Nightly News   |  September 17, 2010

R.I.P.: Billie Mae Richards, voice of Rudolf animation

Billie Mae Richards, the Canadian actress who was the voice of Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer in the 1964 animated classic, died this week. NBC’s Brian Williams reports.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: And Billie Mae Richards has died. She is best known for her voice, the voice of a beloved character from our childhood, a character who just happened to be a boy.

WILLIAMS: Billie Mae Richards , you see, was a Canadian actress who played Rudolph in the classic 1964 stop-motion animation special, a staple on TV to this day during the holidays. Her trademark was being able to sound like a young boy . She perpetuated the myth by spelling her name B-I-L-L-Y in the credits, even though it ended with an I-E in real life. Canadian radio veteran and actress Billie Mae Richards was 88. We'll take a