Arthur Anderson began his career as a child. He portrayed “Buddy” on the NBC radio serial Tony and Gus. In 1936, he began his long association with the children’s radio show Let’s Pretend.
As a teenager, Arthur met and began to work with fledgling impresario Orson Welles. He appeared with Welles’ Mercury Theater and took roles in several of Welles’ Broadway productions, including Treasure Island, Julius Caesar and Sherlock Holmes.
He continued his career with small roles in films and television. In 1963, he landed the role for which he is best known. Arthur was recruited as the voice of the wily leprechaun mascot for commercials for General Mills’ Lucky Charms cereal. He voiced the character for 29 years. Later, he took over the voice role of “Eustace Bagge” in the cartoon series Courage the Cowardly Dog, after the original actor passed away.
In 2008, Arthur took exception to a character in the film Me and Orson Welles. The character “Richard Samuels” was shown in a romantic rivalry with Orson Welles over a young woman. The film depicted Welles exercising his authority and firing the young actor. Arthur surmised that “Richard Samuels” was based on him. He went on to counter that Orson Welles never fired anyone and he was never involved in a battle for a woman’s affections with the producer/director. He said that Orson Welles was a wonderful colleague and mentor and his time working with the multi-talented performer was very enjoyable.
In 2004, Arthur wrote and published a book chronicling the history of the Let’s Pretend series. He became very active in “Friends of Old Time Radio,” a group that recreated broadcasts using the original scripts and was a regular participant in their conventions. Arthur was active with the group until his death in 2016 at the age of 93.