Pierre Laurent Renoudet (1935-2024) was known by several variations of his name, including Pete Renoudet, P.L. Renoudet, and Pete or Peter Renaday. He’s also known as one of the consummate voice actors in Hollywood, a legend among those who cherish Disney heritage, and one of the most pleasant people one could have met.

From his unassuming demeanor, one might not guess that his resume brims with such animated features as Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Mulan, Cats Don’t Dance, The Aristocats, The Black Cauldron, and Johnny’s Golden Quest; television series like Snorks, Animaniacs, Justice League, Scooby Doo, and TaleSpin; and countless on-camera appearances TV shows such as Night Court and Dallas. When Pete passed away in September 2024, most obituaries limited his accomplishments to his role as Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

His cameos in Disney movies and TV shows of the sixties and seventies are always a delight to fans, from Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes to The Cat from Outer Space and The Million Dollar Duck. His many offscreen Disney duties included humming for Brian Bedford’s Robin Hood in the 1973 animated feature. An alternate version of the Oscar-nominated song “Love” was revealed in the Walt Disney Legacy Collection CD soundtrack album.

Perhaps his most memorable appearance on the movie screen was when he played a San Francisco policeman who, along with another great character actor, Herb Vigran, arrived just after Herbie the Love Bug attempted to do away with himself on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pete was on the Disney staff for many years, most memorably for him at the script library, where he had access to the fabled backlot. He recalled Disney magic happening in all directions, including Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke working through Mary Poppins rehearsals during his breaks.

What many may not know is that Walt Disney had a little theater group on the studio lot, where actors both inside and outside the studio performed in stage plays and musicals exclusively for the staff, families, and friends. Before The Happiest Millionaire became a film project, Walt had purchased the rights to the Broadway version, which had been a modest success starring Walter Pidgeon (Mrs. Miniver) and Diana Van Der Vlis (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes). For the studio “on-the-lot” version, Brian Keith starred as Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Cordelia Biddle was played by Roberta Shore (Mickey Mouse Club), with Pete as Angier Duke. The play was a non-musical, but the success of Mary Poppins prompted a complete musical score by the Sherman Brothers.

Pete was a great favorite of WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), where he did voices for a number of attractions, including the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and the original Country Bear Jamboree as Henry the master of ceremonies and bull-on-the-wall Max.

Disneyland Records listeners know him as “the other Ghost Host” on the classic, collectible Storyteller album, The Story and Songs of The Haunted Mansion. Paul Frees was either unavailable or beyond the budget, so Pete joined Ron Howard and Robie Lester at Sunset Sound in Hollywood to record a “teens in a storm visit a haunted house” premise written by Walt Disney Records founder and president Jimmy Johnson. Pete’s Ghost Host performance has its own unique style, which producer Tutti Camarata recorded twice and played out of sync, sometimes spreading the two voices from channel to channel.

Pete’s appearances on Disneyland Records included voicing Charlie the Owl for The New Zoo Revue, directing the narration for the “second cast” story album of Robin Hood, and playing the father and Santa Claus on the unusual album The Sounds of Christmas.

He was also one of many voices of Mickey Mouse, after Walt Disney and Jimmy Macdonald. Before the Disney Character Voices was created in 1988 and specific actors were designated as “official,” it was customary for additional Mickeys to be cast depending on the project and the creative team. Alan Young was Mickey as well as Uncle Scrooge on the 1975 recording Dickens’ Christmas Carol Featuring The Walt Disney Players, which inspired 1982’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol. As this previous Animation Spin explains, the Christmas Carol album was actually remade from an earlier version with Bill Lee, Jimmy Macdonald and Pete Renaday.

Though he was seldom, if ever credited, Pete spoke and sang for Mickey on the full line of Talking Mickey Mouse story cassettes starting in 1986. He spoke and sang for him on such hit Disney albums as Pardners and Yankee Doodle Mickey, as well as various read-alongs and toys over a decade before Wayne Allwine was designated the studio’s first “official” voice in 1988.