Ken Barrie
| Ken Barrie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Leslie Hulme 9 January 1933 Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, England |
| Died | 29 July 2016 (aged 83) Denham, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Other names | Les Carle |
| Occupation | Actor, musician, singer |
| Years active | 1955–2016 |
| Spouse(s) | Doreen Pye (m. 1954; d. 2009) |
| Children | 2 |
Leslie Hulme (9 January 1933 – 29 July 2016), known professionally as Ken Barrie, was an English voice actor and singer best known for narrating, and singing the theme tune of the BBC television programme Postman Pat. He was also responsible for providing the voices of several of the series' characters.
Barrie was born in Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. Under the stage name Les Carle, he recorded for Embassy Records, an offshoot of Woolworths that released inexpensive cover versions of pop hits, between 1962 and 1965. He changed his stage name when a friend told him it was French for "the Charlies", and took his new name of Ken Barrie from the names of his wife's brothers. His own singing and narrating voice and whistling has been heard in many movies and television commercials, and included providing the voices of the Smash Martians. Barrie provided singing voices in various movies for many actors including Larry Hagman, George C. Scott, and Horst Buchholz.
He became the voice of Postman Pat in 1981, narrating the first series and also providing the voices of the characters Postman Pat, Ted Glen, Granny Dryden, Peter Fogg, Major Forbes, George Lancaster, Geoff Pringle, Alf Thompson, Reverend Timms, Arthur Selby, and Sam Waldron. A single of the theme song, credited to Barrie, reached number 44 on the UK singles chart in 1982, and re-entered the chart the following year. He also sang the soundtrack for Charlie Chalk and recorded the soundtracks for Sharks' Treasure and Emily.
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