RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Chicago Sun-Times — the article as it was filed.
It's good work ... if you can get it.
And Joel Cory got it, and then some.
"Joel was among the top three voice-over actors in the country during the heyday of television commercials in the 70s, 80s and 90s," said Bill Brichta, a longtime friend and former advertising executive.
Mr. Cory was the voice of "Pop," one of the elves in the "Snap, Crackle, Pop" trio of mascots for Rice Krispies cereal; a singing grasshopper pitching Cricket cigarette lighters; “Lefty,” the helping hand of Hamburger Helper; and Sprout, the little green sidekick of the Jolly Green Giant who implored kids to eat their vegetables.
Joel Cory on March 1, 1984
Sun-Times archive
"If somebody said to me, 'Who was the most successful voice actor over the years?' I would definitely say Joel Cory," said Cheryl Berman, former chair and chief creative officer of the Chicago-based ad agency Leo Burnett. "He just seemed to pop up all the time and was involved in ads for more Leo clients than anyone else, from McDonald's to Kellogg."
Berman recalled sitting in a difficult recording session with actor Burgess Meredith for a United Airlines commercial. They were on the 42nd take, she said, and she was thinking: "Oh my God, if we only had Joel Cory, we could get this done in four takes.'"
Mr. Cory was known as a chameleon who could voice a cartoon character or sing a jingle, while also shifting his tone from authoritative or everyman.
Former talk singer turned voice over artist Joel Cory at work in a downtown recording studio, March 15, 1992.
Sun-Times archive
Mr. Cory died July 26 from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 89.
His life was as colorful as his voice.
For two decades beginning in 1974, Mr. Cory dated actress Robyn Douglass, who appeared on the cover of Playboy in 1974 and co-starred in the 1979 cult classic film "Breaking Away."
The couple owned horses and enjoyed equestrian sports like horse jumping. They lived in a lakefront mansion in Wilmette previously owned by a member of the Wrigley chewing gum family.
Mr. Cory drove a convertible sports car and, in the age before Bluetooth technology, drew flummoxed looks from fellow motorists wondering if he was talking to himself behind the wheel as he rehearsed lines en route to recording sessions in the Loop.
"I think he felt extraordinarily grateful for the life he had," Brichta said. "The reality of the business is: One day you're in, and the next day you could be out. But Joel was never really out."
Mr. Cory told the Sun-Times in 1975: "A cold can be a disaster. If I catch one and it's the wrong day, I can blow a year's salary. Even if you're good and in demand, there's pressure. Nobody's indispensable."
He knew from experience — a head cold once scuttled what promised to be a career-changing breath mints commercial early in his career.
For years, he carried a beeper to make sure he could answer job calls quickly.
"I never wanted a real job," he told the Sun-Times in 1992.
Mr. Cory was a folk singer in the 50s and 60s before getting into advertising voice-over work.
He lived in Old Town, busked and sang in coffee shops and bars, first as a solo act — mixing sea shanties with humor — then as part of a duo named "The Outsiders" with George McKelvey.
The two played colleges and released an album "Cheer Up, Me Lads," in 1962.
One day, early in his singing career, while sitting in his family kitchen, his father pointed to a Cory brand coffee maker and suggested it as a stage name that would be more distinctive than the common Cohen.
Mr. Cory was born Joel Cohen on Feb. 2, 1937, and grew up in Rogers Park. His father, Maurice Cohen, was an attorney for the state's unemployment office; his mother, Hannah Cohen, was a homemaker who played the piano and sang to her children.
His mother died when Mr. Cory was 9, and his father remarried to Ida Abt.
Mr. Cory graduated from Sullivan High School in 1954, where he picked up a love for music and the arts, and went on to earn an accounting degree, at his father's suggestion, after studying at the University of Illinois and Roosevelt University.
After more than a decade of trying to make the music thing work, including by co-founding a production company and promoting other artists, Mr. Cory found himself still struggling to make rent.
"I either had to get into commercials or starve," he told the Chicago Reader in 1977.
In the early 70s, Mr. Cory met Dick Orkin, a voice actor and radio producer who created "Chickenman," a radio series that spoofed comic book heroes, and "The Secret Adventures of the Tooth Fairy," a radio show about a dental assistant who claimed to be the Tooth Fairy.
Mr. Cory took on multiple voice actor roles in each radio show, jump-starting his career as a voice-acting talent.
Mr. Cory, a longtime board member of the Hubbard Street Dance Company, married Katie Cory in 2002 on their favorite ski run at the top of Deer Valley ski resort. The couple spent part of their honeymoon cycling in the Tuscany region of Italy.
"He would play his guitar and serenade me to sleep at night," his wife said, who added they each referred to one another as "best friends for life."
Although many people asked, Mr. Cory almost never performed his voice-over characters outside the studio.
"He wouldn't do it until his grandkids were born, and then he did any character of his they wanted to hear," said his wife.
Mr. Cory also served in the Army and the Army National Reserves in the 1950s.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Cory is survived by his daughters, Eve Adair and Ashley Petric Dempsey; his son, Thomas Petric; and five grandchildren.
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