There were several voice talents for each character in Bambi since some of the animals grow from babies to adults. Bambi has four voice talent credits – Bobby Stewart II (Baby Bambi), Donnie Dunagan (Young Bambi), Hardie Albright (Adolescent Bambi) and John Sutherland IV (Adult Bambi). Donnie (Don) Dunagan is the only actor of the group still alive and was contacted by Disney to appear on the DVD. He consented, and agreed to several interviews. I was happy to speak to the voice of Bambi.

Donnie (Don) Dunagan was born in Texas in 1934 during the depression era and moved with his parents to Memphis as a young child. At the age of three, a neighbor taught him to tap dance.  

“We were very poor,” said Dunagan. “My mother entered me in a contest at the Orpheum Theatre. I won the contest and $100, and a talent scout who saw the contest convinced my parents I should go to Hollywood.”   

Dunagan’s family boarded a train for Los Angles with the agent and was put up at a hotel by RKO studios. “My mother thought they were really living,” he said. “She was terribly impressed. We had never seen anything like that.”  

Dunagan did some screen tests then his family returned to San Antonio where he entered and won another contest. Then they got a call to return to Hollywood where Dunagan landed his first role as one of the Carey children in RKO’s Mother Carey's Chickens in 1938. Dunagan made four films in 1939, he played Peter von Frankenstein in Universal’s Son of Frankenstein and Terry Kennedy, Jr. in  The Forgotten Woman. For RKO Dunagan appeared in Fixer Dugan (unaccredited) and Baby Prince Richard in Tower of London.

In 1940 Dunagan’s agent got a call from Disney. Walt Disney had seen him in Son of Frankenstein. “Walt wanted to use kids as models for the Bambi animators to use when they drew their animals so they had a more humanistic appearance,” said Dunagan. “We signed a contract in 1940. I first met Walt about two or three days after signing the contract. I had made seven films at that point so I was 5 ½ going on 20. I wasn’t jaded, but I was aware of things and I very impressed how other people related to Mr. Disney. He was very gracious, but I knew he was a boss"

 Dunagan remembers those years as happy times.  “It was wonderful. Every experience there was a delight. I had the impression then and later that every person and artist who worked for Walt held him in great respect.”

A Hollywood career for the small boy with blonde hair would end much too soon. His parents were hard working but Dunagan said they couldn’t mange the success and the family spilt.

“We left Hollywood and by the time I was 13 ½, I was in a boarding school on my own,” explained Dunagan. “I did well in school, and excelled in football and boxing. At 14 I was 6 feet tall and earned my Golden Gloves.”   

Dunagan attended the University of Alabama on a football scholarship before transferring to Virginia Tech to study science. As a freshman, facing the Korean War Draft, he volunteered as a marine. Years later, the Marines sent him back to college and he completed his education, graduating with honors with a degree in Civil Engineering.  After graduation from boot camp as a Private, First Class, Dunagan became the youngest Assistant Drill Instructor in U.S. Marine Corps history, then the youngest Senior Drill Instructor (a Marine Sergeant by age 19). He then entered the Navy’s Military Law-Justice School for JAG officers at the War College in Rhode Island, followed by the Army’s training program for CIC special agents. Dunagan also received a Masters degree in Engineering Management, with honors, from the University of Vermont at Burlington, after which he was a candidate for a PhD in Mathematics, before leaving the U.S. Intelligence Agency for the private sector. And all of this time, he’d never told anyone about being the voice of Bambi. 

“You don’t exactly want your fellow Marines to know you were the voice of Bambi,” acknowledged Dunagan with a laugh.

Dunagan has his own belief why Bambi is one of Hollywood’s best classics. “That’s the most valued question anyone can put to me,” he said. “I’ve showed this film to children over and over. Bambi is not a word picture; there can’t be more than 1000 words, and that’s nothing compared to other films of that era. It’s not like the comics and the stand up cartoons that tell fleeting jokes and everyone laughs at and four days later no one can remember what it was about. Bambi uses few words at the right time and the emotions of little animals that are the same emotions of people and little children.

At age 71, Dunagan’s ceaseless energy continues in semi-retirement as he aids the underprivileged, keeps a busy schedule of mentoring, tutoring, physical fitness, and consulting. He resides in Texas with his wife of 13 years and finds great pleasure in talking about his young life in Hollywood, working with Walt Disney, and his role as one of the most endearing characters ever to come from The Walt Disney Company. Above all he’s proud that his step-grandchildren know about this contribution to Bambi. 

“We have four magnificent grandchildren who now know that I’m the voice of Bambi, and they love it,” said Dunagan. “When the news broke, the oldest one went to show and tell and proudly said, ‘My grandpa is Bambi!’” 

Read my more in-depth interview with Don Dunagan.

Read the review of the Bambi Platinum Editon DVD.