Top 20 Winnie the Pooh facts

#5

Tigger improv

When he was cast as Tigger, Paul Winchell was told that he was both exuberant and humorous.

So he came up with the right voice for someone as excitable as Tigger. 

In fact, it was the same voice he used for his ventriloquism dummy Knucklehead Smiff. 

Paul Winchell himself has stated that he enjoyed playing Tigger very much, and that there's a quality to him that was his own, so he was able to ad lib some of the unique stuff Tigger says. 

For instance, Tiggers trademark "hoo hoo hoo hoo" laugh was improvised by Paul. 

He also ad libbed the line "TTFN, ta-ta for now", as suggested by his wife. 

Paul Winchell continued to voice Tigger well into his old age, including in Winnie the Pooh dark ride in the Magic Kingdom. 

But he had to retire in the late 90s because his voice got too scratchy. That's when Jim Cummings stepped in.