Henry Corden (January 6, 1920, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – May 19, 2005, Los Angeles, California, USA) was a Canadian-born American actor and voice artist best known for taking over the role of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was on the 1977 syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends for which he provided voice-overs on brief bumper clips shown in-between segments, although he had previously provided the singing voice for Reed in both the 1966 theatrical film, The Man Called Flintstone and the 1966 Hanna-Barbera special The New Alice in Wonderland (or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?).
Corden was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as Henry Cohen to Max and Emma Cohen. His father was a meat curer who had been born in Romania; his mother was originally from Russia. The family moved to the Bronx, New York when Corden was a child and he arrived in Hollywood in the 1940s. A story in the Los Angeles Times dated January 8, 1963 stated he had been in the entertainment business for 25 years (since 1938), though the 1940 U.S Census lists him without an occupation. He appeared on the stage in Los Angeles and Hollywood, including a 1947 production of The Message. His film career included The System (1952), where he played a near-sighted gangster named Specs. Corden thought it would be the first time in 25 films he could wear his glasses and see while he was acting, but the lenses gave off too much reflection and he had to substitute them for plain glass after one day of shooting.
With his deep voice, jet-black hair and ethnic looks, Corden was frequently tapped to play heavies in films and on television. He can be seen in such live-action films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Black Castle, Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion and The Ten Commandments. He also appeared in dozens of TV shows, including Dragnet, Perry Mason, Hogan's Heroes, McHale's Navy, Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and was a usual regular on The Jerry Lewis Show. Corden also played landlord Henry Babbitt on The Monkees and appeared as Mr. Haskell, the owner of an ice cream parlor, in an episode of The Brady Bunch.
Corden gave his voice to a number of Hanna-Barbera productions besides The Flintstones, including The Jetsons, Josie and the Pussycats, The Atom Ant Show, The New Tom & Jerry Show and Jonny Quest. Corden also gave voice to the wizard Gemini and Ookla the Mokk in Ruby-Spears Productions' Thundarr the Barbarian as well as the Gorilla General Urko in DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' Return to the Planet of the Apes. He voiced Arnie Barkley, the Archie Bunker-inspired patriarch of DePatie-Freleng's The Barkleys, in 1972.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | A Flintstones' Christmas Carol |
| 1977-1994 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | Fruity Pebbles |
| 1993 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | A Flintstone Family Christmas |
| 1982 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper |
| 1982 | 
|
Policeman #1 | Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper |
| 1982 | 
|
Security Guard #1 | Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper |
| 1981-1982 | 
|
Doggone Dogcatcher | Heathcliff and Marmaduke |
| 1980 | 
|
Doggone Dogcatcher | The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show |
| 1979 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone |
| 1977-1978 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics |
| 1977 | 
|
Fred Flintstone | A Flintstone Christmas |
| 1975-1976 | 
|
General Urko | Return to the Planet of the Apes |
| 1965-1967 | 
|
Paw Rugg | The Atom Ant Show |
| 1966 | 
|
Fred Flintstone (Caterpillar) (Songs) | Alice in Wonderland |