Disney Movie Legend Found Dead in California: Peter Renaday Was 89

Disney movie legend Peter Renaday has died. He was 89. TMZ reports that the actor was found dead in his California home. 

The outlet spoke with Renday’s niece, Mindy Zachary, who explained that his cause of death is currently unknown but did state that his air conditioning had not been working as Los Angeles has been dealing with high heatwave temperatures that left it as hot as the 90s inside his home in the Valley. Zachary is unsure if her uncle’s death was caused by heat stroke, natural causes, or something else.

Reneday was born in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1935. He grew up to become an accomplished Disney actor, starring movies such as The Love Bug, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. He also lent his voice to a number of Disney animated films like The Aristocats, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Rescuers and The Black Cauldron.

Eventually, Renaday began to pursue voice acting roles over live action projects and in the late ’80s he landed maybe his most well-known role as the voice of Splinter in the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. Additional cartoon shows that Renaday worked on throughout his career include: The Transformers, Superman: The Animated Series, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. He also contributed to a few more Disney series, such as Gargoyles, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin and the TV show based on Aladdin.

Renaday also worked on a number of video games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Dead Rising, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Age: Origins, Gears of War 3 and Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

It appears that Renaday did not have any children and did not remarry after the death of his wife, Florence “Flo” Daniel, ion 2001. Zachary told TMZ that the family feels Peter’s death does not need to be investigated further.