View source for Bullwinkle J. Moose

{{Short description|American cartoon character}}
{{Infobox character
| series = [[The Bullwinkle Show]]
| image = Bullwinke J. Moose.png
| image_size = 220px
| caption = 
| first = ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends|Rocky and His Friends]]'' (1959)
| creator = [[Alex Anderson (cartoonist)|Alex Anderson]]<br>[[Jay Ward]]<ref>{{cite news|title= Bullwinkle is back|work= The Los Angeles Times|date=August 19, 2003|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-aug-19-et-king19-story.html|access-date=2010-11-07|first=Susan|last=King}}</ref>
| voice = [[Bill Scott (voice actor)|Bill Scott]] (1959–1985)<ref>{{cite news|title=Bill Scott, Bullwinkle's Voice, Dies at 65|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=December 1, 1985|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-01-me-5600-story.html|access-date=2010-11-07|first=Catalina|last=Camia}}</ref><br>[[Chuck McCann]] ([[General Mills|Wish]] commercial)<ref name="Chuck McCann">{{cite web|last1=Corey|first1=Joe|title=Interview: Chuck McCann|url=http://asitecalledfred.com/2007/05/01/interview-chuck-mccann/|date=May 1, 2007|publisher=FRED Entertainment|quote=Chuck McCann: I did Bullwinkle for General Mills. I created the Cuckoo Bird for Cocoa Puffs. I was not only Sonny, but I was Gramps.|access-date=May 9, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115200200/http://asitecalledfred.com/2007/05/01/interview-chuck-mccann/|archive-date=November 15, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Wish">{{Cite web|url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/commercials/Wish/|title=Wish|website=Behind The Voice Actors|language=en-US|access-date=2021-02-16}}</ref><br>Scott Wilson (''Bullwinkle’s Call Of The Wild Show'', ''WYME TV'' Animated Skits for ''[[Bullwinkle's Restaurant]]'')<ref name="Restaurant">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMSN1o3mx28|title=Bullwinkle's WYME TV Animation & Jokes (Bullwinkle and Dudley)|publisher=YouTube|access-date=November 10, 2023}}</ref><br>Bill Broughton (singing voice in ''Bullwinkle's Restaurant'')<ref>{{cite web|title=Eating at Bullwinkle's|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/eating-at-bullwinkles/|date=November 1, 2021|publisher=Cartoon Network|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref><br>[[Frank Welker]] (TV ads, including [[Taco Bell]] commercials)<br>[[Keith Scott (voice actor)|Keith Scott]] (1992–2000; 2012)<br>[[Tom Kenny]] (2014; 2024)<br>Brad Norman (2018–2019)<ref name="Bullwinkle at BTVA">{{cite web|url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Rocky-and-Bullwinkle/Bullwinkle/|title=Voice(s) of Bullwinkle|website=Behind The Voice Actors|language=en-US|access-date=December 10, 2021}}</ref>
| gender = [[Male]]
| species = [[Western moose]]
| nationality = American
| relatives  = Grandwinkle (grandmother, reboot) 
}}

'''Bullwinkle J. Moose''' is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists of the 1959–1964 [[animated television series]] ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Bullwinkle Show'', often collectively referred to as ''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show|Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', produced by [[Jay Ward]] and [[Bill Scott (voice actor)|Bill Scott]]. When the show changed networks in 1961, the series moved to NBC and was retitled ''The Bullwinkle Show'', where it stayed until 1964. It then returned to ABC, where it was in repeats for nine more years. It has been in syndication ever since.<ref>{{cite news|title= Artist created TV's Rocky and Bullwinkle|work= The Los Angeles Times|date=October 26, 2010|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-26-la-me-alexander-anderson-20101026-story.html|access-date=2010-11-07|first=Dennis|last=McLellan}}</ref>

In 1996, Bullwinkle was ranked #32 on ''TV Guide''{{'}}s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1996 |title=Special Collectors' Issue: 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time |journal=[[TV Guide]] |issue=December 14–20 }}</ref>

