The Boy Who Voiced Bambi Became a Marine. Nobody in His Unit Knew.

Imagine spending 25 years in the United States Marine Corps, serving three tours in Vietnam, earning three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, and rising to the rank of major. There is just one childhood secret you would rather your fellow Marines never discover. You were once the voice of Disney’s Bambi.

Donnie Dunagan, who voiced young Bambi in Walt Disney’s 1942 animated classic, died on November 4, 2026, at the age of 92. After Hollywood, he built an entirely different life, keeping his acting past almost completely to himself.

Before his Disney fame, Dunagan appeared in Son of Frankenstein (1939), playing young Peter von Frankenstein alongside Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone. He later recalled playing checkers with Karloff while the actor was still wearing his full Frankenstein monster makeup. Imagine treating one of cinema’s most frightening monsters like an ordinary fellow looking for a game of checkers.

Dunagan joined the Marines in 1952 and served for 25 years. He completed three tours in Vietnam, became the Marines’ youngest drill instructor and retired as a major in 1977. His service earned him three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, but his Hollywood past was something he preferred to keep out of the barracks.

In a 2015 recorded conversation for StoryCorps, an American nonprofit that preserves personal stories through interviews, Dunagan spoke with his wife, Dana. He explained that he kept his acting career quiet because he worried his fellow Marines might not take him seriously if they knew he had voiced a Disney fawn. The nickname practically wrote itself: Major Bambi.

Even Dana hadn’t known about his Hollywood past when they first met. Eventually, a senior Marine officer discovered the secret and called him into his office. Dunagan recalled that the general knew exactly who he was and even used the nickname Major Bambi when assigning him a task. After all those years, the secret was out.

I think Dunagan made the right call keeping his Hollywood past under wraps. I’m sure his fellow Marines would have made fun of him, and you can imagine the jokes around the barracks. He had spent years earning respect through his service and courage, so I understand why he wanted to be judged on those achievements rather than his childhood acting role.

I have a personal connection to Bambi. The first book I ever purchased as a kid was Walt Disney’s Bambi, and I loved it. I suppose it’s a little like my own Rosebud. In Citizen Kane, that mysterious word represented a lifetime of memories. Mine isn’t a sled. It’s a book that takes me back to a time when a story could open up an entire world.

As a teenager, I discovered Bambi Meets Godzilla, the wonderfully ridiculous 1969 animated short by filmmaker Marv Newland. The joke was simple: Bambi peacefully goes about his business until Godzilla’s enormous foot comes crashing down. Childhood innocence, meet giant radioactive monster.

I remember the absurdity of it. The sweet little deer from my childhood was suddenly being flattened by one of cinema’s most famous monsters. Growing up can be a rough business when Godzilla gets involved.

Learning that the voice behind a book I loved belonged to a decorated Marine is heartwarming in a strange way. I sometimes find myself longing for those innocent days when the world seemed bigger and the possibilities endless. I never expected those childhood memories to lead me to a story like this.

For me, it all comes back to that first book. I never imagined that the little voice I grew up with belonged to a man who would go on to become a decorated Marine. Donnie Dunagan lived two extraordinary lives, and somehow they both led to the same unforgettable name: Major Bambi. Even Godzilla couldn’t stomp that one out.