Born in San Antonio in 1934, the young Dunigan came to the attention of RKO talent scouts after a tap dancing performance. Making his film debut in the film Mother Carey’s Chickens (alongside Ruby Keeler and Walter Brennan), the young Dunigan was cast in Universal’s monster sequel Son Of Frankenstein, where Dunigan recalls playing checkers with Boris Karloff while the legendary actor was in full monster makeup. Dunigan also played opposite another horror icon in 1939’s Tower Of London, when Basil Rathbone‘s future King Richard III arranges a child marriage between Dunigan’s young prince and Joan Carroll’s Lady Mowbray.
After appearing in several more films in the 1930s and early 40s, Dunigan was cast as the young Bambi (with Hardie Albright taking over for the adolescent version), recalling the experience fondly in his later years. Said Dunigan decades later, “I had a great time. The animators and all the different people at Disney offered to show me how certain things worked, and the ice cream in the dining room was great.” The scenes where the frightened Bambi searches for his mother only to be told the cold truths of the forest by a looming male deer are etched into moviegoers’ scarred childhoods to this day, with Dunigan stating that the Disney acting coach urged him to imagine he was looking for his own mother and becoming more and more afraid.
After Bambi, Dunigan quit show business, enrolling in the Marines in 1952. After serving two tours in Vietnam, being awarded three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with V device, an Army Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, Dunigan retired as a major in 1977. During his time in the military, Dunigan refrained from telling people about his Hollywood past, claiming he didn’t want to show off (and fearing being dubbed “Major Bambi.”) Later on, Dunigan took part in Bambi‘s DVD release and spoke at various conventions and events, once explaining, “I could be working in the White House and children could care less. But let someone say, ‘That dude over there was the face or voice of Bambi,’ and I am an immediate adopted grandfather to them. That is just an unmatchable joy and a real responsibility.”
Dunigan is survived by his wife, Dana.
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