Actress lent her voice to countless iconic cartoon characters including Dexter from ‘Dexter's Laboratory’ and Chuckie from ‘Rugrats.’
Christine Cavanaugh, the voice of Babe the pig in the 1995 feature Babe has died at the age of 51.
Cavanaugh passed away on December 22, according to a notice published in the Los Angeles Times, although the details surrounding her death are unclear.
She was born and raised in Utah and later attended University of Hawaii, where she met her future husband. After college Cavanaugh moved to California to pursue her acting career. Her work is legendary, providing the voice of countless iconic cartoon characters including Chuckie from Rugrats, along with characters from Darkwing Duck, Aladdin, The Powerpuff Girls and The Wild Thornberrys.
Other characters Cavanaugh voiced included Marty Sherman (The Critic), Oblina (Ahhhhh Real Monsters), Bunnie Rabbot (Sonic the Hedgehog), and Bamm-Bamm (Cave Kids). She also appeared in small parts on TV's Cheers, Empty Nest, Wings, The X-Files and Everybody Loves Raymond, and on the big screen in the 1996 feature Jerry Maguire.
In 2000, Cavanaugh was recognized with an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production for her work voicing Dexter in Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip, a role for which she was also nominated in both 1997 and 1998.
Cavanaugh retired from voice acting for personal reasons in 2001. Her character in Rugrats was replaced by Nancy Cartwright, who is most famous for voicing Bart Simpson.
Cavanaugh is survived by her father, Kirt Johnson and Paula Thompson of Cedar City, UT, along with her sister, Deionn (Matt) Masock and their children, Alec, Nash and Madison, and her brother, Kirtis (Hope) Johnson and their children Felicia and Amanda. She was also survivewd by her half-siblings, Stanley Sandberg, Steven Sandberg, Ann Marie Ruttenbur, Jesse Sharky, Catherine Sharky, Leigh M. Clark and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held in her honor on Antelope Island in Utah’s Antelope Island State Park.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
