Who voiced Fred Jones in the original 1969 series?

Frank Welker voiced Fred Jones in the original 1969 Scooby-Doo series.

Welker was cast as Fred for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, the Hanna-Barbera series that debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969. He was a young comedian and impressionist at the time and had initially auditioned hoping to voice Scooby-Doo, but the producers selected him for the confident teenage leader instead.

The original ensemble also included Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers, Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley, and Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne Blake. Welker’s Fred was generally portrayed as the group’s organizer, trap designer, and practical problem-solver.

The main point readers often miss is that Welker did not voice Scooby in the original series: Don Messick did. Welker later became Scooby-Doo’s voice beginning in 2002, while continuing to voice Fred across most animated versions. One notable exception was A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, in which the younger Fred was voiced by Carl Steven.