Lionel Wilson was an American voice actor with a career spanning over six decades, recognized for his extensive work in animation, particularly from the mid-20th century through the early 2000s. Born Lionel Lazarus Salzer on March 22, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, his professional journey began not in voiceover but on the stage at the age of twelve. He performed in numerous theatrical productions, including four on Broadway, and studied Radio Production at New York University, a background that would underpin his later success in voice acting.

Wilson's voice acting career gained significant momentum in 1957 when animator Gene Deitch invited him to work at Terrytoons. There, he voiced all the characters for the innovative cartoon series Tom Terrific, including the title character, his dog Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and the villain Crabby Appleton. This role established him as a versatile talent, leading to a long association with Terrytoons where he voiced characters in numerous series and shorts, such as Sidney the Elephant in a series that earned an Academy Award nomination for the short Sidney's Family Tree, Vincent Van Gopher in Deputy Dawg, and various characters in The Mighty Heroes and the Possible Possum series.

In addition to his work for Terrytoons, Wilson lent his voice to a variety of other projects, including English-language dubs of animated features from other countries. Notably, he voiced Buzzer in the film World's Famous Stories for Children: Thumb Princess. His work in the field of Japanese anime dubbing also includes the role of Glikko in Enchanted Journey and Jason Jetter in the later episodes of the space opera series Star Blazers. He also voiced the title character in the English version of Puss n' Boots Around the World.

Wilson's final and perhaps most widely recognized role came in 1999 when, at the age of 75, he was cast as the voice of the cantankerous farmer Eustace Bagge on the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog. He provided the voice for Eustace in 33 episodes of the series before retiring due to illness in 2001. Beyond his on-screen voice work, Wilson was also a prolific narrator for children's audiobooks, with over 100 titles to his credit, and authored several children's books himself. Lionel Wilson passed away on April 30, 2003, leaving behind a substantial body of work that spanned the golden age of television animation to the modern era.