Donnie Dunagan, Voice of Disney's Bambi

Donnie Dunagan was a hard-nosed Marine, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War who served for a quarter-century. First drafted in the '50s and subsequently promoted 13 times in 21 years — a Corps record at the time, he recalls — Dunagan found the Marines a perfect fit. That is, so long as he could keep a secret.

According to Richard Dunagan's research, Donnie's father was Warren Frederick Dunagan of Colliersville, Tennessee. Warren moved his family to Oklahoma but when the depression hit they moved to California where Donnie became a child actor, landing the role of the voice of Bambi in the Disney movie "Bambi." He also landed a role as a child actor in the movie, "Son of Frankenstein."

Donnie Dunagan today.

Dunagan was tapped by Walt Disney to be the voice of the lead in the 1942 Bambi, the now-classic animated film about a young deer learning about life in the forest. And not one of his fellow Marines knew.

"No chance!" Dunagan, now 80, tells his wife, Dana, on a recent visit with StoryCorps in San Angelo, Texas. "I never said a word to anybody about Bambi, even to you. When we first met I never said a word about it. Most of the image in people's minds of Bambi was a little frail deer, not doing very well, sliding around on the ice on his belly."

Now, imagine the man who was once Bambi as a commander in a Marine Corps boot camp, responsible for hundreds of recruits. Dunagan didn't want his recruits drawing any connections, mocking him or calling him "Maj. Bambi." So, he kept his mouth shut.

When Dana asks him how his life is different from the way he might have imagined, Dunagan points out that all the wounds he suffered in service, all the honors he's earned along the way, still haven't changed a thing.
"I have some holes in my body that God didn't put there. I got shot through my left knee. Got an award or two for saving lives over time," he says. "But I think I could have been appointed as the aide-de camp in the White House, it wouldn't make any difference — it's Bambi that's so dear to people."


No matter how he tried to escape it, that voice from his past always found him. "But I love it now — when people realize, 'This old jerk, he's still alive and was Bambi.' And I wouldn't take anything for it, not a darn thing for it."

This is Donnie Dunagan in 1974, during his time in the Marine Corps. Even if anyone had known, it's tough to imagine anyone calling him "Maj. Bambi" to his face then anyway.

Courtesy of Donnie and Dana Dunagan.

Newspaper clippings of young Donnie Dunagan from the early '40s.

Courtesy of Donnie and Dana Dunagan.
Sources: NPR; Richard Dunagan