Christine Cavanaugh, whose distinctive voice helped carry her through a 13-year career as a voiceover actress, has died at the age of 51. IndieWire reports that Cavanaugh died on December 22 of unknown causes, although her obituary did not appear in the Los Angeles Times until today.
Cavanaugh was only active as an actress from 1988, when she got her first voice role in the English version of the Polish animated film David And The Magic Pearl, until 2001, when she retired from acting to spend more time with her family. But in that decade, Cavanaugh lent her talents to memorable characters on many long-running cartoon series, most famously as Chuckie Finster on Rugrats and Dexter on Dexter’s Laboratory. She also played Gosalyn Mallard on Darkwing Duck, Oblina on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Jay Sherman’s son Marty on The Critic, among other voice roles.
On the big screen, Cavanaugh was also known for her voice, most notably as the title pig in 1995’s Babe. She did occasionally act in non-voiceover roles, however, like the 1997 episode of The X-Files pictured above, in 1996’s Jerry Maguire, and as Mona Tibbs on Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts. Cavanaugh had no children of her own, but is survived by her brother, sister, and their children, as well as an entire generation that grew up with her work.