There are a lot of animated icons, these days, but Garfield was one of the first.
He existed before he was animated, of course, but Garfield reached a whole new audience when he first prowled onto our television screens. He’s been a staple of childhood cartoons since the early ’80s, and every decade or so since a fresh attempt arises, working to bring Garfield to a new generation of kids. Some of these attempts were hugely successful, and aided in making Garfield an immovable pillar of pop culture, while others persist like pet you-know-what stains on the resumes of those who participated in them.
That’s one of Garfield’s charms. The shows, films, and specials that place him at their center are consistently hit or miss, but they are always — without fail — deeply watchable. Particularly by we broken masses who love a good s**t show. There’s just something about that bland, grouchy cat that we can’t get enough of, as proven by the slew of Garfield releases that have been hitting our screens for more than 40 years.
Garfield’s many voice actors
Over the years, a range of talented stars have taken on Garfield’s iconic, Monday-hating vibe. Many of them are relative unknowns, linked up to Garfield projects and little else, but others are powerhouses in the world of cinema. Everyone who’s seen Zombieland well remembers Bill Murray’s thoughts on his time as the iconic orange cat, but some people made their careers voicing the character. They became stars thanks to Garfield, and in the process provided us with some of the best — and some of the worst — Garfield content available.
Scott Beach
The very first voice actor to bring the character of Garfield to life was Scott Beach, who took on the role only a few years after Garfield comics first debuted. Beach played the part in 1980’s The Fantastic Funnies, debuting Garfield for television audiences, and helped make the irritable cat a childhood favorite. You might not recognize Beach’s name on sight, but you’ll almost certainly recognize his voice from a range of projects including Star Wars and American Graffiti.
Lorenzo Music
Garfield’s big debut sparked a new era for the character, and soon saw him star in a series of specials that aired through the 1980s. Starting with 1982’s Here Comes Garfield, a series of twelve primetime specials featured the character, played by Lorenzo Music, in brief, half-hour stints. These were followed by Garfield and Friends, a Sunday morning cartoon show that also starred Music as Garfield, which ran from 1988 to 1994.
Bill Murray
Now we’re getting to the big names. The men listed above made Garfield who he is, but eventually the big wigs set their sights on the character and worked to make him more mainstream. Bill Murray was their avenue through which to do so, and — despite his own thoughts on the project — he largely succeeded. Murray’s name carries weight, and his popularity helped both Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties to find commercial success despite negative reviews.
Frank Welker
Frank Welker stepped in for Murray following his pair of abysmally-reviewed releases, and voiced Garfield in a trio of computer animated films that hit screens through the late 2000s. He was the voice behind our favorite fractious feline in Garfield Gets Real, Garfield’s Fun Fest, and Garfield’s Pet Force, but those are far from the only projects fans will recognize him from. Welker has lent his voice to a massive number of projects, the majority of them animated, as everything from livestock, monsters, and Bigfoot, to Scooby-Doo himself.
Chris Pratt
Which brings us to the most recent actor to attach his name to the Garfield franchise. Chris Pratt was tapped, all the way back in 2021, to voice the title roll, but the resulting CG animated film won’t hit theaters until 2024. Early trailers started to arrive in late 2023, teasing an origin story for the titular cat, and re-ignited Garfield love among viewers. Pratt will be joined in the 2024 release by Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult, and Hannah Waddingham, to name a few.