== Creation ==
[[Jay Ward]] and his business partner [[Alex Anderson (cartoonist)|Alex Anderson]] created Bullwinkle for ''The Frostbite Falls Review'', a storyboard idea which was never developed into a series. They gave him the name "Bullwinkle Jay Moose" after Clarence Bullwinkel, who owned a [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://localwiki.org/oakland/Clarence_Bullwinkel_Ford|title=Clarence Bullwinkel Ford - Oakland - LocalWiki}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Clarence |first1=Bullwinkel |title=Ford Dealer |url=https://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15889coll2/id/3543 |website=Benson Ford Research Center |date=October 1953|accessdate=11 March 2022}}</ref> dealership at College and Claremont, in [[Oakland, California]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bullwinkel |first1=Clarence |title=Clarence Bullwinkel Ford |url=https://localwiki.org/oakland/Clarence_Bullwinkel_Ford/_files/1940-09-15%20-%20change%20from%20Firestine.png/_info/ |website=Local Wiki Oakland Wiki }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dinkelspiel |first1=Frances |author-link=Frances Dinkelspiel |title=Berkeley History: Rocky and Bullwinkle |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2009/12/22/berkeley-history-rocky-and-bullwinkle |access-date=11 December 2021 |work=[[Berkeleyside]] |date=22 December 2009}}</ref> because they thought it was a funny name.<ref>Scott, Keith (2014). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2KvcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT49 The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose]''. Macmillan. p. 49. {{ISBN|1466867434}}.</ref> Both Bullwinkle and Rocky were given the middle initial "J" in reference to ''Jay Ward''.

From his debut along with Rocky, Bullwinkle's gloves were blue. Later in the second story arc and for the rest of the series, they become white. Also, in contemporary promotion art, Bullwinkle's antlers are a yellow in contrast to the rest of his body; originally they were brown.

== Biography ==
Bullwinkle shared a house with his best friend [[Rocky the Flying Squirrel|Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel]] in the fictional small town of Frostbite Falls, [[Minnesota]], a spoof of the real-life American town of [[International Falls, Minnesota]]. Bullwinkle attended [[college]] at "Wossamotta U" (a play on "What's the matter with you") on a football scholarship. He is a long-time supporter of the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Bull Moose Party]], and at one time was the part-owner, part-governor of the island of [[Moosylvania]]. Bullwinkle is shown at numerous times to be quite wealthy. In seasons 1 and 2, he makes reference to having an Uncle Dewlap, who bequeathed Bullwinkle vast amounts of wealth (in the form of a [[Box Top Robbery|cereal boxtop collection]] and an [[Upsidaisium (story arc)|Upsidaisium]] mine); he also has a large [[petty cash]] stockpile hidden in his mattress that he accumulated delivering newspapers (as revealed in "[[The Last Angry Moose]]"). In the half-cartoon, half-live-action movie ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (film)|The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', Bullwinkle receives an Honorary Mooster's Degree from Wossamotta U, due to the nefarious plans of [[Boris Badenov]].

== Personality ==
Bullwinkle was noted for being well-intentioned, but also quite foolish, which made for a source of jokes and plot devices during the show's run. Despite this, the so-called "moronic moose" often aided the brains of the "moose-and-squirrel" duo, Rocky, during their various adventures. Although on opposite ends of the [[I.Q.]] scale, he and the "plucky squirrel" had a shared sense of optimism, persistence and traditional ethics and moral standards. Although not as brainy as Rocky, Bullwinkle often made references [[breaking the fourth wall]], so he was not always as clueless and goofy as he appeared. His apparent lack of brilliance also had positive side effects, making him immune to mind-numbing chemicals in "Goof Gas Attack" and being the only person able to properly handle the Kirwood Derby hat in "Missouri Mish Mash". His voice is nasally, with a slight lisp added.

