Donnie Dunagan, who voiced young Bambi and kept it secret for decades, dies at 92

Donnie Dunagan — the six-year-old boy whose voice brought young Bambi to life in Disney's 1942 animated classic, and who later spent 25 years as a U.S. Marine keeping that fact almost entirely secret — died on November 4, 2026, from lung cancer. He was 92.

We were proud to represent a Marine, beloved by fans around the world for his roles in 'Bambi' and 'Son of Frankenstein.'— Kris Jones and Nery Lemus, Dunagan's agents

Born Donald Roan Dunagan on August 16, 1934, in San Antonio, Texas, he grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where his family struggled through the Great Depression. At three and a half, he won a talent contest prize of $100. A studio talent scout spotted him, the family relocated to Hollywood, and Dunagan quickly became his family's main breadwinner — appearing in a string of films before he was ten.

His most visible early role came in Son of Frankenstein (1939), where he played the curly blond-haired young son of Basil Rathbone's Dr. Frankenstein opposite Boris Karloff as the monster. He also appeared in Tower of London (1939) and several other films of the era. He later recalled playing checkers with Karloff on set while the latter sat in full monster makeup, according to The Guardian.

Then came Bambi. Dunagan was six when he was chosen to voice the young deer in the film's most emotionally devastating passages. The recording sessions, he recalled, were easy and relaxed — until an assistant director instructed him to pretend his own mother had died in order to capture Bambi's reaction to the hunter's gunshot. The film's original cut showed Bambi's mother dying on screen; Disney altered this in the edit. Dunagan later received considerable hate mail from the hunting community regardless, according to The Guardian.

Bambi was his last film. By 13, Dunagan was living in a boarding house and working as a lathe operator. In 1952, at 18, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, eventually serving three tours in Vietnam, where he was wounded multiple times. He retired in 1977 with the rank of major, having received a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

Throughout his military career, Dunagan kept his Hollywood past hidden from his fellow Marines — a silence he later described as one of his deepest regrets.

One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I didn't have the courage to tell my close personal friends in the Marine Corps that I had been a part of the wonderful work of Mr Disney.— Donnie Dunagan

He was eventually found out shortly before his retirement from the Corps, according to Wikipedia. In 2004, film historian Tom Weaver tracked him down and conducted an extensive interview published in a special issue of Video Watchdog magazine.

In his later years, Dunagan embraced the legacy he had once concealed. In 2015, he reflected on what Bambi had come to mean to him and to the people who recognized his connection to it.

I could be working in the White House and children couldn't care less. But let someone say, 'that dude over there was the face or voice of Bambi', and I am an immediate adopted grandfather to them. That is just an unmatchable joy, and a real responsibility.— Donnie Dunagan, 2015

A detail that underscores how compartmentalized the original production was: Dunagan did not meet Peter Behn (the voice of Thumper) or Stan Alexander (the voice of Flower) until more than 70 years after the film was made, because the cast had recorded their parts separately, according to Wikipedia.

He is survived by his wife, Dana, with whom he lived in San Angelo, Texas.

Why it matters — Dunagan's death closes the last direct human link to the original voice cast of one of Disney's most enduring films, a connection he spent most of his adult life deliberately concealing.

Reported by variety.com, en.wikipedia.org, hollywoodreporter.com, theguardian.com