Heather North, the voice of Daphne Blake on TV’s animated Scooby-Doo series, has died at age 71, a family friend confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.
Her Nov. 30 death at her home in Studio City, California, followed a long illness.
Fans mourned the actress on Twitter late Tuesday as news of her death circulated:
North also appeared in shows such as “The Monkees” and “My Three Sons,” and played Kurt Russell’s love interest in Disney’s “The Barefoot Executive.”
She was married to H. Wesley Kenney, the Emmy-winning producer of soap operas such as “The Young and the Restless” and “Days of Our Lives.” Kenney died in January 2015. They met when North played Sandy Horton on “Days of Our Lives,” and were married in 1971.
North got the job voicing “danger-prone” Daphne on the animated television series “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” in 1970 through Nicole Jaffe, who voiced Velma.
According to a 2005 Warner Bros. video about the cast, the actress who originally voiced Daphne left the show to get married, and Jaffe thought her roommate, North, would be perfect for the role.
“She said, ’Get in here, they’re looking for Daphne, you can do Daphne,’” North recalled Jaffe telling her when the job became available. “I didn’t always listen to [Jaffe], but for this, I did. And I auditioned and got the part.”
Jeepers!