Isn’t it fantastic to marry the same person who is playing your love interest in a show? Well, it happened between the man who served as the voice of Walt Disney’s iconic Mickey Mouse, and the woman behind Minnie Mouse’s voice. They worked for over 30 years and were married for nearly two decades until Wayne passed away at the age of 69 in 2009 due to complications in diabetes.
After he passed away and the news circulated, the people realized that Wayne was married to the woman who also voiced his love interest on-screen.
How the two met?
The couple has appeared in many radio broadcasts together and used to speak in character, making it a little surreal and fascinating for the listeners.
Wayne Allwine first joined Disney in the year 1966 as a clerk in the mailroom. It was later when he moved to work in the sound production department before he landed the gig of Mickey’s voice. But it is to be noted that Wayne was the third choice for the voice. Initially, Walt Disney was the first voice, but due to his distorted vocal chords, he eventually stepped away from voice acting. The second voice came out to be sound effects guru and Allwine’s mentor British voice actor Jimmy MacDonald. It turned out Allwine got the job in an open voice audition after Jimmy failed to show up.
After this, it was the turn of Minnie’s voice when Russi, also known as Rosslyn, got the role in an audition in the year 1986. She has been a voice actress since 1977. Initially, Russi did this role for money, but she became the longest-running performer for that character today. Although she is best known for her lively voice, bashful giggles and bringing life to the nature of Minnie, there were other roles she voiced too. Like Scrooge’s grand-nephews, Duey, Huey & Louie, the identical triplets we saw in the classic animated show Ducktales, the German exchange student Üter on The Simpsons and the Martin Prince, Terri and Sherri (the purple-haired twins).
It is still unknown how exactly did the two meet, though we can assume that they met on the job. It was five years later when Russi started working as Minnie, and the two got married. According to Russi, everyone thought that it was sweet that they were together, but Russi and Wayne thought to keep quiet for a while. They kept hearing how cute it was that Minnie and Mickey are married. She later admitted that both of them didn’t want it to be about the characters; instead, they wanted it to be about Russi and Wayne.
Interesting fact
The late Wayne in an interview once said that he wanted to make this great American icon alive until the next Mickey comes along. He knew it would happen, which is a heartbreaking thing in this job. He was the third Mickey, and once day, there will be a fourth. The fourth after Wayne passed is American former Hallmark illustrator and voice actor Bret Iwan.
No matter how long it has been, Wayne’s and Russi’s voice has ruled the hearts of many. They had fans all across America, and a couple like them being married is a very magical thing to happen. Sadly Wayne is not with us anymore; still, he has worked enough on Mickey that he will always be remembered.
