JoBe Cerny, best known for voicing the Pillsbury Doughboy, as well as live-action work in movies like “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “Legally Blonde 2,” has died. He was 78.
Cerny died Oct. 30, his family announced. An immediate cause of death was not made public.
Born Dec. 5, 1947, in Cicero, Illinois, to Joe and Bea Cerny, he got his distinctive name by combining his parents’ first names. He attended Morton East High School before earning a bachelor’s degree in speech and drama from Valparaiso University and a master’s degree in theater from Northwestern University.
Cerny joined The Second City in the 1970s as a member of both its Mainstage and National Touring Company. For more than 30 years, he also owned and operated Cerny/American Creative Recording Studio in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, where he worked on thousands of recording projects, from commercials and audiobooks to feature films.
Over his decades-long career, Cerny appeared in films including “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” and “Road to Perdition.”
He also served as casting director for “The Word of Promise,” a 98-hour audio production of the Bible featuring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene, Richard Dreyfuss as Moses, Gary Sinise as David, Jason Alexander as Joseph, Jon Voight as Abraham, Max von Sydow as Noah, Luke Perry as Judas and Marcia Gay Harden as Esther.
Cerny succeeded Paul Frees and Jeff Bergman as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy in 2014, bringing the beloved character to life in commercials for decades.
On his career, Cerny once said, “I’m lucky, I get to be somebody different every day and in the end, I’m glad I stuck with my irresponsible decision to have fun. It allows me to live happily ever after … every day.”
Cerny is survived by his wife, Eileen; two sons, Tim (Andrea) Cerny and Patrick (Lily) Cerny; and grandchildren Archer and Cleo.
