The Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle belonged to JoBe Cerny. The voice actor has died at 78

For a generation of television viewers, the punchline of every Pillsbury commercial was the same: a finger pokes the little dough mascot in the belly, and he giggles. From 2014, that giggle was JoBe Cerny’s.

The voice actor, who also spent years as the silent Cheer Man in commercials for Cheer laundry detergent, has died aged 78. He died on 30 October in Illinois, his family said in an obituary published this week. His son Tim said his father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about six years earlier and had stepped away from voice work as his health declined.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Eileen, their sons Tim and Patrick, and two other children. A private service was held for immediate family.

Who was the Doughboy?

Poppin’ Fresh, as Pillsbury calls him, is one of the longest-running characters in advertising. He was created in 1965 for Pillsbury’s refrigerated dough, and the poke and the giggle have been in the commercials ever since.

Cerny inherited the role in 2014 from Jeff Bergman, who had voiced the Doughboy for nearly three decades. Accounts of when Cerny last recorded differ; his family has said his illness ended his voice career.

What else did he do?

Before the Doughboy, Cerny was best known in advertising as the Cheer Man, a spokesman for the detergent who never spoke.

On screen, he had small roles in the time-travel romance Somewhere in Time, the Julia Roberts comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding, the Tom Hanks gangster drama Road to Perdition and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

Why does a mascot voice matter?

Because the job is to be invisible. A character that has giggled the same way for six decades cannot suddenly sound different, so each new voice has to match the one before it. Cerny’s work was heard for a second at a time, in commercials seen by millions who never knew his name.