Laurie Main

Laurie Main was an Australian-born actor whose career spanned stage, television, film, and voice work across several decades. Born Laurence George Main on 29 November 1922 in Melbourne, Australia, he died on 8 February 2012 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 89.

Main left Melbourne at age 16 and relocated to the United Kingdom, where he made his acting debut in The Yellow Balloon. His early stage work in London's West End included The Diary of a Nobody, which ran during 1954 and 1955, and Waltz of the Toreadors in 1956. He subsequently emigrated to the United States in 1960, where he studied with Agnes Moorehead.

His Broadway career extended from 1959 to 1978 and encompassed both plays and musicals. His credits included the musical First Impressions, the play Jolly's Progress, Lord Pengo, and 13 Rue de l'Amour.

Main accumulated an extensive list of American television appearances, with guest roles on Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, I Spy, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, The Andy Griffith Show, That Girl, Ironside, The Monkees, Hogan's Heroes, Mayberry R.F.D., The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Daniel Boone, Family Affair, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, McMillan and Wife, Land of the Lost, Little House on the Prairie, Punky Brewster, and Murder, She Wrote. He also appeared in the 1982 television film The Facts of Life Goes to Paris.

Main became particularly associated with Disney productions through his voice and narration work. He supplied the voice of Dr. Dawson in the 1986 animated feature The Great Mouse Detective and narrated the animated shorts Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons in 1981 and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore in 1983. He served as host and narrator of the children's series Welcome to Pooh Corner on The Disney Channel during the 1980s and was the story reader on numerous Disney Read-Along records, audio cassettes, and compact discs. Main also appeared in many television commercials throughout his career.