Billy Costello

BILLY COSTELLO d1971. American live and voice actor, and the original voice of Popeye the Sailor in animated cartoons. He was cast to provide the voice for the first Popeye cartoon, Popeye the Sailor (1933). He then appeared in the next 24 Popeye shorts until he was fired by the Fleischers, allegedly over "bad behavior." Although he never received onscreen credit, he knew of Popeye's international popularity and reputedly became difficult to work with, demanding more money and days off in the middle of a recording session. He was replaced with Jack Mercer who was working in the studio. Costello's final appearance as Popeye was in You Gotta Be a Football Hero (1935). However, he wasn't prepared to give up the fame associated with voicing Popeye and billed as "The Original Voice of Popeye" he voiced the character on a European stage tour and made several recordings for the Columbia, Decca and Rex labels including ; "Popeye the Sailor Man" (1935) / "Blow the Man Down" (1935) / "Tiger Rag" (1936) and "The Merry Go Round Broke Down" (1937) which, to avoid copyright problems in the USA were only marketed overseas. For nearly a decade he was based in London. With the start of WW2, he returned to America where for a short period he toured the dinner theatre circuit before becoming largely forgotten. From 1959 until his death he managed a trailer park in California. He died aged 73 on October 9th 1971