Ronnie Schell is an American actor and stand-up comedian with a career spanning over six decades, during which he has contributed numerous voice performances to animated series and films, including several notable English-dubbed anime productions. Born on December 23, 1931, in Richmond, California, Schell initially aspired to be a professional baseball player before serving in the U.S. Air Force, where he first performed as a comedic emcee. He later studied drama at San Francisco State University, graduating in 1958.

Schell's career began in stand-up comedy, leading to television guest spots and his breakthrough live-action role as Private Duke Slater on the CBS sitcom Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. from 1964 to 1969. Concurrent with his on-camera work, he built an extensive voice acting resume, becoming a familiar presence in animation from the 1970s onward.

In the realm of anime, Schell is recognized for his work on English adaptations produced for American audiences. He provided the voice for the character Jason in the seminal 1978 English-dubbed anime series Battle of the Planets, an adaptation of the Japanese series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. His role in anime also includes voicing Samson in the 1987 animated television film Ultraman: The Adventure Begins. This production was a co-production between the Japanese studio Tsuburaya Productions and the American animation studio Hanna-Barbera, created as a pilot for a potential series. In the film, Samson is one of three robotic companions who assist the human protagonists, and Schell's performance contributed to the character's role in the ensemble.

Beyond these specific anime credits, Schell's voice acting career is marked by a vast number of roles in American animated television. He was a recurring voice actor for Hanna-Barbera and other major studios, contributing to hundreds of episodes of popular series. His extensive filmography includes voicing characters in shows such as The Smurfs, where he voiced Pushover Smurf and others, DuckTales, The Flintstone Kids, and later, Lloyd in Space and Megas XLR. He also voiced Colonel Calloway in the animated film Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. His work often involved providing additional voices and character parts, demonstrating his versatility across family-oriented animation.