The 85-year-old original voice of Pingu, who created the famous “noot, noot” utterance for the penguin, has passed away.
From its inception in 1990 until 2000, Carlo Bonomi of Milan provided the South Pole Emperor Penguin with its voice.
The father of one, whose daughter Paola also works as a voice actress, voiced every character in the kid’s programme without ever using a script.
He was influenced by his previous work on the Italian animated series La Linea when creating the absurd language he used for Pingu, known as Penguinese. It was based on Milanese dialect.
He nonetheless kept doing the Italian voices for some well-known cartoon characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Fred Flintstone.
Although they have since been modified, Bonomi, who also worked as a clown, recorded the train announcements for Florence’s Santa Maria Novella Station and Milan’s central station.
The voice actor’s cause of death has not yet been made public, but since his departure on Saturday, condolences have been flooding in for the celebrity.
The empathy I would feel for those animated creatures was astounding, and I have this guy to thank, remarked one fan on Twitter.
“That show was adorable and humorous to me as a youngster, but given we never comprehended a word being said,” the admirer said.
Another person paid tribute to Carlo Bonomi, saying, “RIP Carlo Bonomi, thank you for your contribution in children’s entertainment and for providing some light to shine in the gloom of my youth.”
Pingu’s last appearance on television was in 2006, although a Japanese spinoff with the title Pingu in the City ran from 2017 to 2019.
Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann co-created the programme as a claymation, and a prototype episode was shown at a 1987 film festival.
Bonomi became adored by people all over the globe because to its sounds and lack of speaking.
Paola, his daughter, continues his voice acting career.