Pinocchio loses his voice

Very sorry to report that Dickie Jones passed away today. To those of us in the Disney family he will be fondly remembered as the voice of the puppet who wished to be a real boy, Pinocchio. 

He was Texas born in 1927 to a newspaper editor. Being a Texan, he naturally learned to ride a horse and at the age of 4 was billed as the "World's Youngest Trick Rider & Roper". Around this time his family moved out to Hollywood where friend Hoot Gibson was able to land the young lad parts in low budget westerns. 

From there as he matured, he graduated to many roles through his long and distinguished film and TV career and was rightly named a Disney Legend in 2000. We would run into each other over the years at various Disney events and it was always a treat to listen to his stories. 

This picture was taken of the two of us a few months ago after I had just pulled a gag at our table when we attended an event together. Dickie had a great sense of humor. We're really going to miss you dearly my friend.