JoBe Cerny, best known as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, died on October 30. The Illinois native, who appeared in small roles in My Best Friend’s Wedding and Legally Blonde 2 in addition to logging time as Poppin’ Fresh, lived with Alzheimer’s disease until his death. He was 78.
Succeeding original Doughboys Paul Frees and Jeff Bergman, Cerny spent decades as the adorable miniature baker who giggled when satisfied customers poked his belly. He stepped away in 2020 due to health problems. Before playing Poppin’ Fresh, Cerny broke into advertising as the graceful, stain-removing Silent Demonstrator, known colloquially as The Cheer Man, for Procter & Gamble’s Cheer laundry detergent. He also lent his voice to the screaming Raid Bugs (“I’ve gotten killed thousands of times,” he said in 2007), the Scrubbing Bubbles, and the script-flipping Oscar Mayer’s singing hot dog spot. For the last 30 years, Cerny owned Cerny/American Creative Recording Studio in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, where he produced over 9,350 productions.
Cerny was born on December 5, 1974, in Cicero, Illinois, to Joe and Bea Cerny, who combined their names for JoBe. He studied speech and drama at Valparaiso University and considered going into the seminary. “Once I realized I was not gonna be able to handle being in a church every day, and visiting people in the hospital and holding people’s hands while they die every day,” he said, “I decided to take my interests and find another route of expression.” After being drafted to Vietnam but never called to battle, he went to drama school and received his Master’s in Theater from Northwest University. He later joined Second City and graduated to its mainstage and touring company.
In 2008, Cerby produced and directed a 20-CD, 98-hour audio versiion of the King James Bible called The Word Of Promise, starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Richard Dreyfuss as Moses, Gary Sinise as David, Jason Alexander as Joseph, Marisa Tomei, Louis Gossett Jr., and over 600 more. Cerny himself played Satan. In addition to voice work, Cerny had small roles on Early Edition and Chicago Hope as well as the films Prelude To A Kiss and Road To Perdition. In 2009, he directed a podcast series based on The Twilight Zone, converting old episodes into radio dramas that won an American Scene Award. He wrote new episodes for the show and had a weekly column for Screen Magazine called “ADventures in ADvertising. Per The Hollywood Reporter, he was a go-kart and model-train enthusiast.
He is survived by his wife, Eileen, sons Tim and Patrick, daughters-in-law Andrea and Lily, and grandchildren Archer and Cleo.
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