JoBe Cerny, who voiced the playful Pillsbury Doughboy in commercials and appeared in films including Somewhere in Time, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Road to Perdition, has died. He was 78.
Cerny lived in Grayslake, Illinois, and died Oct. 30, his family announced. He had battled Alzheimer’s disease.
For more than 30 years, Cerny owned and operated Cerny/American Creative Recording Studio in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. His company completed thousands of projects, including commercials, features and audiobooks.
One of his finest accomplishments was directing a 98-hour dramatized audio production of the New King James Version of the Bible called The Word of Promise that featured more than 500 actors, among them Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene, Richard Dreyfuss as Moses, Gary Sinise as David, Jason Alexander as Joseph, Max von Sydow as Noah, Jon Voight as Abraham, Luke Perry as Judas and Marcia Gay Harden as Esther.
Cerny also converted episodes of CBS’ The Twilight Zone into radio programing and wrote new installments for a podcast series.
Cerny succeeded Paul Frees and Jeff Bergman as the high-pitched voice of the Pillsbury Co.’s cheerful Pillsbury Doughboy, who giggled when poked in the belly (he played the lovable Poppin’ Fresh character until about 2020).
“I’ve gone through phases over the years,” he said in a 2007 interview. “Sometimes [Pillsbury gets] a new executive. One guy said, ‘You know, I’ve always hated the voice of the Doughboy. And that’s you. I’m gonna do everything I can to not let the Doughboy talk anymore.’
“This was about seven years ago. That guy lost his job. He got fired the next year and a whole floor of people got fired with him. And then the next year I talked twice as much to make up for it.”
He also portrayed without dialogue “The Cheer Man” (also known as the “Silent Demonstrator”) in commercials for Procter & Gamble’s Cheer detergent and got killed “thousands of times” as bugs in Raid spots.
Cerny was born on Dec 5, 1947, in Cicero, Illinois. His parents, Joe and Bea, combined their names for their son’s first name.
Cerny graduated from Morton East High School in Cicero in 1966, then earned his bachelor’s degree in Speech & Drama from Valparaiso University — he had planned to enter the seminary — and his master’s in Theater from Northwestern University.
In the 1970s, he joined The Second City to perform improv on its mainstage in Chicago and for its national touring company.
He played a desk clerk in Somewhere in Time (1980), a tailor in My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) and a banker in Road to Perdition (2002).
The gregarious Cerny also showed up on the big screen in Rent-a-Cop (1987), Mo’ Money (1992), Love and Action in Chicago (1999), Novocaine (2001) and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) and on episodes of Lady Blue, Early Edition and Chicago Hope.
Cerny wrote a weekly column for Screen Magazine called “ADventures in Advertising,” drove go-karts well into his 60s and was an enthusiastic model train collector.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Eileen; sons Tim and Patrick; daughters-in-law Andrea and Lily; and grandchildren Archer and Cleo.
“I’m lucky, I get to be somebody different every day, and in the end, I’m glad I stuck with my irresponsible decision to have fun,” he once said. “It allows me to live happily ever after … every day.”
