In Remembrance: John Fiedler

     John Fiedler, the slight-of-build character actor with a distinctive high pitched voice, has passed away on Saturday, June 25, 2005. He was 80.

     Born on February 3, 1925 in Platteville Wisconsin, Clarke first became interested in acting after his family relocated to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, where he would stage shows in the family’s garage with the neighborhood children as the cast. Following graduation from Shorewood High School in 1943, he enlisted in the Navy, serving stateside until the end of World War II. He then located to New York City where he joined the Neighborhood Playhouse. In addition he played the role of Homer for two years on the NBC radio series The Aldrich Family. Fiedler also landed the recurring role of Cadet Alfie Higgins on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and stayed with the program from 1951 to 1954.

     Fiedler appeared as Medvedenko in the 1954 off-Broadway production of The Sea Gull which starred Montgomery Clift, as well as productions of A Raisin In The Sun with Sidney Poitier and The Odd Couple with Walter Matthau and Art Carney.

     Fiedler made his motion picture debut as one of the jurors in the drama 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda. He followed that up with strong supporting roles in such films as Stage Struck (1958, reuniting with Fonda), A Touch Of Mink (1962), The World Of Henry Orient (1964), Girl Happy (1965), True Grit and The Great Bank Robbery (both 1969). He also reprised two of his stage roles in the film adaptations of A Raisin In The Sun (1961) and The Odd Couple (1968).

     Fiedler also made numerous television appearances, guesting on such classic series as The Twilight Zone, Have Gun, Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis, Dr. Kildare, Bonanza, The Fugitive, Bewitched, Star Trek, The Rockford Files and Quincy. On the mid-60s comedy series The Bob Newhart Show, Fiedler played the henpecked Mr. Peterson.

     In 1968, Fiedler lent his voice to the character of Piglet in the Walt Disney Studio animated short Winnie The Pooh And The Blustery Day. He reportedly was cast by Walt Disney himself, who had heard Fiedler’s voice in a radio broadcast. Fiedler’s unique timbre became inseparable from the character and he voiced the character for over the next three and a half decades, including the shorts Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too! (1974) and Winnie The Pooh And A Day For Eyore (1983) and the feature length The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh (1977) as well as several television and direct-to-home video projects. In addition to voicing piglet, Fielder also lent his voice to three other Disney features- Robin Hood (1973), The Fox And The Hound (1981) and The Emperor’s New Groove (2000). He also appeared in Disney’s live action film The Shaggy D.A. (1976). Fielder last appeared on camera in 1990’s Weekend With Kate, though he continued to voice Piglet in The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet’s Big Movie (2003) and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005).