Bullwinkle also hosted other segments of the program, including: "Mr. Know-It-All," where he tried to demonstrate his supposed (albeit nonexistent) expertise on a variety of subjects, such as disarming bombs, curing hiccups or escaping from [[Devil's Island]]; "Bullwinkle's Corner", where the moose would attempt to read poetry, notably "[[I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud]]" (The Daffodils) of [[William Wordsworth]]; and various interstitial drop-ins. In one running gag, Bullwinkle would attempt to pull a [[rabbit]] out of a top hat (to Rocky's dismissal: "Again?" or "But that trick ''never'' works.", and Bullwinkle's canonical rejoinder, "Nothing up my sleeve...Presto." or "This time, for sure. Presto."), only to pull out something unexpected instead such as a [[lion]], [[tiger]], [[bear]], [[rhinoceros]] and occasionally even Rocky himself. After each failed attempt, Rocky segued to a commercial by saying, "Now, here's something we hope you'll ''really'' like."

== Voice ==
[[Bill Scott (voice actor)|Bill Scott]], Ward's partner and head writer of the series, was the original voice of Bullwinkle. According to Scott, Ward simply assumed that Scott would play the role. Scott would voice the character for many years, even after production of the original series ended in 1964. One post-series project involving Scott would be an [[Animatronics|animatronic]] stage show for [[Bullwinkle's Restaurant|Bullwinkle's Family Food N' Fun Restaurant]] (often shortened to Bullwinkle's Restaurant). The show's soundtracks would mark one of Bill's final roles as Bullwinkle and [[Dudley Do-Right]], as he died of a heart attack in 1985. At the time of his death, Bill had finished voicing another Moose character, Moosel, for the first season of ''[[The Wuzzles]]''.

Following Bill's death in 1985, Bullwinkle would then be voiced by Australian voice actor [[Keith Scott (voice actor)|Keith Scott]] (no relation to Bill) throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Keith's most famous portrayal of the character was in the 2000 [[Universal Animation Studios|Universal Pictures]] film ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (film)|The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle]].''

Scott Wilson (best known for his [[Chuck E. Cheese|Chuck E. Cheese's]] voice work) voiced the Bullwinkle character for a 1980 live tour production, ''Bullwinkle's Call of the Wild Show''. He would later reprise the role in the form of ''WYME TV'' animated skits Wilson personally produced for Bullwinkle's Restaurants around 1996.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq0EsGgO2Nk/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=www.instagram.com}}</ref>

Bullwinkle was voiced by [[Tom Kenny]] for the short film ''[[Rocky & Bullwinkle (2014 film)|Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', which was to be premiered with ''Mr. Peabody & Sherman'', but the short was cancelled and was replaced with an alien-themed short called ''Almost Home'', based on the then-upcoming film from [[DreamWorks Animation|DreamWorks]], ''[[Home (2015 film)|Home]]''. However, the short is available in both 2D and 3D on the Blu-ray 3D disc of ''[[Mr. Peabody & Sherman]]''. Kenny also voiced Bullwinkle in a [[GEICO]] commercial on the same year to promote the short.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/commercials/GEICO/Bullwinkle/|title=Voice(s) of Bullwinkle in ''GEICO''|website=Behind The Voice Actors|language=en-US|access-date=December 19, 2021}}.</ref> In the 2018 [[Amazon Video]] series ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (TV series)|The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', Bullwinkle was voiced by Brad Norman.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://bullwinkle.toonzone.net Hokey Smoke! Rocky and Bullwinkle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720015415/http://bullwinkle.toonzone.net/ |date=2011-07-20 }}
*[http://www.reelyredd.com/0107mynativeland.htm My Native Land] Sir Walter Scott poem with Bullwinkle voice impression
*https://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15889coll2/id/3543
{{The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullwinkle J. Moose}}
[[Category:Rocky and Bullwinkle characters| Bullwinkle J. Moose]]
[[Category:Fictional players of American football]]
[[Category:Fictional characters from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Fictional characters with superhuman strength]]
[[Category:Comedy film characters]]
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1959]]
[[Category:Fictional spies in television]]
[[Category:Fictional police detectives]]
[[Category:Male characters in animation]]
[[Category:Animated characters introduced in 1959]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic moose]]