Russi started working as Minnie, the two got married.
