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Jackie Vernon voiced one of pop culture’s most beloved, jolly characters. Off-screen, his life was anything but joyful: the stand-up comic had multiple secret families and battled a serious Quaalude addiction.
The shocking truth about the man who famously voiced “Frosty the Snowman” was revealed by his son, David Vernon, in a recent interview on “Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia.”
The star died in 1987 at age 63.
‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE’ CHILD STAR SUFFERED A SERIES OF TRAGEDIES AFTER BRINGING CLASSIC HOLIDAY FILM TO LIFE
“Frosty the Snowman” premiered in 1969. (Rankin-Bass Productions/ALAMY)
During the sit-down, David shared that the performer, born Ralph Verrone, had three families before he started a new life with his wife, Hazel. The couple married in 1958 and remained together until his death. They shared three children.
Life at the Vernon household was full of surprises. However, nothing prepared David for a knock at the door one fateful day.
“There was a woman there with a kid who was older than I was,” he recalled on the show. “He was probably in his late teens, and he was a little rough around the edges looking. And the woman asked to speak to my dad. And I said, ‘My dad’s on the road. He’s not home.’
Jackie Vernon died in 1987 at age 63. (Norman James/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
“And then I remembered she was very firm,” said David. “She’s like, ‘Well, I want to speak to your mother then.’ So, my mom came, and I guess she assessed what the situation was right away, but my mom told me to go upstairs. … I heard a somewhat heated conversation going on. And then a couple of minutes later, they left.”
WATCH: THE DARK SECRET BEHIND THE BELOVED VOICE OF ‘FROSTY THE SNOWMAN’
David then confronted his mother.
“I asked my mom, ‘Who was that?’” said David. “And it finally came out that before our family, my dad had been married at least three other times, which I was kind of shocked to find out.”
Vernon found fame playing a series of “lovable losers” on TV shows such as “The Dean Martin Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “The Merv Griffin Show,” among others, the Los Angeles Times reported. But before showbiz came calling, the performer had other marriages — and other children.
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Jackie Vernon is seen here in 1965. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“One marriage, I think, was when he was in the military, when he was like 19,” said David. “And from these marriages, he had sons, and he named them all Ralph after himself, after his original name, Ralph Verrone. But he also abandoned all these families. He left them, moved on. My mom wasn’t even sure if he had divorced one of the women or was even married to another one.”
“But when my parents were married, they had a deal,” David continued. “She would name the boys, and he could name the girls. She had sort of gotten this idea that a Ralph was an unloved kid — a kid that was left-behind — and she wanted to make sure that I was never going to be a Ralph. That’s when I realized that my mom had this plan that he stayed with our family and didn’t abandon us.”
In later years, Vernon was described as having “sadness that radiated” from him. As his career slowed in the 1970s and ’80s, that sorrow turned into a battle with depression, David said.
WATCH: ‘FROSTY THE SNOWMAN’ EXPOSED: APPARENTLY THE ONLY THING NOT FROZEN WAS HIS DATING LIFE
“He went through some of his own demons with depression and addiction,” said David. “His addiction was really to tranquilizers — Quaaludes and Valium. It really took a toll on him.”
“He had to work very hard to break free from that depression. It was a hard struggle for him. It was hard for us to see him go through that.”
Vernon voiced Frosty in the 1969 animated special. He reprised the role in “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” (1976) and “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July” (1979).
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After the 1969 special, Jackie Vernon reprised the role in “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” (1976) and “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July” (1979). (Rankin-Bass Productions/ALAMY)
David revealed that his father had strong reservations about taking on the role. The patriarch once quipped, “I guess all the fat guys were out of town.”
“He didn’t take it very seriously,” David explained.
“He didn’t want to do it. He thought it was a little beneath him. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it also wasn’t a lot of work. He didn’t have a lot of confidence in it. I think somebody else had dropped out, and he had the time to do it. He didn’t really prep much for it. He didn’t think about it. He barely told us about it. … He thought it was just going to be a little something that aired one year and then totally disappeared and would be scratched off his résumé.”
In the later years, Jackie Vernon struggled with addiction and depression. (Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
When “Frosty the Snowman” first aired, Vernon’s children gave it a frosty reception.
“We weren’t impressed,” said David. “… But then, at the end, when Frosty melts, that was kind of shocking to us. … We weren’t really ready for that. It freaked us out, actually. My younger sister had thought, ‘What? Daddy’s melting? He’s dying.’
“It was kind of pandemonium. She started crying, and she was really upset, and I was kind of confused. And my mom, she was like, ‘Your dad’s OK. He’s not dead. He is at The Playboy Club in Chicago.’ And she had to try to get him on the phone. Later, he called back and reassured us that he was fine.”
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Before his death, Jackie Vernon grew especially fond of “Frosty the Snowman.” (CBS/Courtesy of Getty Images)
After decades of dismissing Frosty, Vernon grew proud of the role. David shared that it gave his father peace at the end of his life and uplifted his spirit. He found joy knowing his work continued to make audiences smile.
“He had accepted his place in showbiz,” said David. “One of the last Christmases when my dad was still around … We all watched [‘Frosty the Snowman’] together, and he was so proud of it. He enjoyed it. He laughed at it. He was so happy that he had done it, and it became a very warm spot in his heart. And I loved seeing that for him.”
“Even though my dad did so many things — he worked with Judy Garland, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra — [‘Frosty’] was the one thing that people really remembered him for,” he shared.
Jackie Vernon is seen here for the “Celebrity Roast of Ed McMahon” hosted by Dean Martin. (Gary Null/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images)
“And newer generations found it. He really embraced it. He accepted that he was going to be remembered for it, and he was really proud of it. He loved it when kids would come over and talk to him. Every Christmas, friends would ask him to call their kids and do the Frosty voice. It became a real source of pride for him.”
David insisted that his father is never too far away, especially during the holidays.
“Every year — it’s already happened once this year — I’ll go into a CVS or Walgreens, and I’ll hear my dad’s voice,” he said. “It will be that there’s some plush Frosty toy that somebody’s pressed the button on, and I hear him from another aisle. It’s a weird experience, but it’s kind of nice. I feel, like Frosty, he does come back every Christmas.”