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| (Left to Right) Joe Vittoria, PEZ president and ceo, with John Lasseter and voiceover actor John Ratzenberger. Photo provided by PEZ. |
John Ratzenberger is probably best known for his role as Cliff on the TV Show Cheers, but since 1995 he’s had a second life as a secret movie star. In fact he has done voiceover work for every Pixar movie ever made — starting with Ham from “Toy Story” in 1995, and most recently as Gordon in “Brave” 2012.
And now, he has a unique set of PEZ dispensers to celebrate his roles.
The candy company created three handmade sets of PEZ dispensers representing every single character Ratzenberger has voiced for Pixar.
“Ratzenberger was excited and extremely appreciated that we decided to help commemorate his achievements and those together with Pixar,” says Joe Vittoria, president and ceo of PEZ Candy Inc.
Ratzenberger received one set as did John Lasseter, head of Disney Creative, which encompasses Pixar. Lasseter plans to display it at Pixar’s headquarters in California. A third set will be on view at PEZ’s visitor’s center at itsheadquarters in Orange, Conn.
“Every character piece of the set is handmade and painted by one of the leading character sculptors in the USA,” Vittoria says. “The marble base and glass was all custom-cut, polished and moulded to accommodate the dispensers, while creating an artistic display for many years to come”
The special set includes:
- Ham from “Toy Story” and its sequels (1995, 1999 and 2010)
- P.T. Flea from “A Bug’s Life” (1998)
- The Abominable Snowman from “Monsters, Inc.” and “Monsters University” (2001, 2003)
- Moonfish from “Finding Nemo” (2003)
- The Underminer from “The Incredibles” (2004);
- Mack from “Cars” and “Cars 2″ (2006, 2011)
- Mustafa from “Ratatouille” (2007)
- John from “Wall-E” (2008)
- Tom from “Up” (2009)
- Gordon from “Brave” (2012)
Only one of the characters is in everyday circulation, Hammy from “Toy Story.”
“PEZ has only put into production one of these characters, which made this set even more special for Lasseter and PEZ collectors, not to mention John Ratzenberger who is the binding voice and known as Pixar’s lucky charm,” Vittoria says.
The set was especially special for PEZ because Disney is one of the company’s oldest licensing partners. Disney merged with Pixar several years ago, but has been making films for years after being founded by Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. John Lasseter is now in charge of all Disney Creative including Pixar and all of the other Disney Properties.
