Early life and education
Music was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Harry and Sophie Music. When he was about six years old, the family moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where his father took work at the shipyards. He attended Central High School in Duluth and went on to the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he studied theatre arts. It was there that he met Henrietta, who became his wife and his longtime creative partner.1
Career
Music's career began on stage rather than behind a microphone. With Henrietta he formed a comedy and folk-music duo billed as "Gerald and His Hen," which they performed for years, including a USO tour of Japan, before he moved into television writing.1
His distinctive, sleepy delivery and sharp comedic instincts made him a sought-after writer and producer through the late 1960s and 1970s. He wrote for and performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, work that earned him an Emmy Award, and served as a story consultant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. With writing partner David Davis he co-created The Bob Newhart Show, serving as a producer and co-composing its theme music with Henrietta, and the two went on to develop the Mary Tyler Moore spin-off Rhoda.1
On Rhoda, Music took on the role that first made his voice famous: Carlton the Doorman, the unseen, perpetually mellow apartment-building doorman whose intercom greeting ("Hello, this is Carlton, your doorman") became a national catchphrase. The character was popular enough to anchor a 1980 animated special, Carlton Your Doorman, which Music co-produced and which won an Emmy. He and Henrietta also hosted their own short-lived syndicated variety program, The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show, in the mid-1970s.1
Music's voice work extended well beyond Garfield. He voiced Tummi Gummi in Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, the title hero in the animated Pac-Man series (notably disguising his familiar drawl for the heroic Super Pac-Man), and Larry the Crash Test Dummy in the long-running "You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy" seat-belt safety announcements. He also voiced Ralph in the animated feature Twice Upon a Time and turned up in live-action and supporting roles, including an intercom announcer on The Drew Carey Show.3
Garfield
In 1982, cartoonist Jim Davis cast Music as the voice of Garfield, beginning with the TV special Here Comes Garfield. Music's lazy, unbothered delivery became inseparable from the character. He voiced Garfield across a long run of prime-time specials and the Saturday-morning series Garfield and Friends (1988 to 1994), along with commercials and games, and remained closely identified with the role until his death. After he died, Frank Welker took over the part for later productions, and Bill Murray voiced Garfield in the 2004 and 2006 live-action films, an odd echo of Music having voiced Murray's Venkman a generation earlier.1
Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters
Music voiced Dr. Peter Venkman through the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters, the animated series following the 1984 film. Where Bill Murray's screen Venkman was brash and fast-talking, Music's interpretation leaned on his trademark unhurried drawl, giving the cartoon Venkman a distinct comic identity rather than a straight imitation. He was succeeded in the role by Dave Coulier from the third season onward.2
A widely repeated account holds that Bill Murray objected that the animated Venkman sounded too much like Garfield, contributing to the recasting. The irony was compounded years later when Murray himself voiced Garfield on film. While both performers were tied to both characters, this anecdote is fan and industry lore rather than a documented studio decision, and should be treated as such.
Among Music's small but memorable contributions to the franchise: in J. Michael Straczynski's script for the episode "Night Game," Venkman had a closing line vowing to attend only New York Yankees games. During recording, Music changed it to the Mets, and the line aired that way.4
Personal life
Music was married to Henrietta, a composer and writer who collaborated with him throughout his career, for more than four decades, and the couple had four children: Rozalyn, Leilani, Fernando, and Sam. A follower of the Subud spiritual movement, with its emphasis on charity, Music volunteered on suicide-prevention hotlines. He liked to recount a call from a despairing man who, mid-crisis, suddenly recognized his voice: "Hey, you sound just like that cat on TV."1
Death
Lorenzo Music died on August 4, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, at age 64, from complications of lung and bone cancer.1
Legacy in the comics
Long after his passing, IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters comics have tucked tribute Easter eggs honoring Music as the original animated Venkman. A storefront referencing his name appears in the background art of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue 2,5 Peter is drawn wearing a shirt referencing Music in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue 9,6 and his name appears in a list of names in Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue 3.7
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
