Aired: 1959-1961(ABC), 1969-1970(CBS)
DAD: Inspector Ray K. Fenwick (voice of Paul Frees) / Widower
DAD’S JOB: Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman
KIDS: Nell (voice of June Foray) (18-ish)
WHERE’S MOM?: Dead – Unknown cause
STAND-IN “MOM”: Nobody
Part of Jay Ward’s Rocky and his Friends show, Inspector Fenwick suffered like any TV Single Dad, worrying over his naive daughter Nell and his even-more-naive subordinate future-son-in-law, Dudley Do-Right. Cartoon TV Single Dads always seem to have to worry more, with their daughters constantly being tied up by mustachioed villians like the
archtypical Snidely Whiplash.
Dudley wound up with his own show, a decade after Rocky‘s premiere, on CBS.
Trivia: watch for Hans Conreid (the voice of Snidely Whiplash) popping up in other TV Single Dad shows as the decades spin by. Toward the end of Mr. Conreid’s life, a fan asked him to “do a Snidely Whiplash voice.” Hans Conreid replied, “DO a voice? I don’t DO a Snidely Whiplash voice – I’ve always thought they knew my true nature and wrote the part around me!”