Ben Whitehead Impersonates Peter Sallis to Voice Wallace in Netflix’s ‘Wallace and Gromit’ Movie

The stop-motion animation series known as Wallace & Gromit has made a return with a new movie, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, currently available for streaming on Netflix. However, the absence of a fundamental member of the team is felt as Wallace’s long-standing voice actor, Peter Sallis, passed away in 2017 at the age of 96.

Despite this loss, the transition in the movie is nearly imperceptible. Ben Whitehead, who now lends his voice to Wallace, delivers a strikingly accurate impression of Sallis that may escape the notice of most viewers.

In addressing the loss of Sallis, Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park expressed his sentiments in an interview for the movie’s press notes, saying, “When Peter Sallis passed away, it was of course incredibly sad. What he brought to Wallace the character was irreplaceable really, so that gave us a big problem.”

As Merlin Crossingham—who co-directed the new movie with Park—explained in that same interview, it was a no-brainer for the team when it came to who would voice the bumbling, British inventor in this new film.

“Ben Whitehead, who is now the voice of Wallace, was actually Peter’s understudy,” Crossingham said. “Over the years we’ve worked very closely with him and for us it’s been a very natural progression. For everybody outside, it’s quite a new thing, but Ben has done Wallace’s voice for a good eleven years or so.”

Wallace is voiced by British actor Ben Whitehead in Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Originally from Cheshire, England, Whitehead has been working with Aardman Animations on the Wallace & Gromit films since 2003. He voiced the character of Mr. Leaching in the 2005 feature film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and also acted as a stand-in for Sallis in certain scenes.

“I had the pleasure and honor of working with Peter on Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” Whitehead said in an interview for the Vengeance Most Fowl press notes. “I was a ‘read in’ actor, but it just so happened that I could do his voice, so it was helpful for the other actors when they were recording their lines. Peter was a brilliant guy to work with, and I’m so glad I got the chance to be in the same room as him.”

Whitehead was also already the voice of Wallace in the 2009 Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures video game. Needless to say, he was the most experienced candidate for the job!

“There are always challenges to approach a character that someone else has done,” Whitehead said. “You take as much as you can from what Peter brought to this character, which was really created with Peter Sallis in mind, but then you have to bring your own characterization. There’s a musicality to the way Peter talks, the inflections and the elongated vowels, which very much influenced the character of Wallace, but it’s important not to focus too much on that.”

Whatever Whitehead did, it absolutely worked. He completely embodies Wallace in the new film, from every verbal tic and unique inflection. A smashing, cracking job!