Concealed the fact that he was the voice of Bambi in Bambi (1942) while he was in the U.S. Marines. He feared being nicknamed "Bambi".
Interviewed in "Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 2005).
Said that after voicing and viewing the film Bambi (1942) as a child actor, he could never bring himself to shoot an animal. As a career U.S. Marine he'd done a lot of shooting in his life but had never shot an animal.
While in the Marines he was the youngest drill instructor in the history of the Corps. He rose to the rank of major before his retirement.