‘Rugrats’ & ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ Voice Actress Christine Cavanaugh Passes Away (1963-2014)

From Indiewire: Christine Cavanaugh, iconic voice actress from ’90s cartoons Rugrats, Dexter’s Laboratory, and many others, sadly passed away today in Los Angeles. She was 51.

Christine Cavanaugh was best known for voicing Chuckie in Rugrats, the titular Dexter of Dexter’s Laboratory, Gosalyn in Darkwing Duck, and piglet Babe in the 1995 Oscar-nominated movie Babe. In addition to voice acting, she guest starred in several TV dramas such as The X-Files, sitcoms Cheers and Everybody Loves Raymond, and even had a small role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

The current state of click-bait culture contains hyperbolic speech such as “ruined my childhood” or “gut punch right in the childhood.” For once, this one actually feels like a total sucker punch. Her most well-known roles were the lovable loser Chuckie in Rugrats and the adorably villainous Dexter in Dexter’s Laboratory, pop culture staples in all millennials’ memories.

Dexter was a unique cartoon anti-hero. He had all the makings of a villain, but he still had the heart and want to do good. It was exactly the kind of entry-level character for kids at the time to understand the nuances of good, evil, and the shades of grey in between.

Yet, I believe it was her role as Chuckie from Rugrats that will make most 20-somethings well with tears. Chuckie was the best friend of the brave, fearless protagonist Tommy Pickles, and he was in every way different from him. He was a coward, he had asthma, he was awkward, and he didn’t really fit in. I suspect a lot of kids channeled their insecurities with Chuckie. Furthermore, Chuckie had some of the best story arcs in the entire show. (I realize I’m talking about a children’s cartoon here, but this was also the era that gave us Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series. What did your era of cartoons have?) Chuckie was raised by a single, also-awkward dad, and in several key episodes (and the 2000 movie Rugrats in Paris) they addressed his mother’s absence. She more than likely passed away from an illness, but it was never made explicit.

All kids have to deal with death at unfairly early points in their lives, but for many children in the late-’90s Rugrats was likely the first cartoon to talk to them pretty frankly about it. There is no magic or alien planet where the deceased are metaphorically “gone,” there’s no spell to try to bring them back. Rugrats was a cartoon grounded in a tangible reality not unlike our own through the point-of-view of children whose active imaginations haven’t been ruined by the pessimism of the world.

In the closing moments of the episode “Mother’s Day” where they confront Chuckie’s deceased mother full-on, there is a touching, heart-warming moment in the show where Chuckie realizes his mother isn’t truly gone but always with him “in all good things.” (He realizes this at the age of 2, he’ll have some pretty healthy emotional intelligence as an adult.)

It’s a sweet poem regardless of its cartoon-y origins, and felt it was appropriate for the departure of Christine Cavanaugh. Below is the poem, courtesy of Rugrats Wiki:

My sweet, little Chuckie, though I must leave you behind me

This poem will tell you where you always can find me.

When a gentle wind blows, that’s my hand on your face.

And when the tree gives you shade, that’s my sheltering embrace.

When the sun gives you freckles, that’s me tickeling my boy.

When the rain wets your hair, those are my tears of joy.

When the long grass enfolds you, that’s me holding you tight.

When the Whippoorwill sings, that’s me whispering, “Night, night.”

In 2001, Christine Cavanaugh retired from the industry to be with her family.

RIP, Christine Cavanaugh. You can read her obituary in The Los Angeles Times here.