Luis Alfonso Mendoza, Spanish Voice Of Bugs Bunny And Gohan, Killed In Mexico
Tragic news out of Mexico: one of the country’s most successful voice actors and dubbing artists, Luis Alfonso Mendoza, was murdered in the Mexico City neighborhood of Portales Norte on Saturday afternoon. He was 55 years old.
Mendoza was the Spanish voice of Gohan on Dragon Ball, a role he’d held since 1996, as well as Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. (It should be noted that he did the Latin America Spanish dubs, and that there are also European Spanish dubs for these same characters.)
According to media reports (in Spanish), Mendoza was killed during a dispute with a tenant who was renting studio space from him. The assailant also murdered Mendoza’s wife, Lourdes Adame, and brother-in-law. The attacker, who subsequently shot himself in the head in a suicide attempt, is alive, in “serious condition.”
Castmates on Dragon Ball have posted condolences on Twitter:
Apenas hace un par de días nos reíamos con mi look de náufrago, y hoy ya no estás Luis Alfonso… Que alguien me lo explique…! Afortunadamente te quedas en el corazón con tu risa y tus bromas y los recuerdos de tantos años… Ayer fue un día triste…
— Mario C Castañeda P. (@ccp_mario) March 1, 2020
Hasta siempre mi querido amigo Luis Alfonso Mendoza…tu luz seguirá brillando en el firmamento junto con tu esposa Lulú…y tu talento se queda con nosotros para siempre. DEP. pic.twitter.com/ZbL5hJkLXs
— Rossy Aguirre (@rossyaguirredob) March 1, 2020
Amigos, desgraciadamente es cierto. Es horrible dar este tipo de información y yo soy la persona menos indicada para hacerlo, pero efectivamente hoy falleció mi querido Luis Alfonso Mendoza, gran actor de doblaje. Se nos fue otro grande. DEP. pic.twitter.com/qkJ0OFEeyE
— Lalo Garza (@LaloGarx) March 1, 2020
Among Mendoza’s numerous Spanish-language roles, he voiced the title character in Count Duckula, Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Edward Platypus on Camp Lazlo.
He also provided Spanish dubbing for live-action films and tv series, including high-profile roles like Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid movies, Carlton Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Joey Tribbiani on Friends, and Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory.
In addition to performing, Mendoza and his family operated Artspot, a well respected training school that taught dubbing, voice-over, and radio production for the last 24 years. According to a former student, Daniel Correa, Artspot had helped train multiple generations of voice-over performers in Mexico, and the deaths of the school founders is a major loss for young performers who are entering the industry:
Artspot era un lugar increíble para aquellos que quisieran aprender doblaje, locución o producción en radio. Hubo decenas de generaciones de alumnos y hay diversas voces en doblaje, radio y TV egresada de ahí.
La pérdida de los profesores es enorme para la comunidad del doblaje
— Daniel Correa (@songodaniel) March 1, 2020
Some of Mendoza’s vocal performances can be heard below: