Voice of Smurfette Dies: Lucille Bliss, Voice of the Famous 'Crusader Rabbit,' Passes Away at 96

Lucille Bliss, voice of the infamously-sweet Smurfette on the popular 1980s cartoon sitcom "The Smurfs," died of natural causes at the Mesa Verde Residential Care Center in Costa Mesa, California on Thursday, November 8. Bliss was 96-year-old. Although Bliss is best known for her work on "The Smurfs," the American actress has voiced a number of popular cartoon characters over the past six decades - including "Crusader Rabbit" (1950-1952), Anastasia Tremaine in "Cinderella" (1950), numerous guest-spots on "The Flintstones" (1960-1978), and the original youngster Elroy Jetson on "The Jetsons" (1962-1963).

Bliss once told a writer, "I'm an actress specializing in voices. I don't like the term 'voice-over.' ... You have to be an actor first, and then the voice... You have to take acting lessons to learn how to act before you can speak."

According to author and animation historian Charles Solomon - "[Bliss] was a pioneer in television animation. [Crusader Rabbit] really set a pattern for a lot of future shows - the smart little character and the big dumb sidekick."

"Crusader Rabbit" was the first ever made-for-television cartoon, and Bliss voiced the main character.

Other than "Crusader Rabbit," Smurfette was Bliss' other most-famous role. Bliss voiced Smurfette on "The Smurfs" from 1981 to 1989 - when the popular cartoon series ended, she still returned to work on holiday specials including "The Smurfs Christ­mas Spe­cial," "The Smurfs Spring­time Spe­cial," and "My Smurfy Valen­tine."

David Scheve, the owner of TDA Animation who worked closely with Bliss, once said - "Actors from her generation who came up in live radio, you'd do one or two takes with Lucille and she'd just nail it. She could do three or four characters in one [scene] and you'd never know they were all her. She was terrific."

The Orange County coroner officially announced Bliss' passing on Wednesday, Nov. 14. She leaves behind no immediate relatives. According to reports, Bliss was still hard at work in the months leading up to her death. Funeral arrangements are currently pending.