Gopher (Winnie the Pooh)

"I'm not in the book, you know." Gopher is a character from Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise. He doesn't exist in the novels by A.A Milne. He is friends with Winnie The Pooh,Tigger,Rabbit and Owl. He usually screams when he falls in his hole.

Background
Gopher was the only character in the original shorts that was not based on someone from the A.A. Milne books, a fact he notes in his first appearance when he says "I'm not in the book, you know!" Instead, he was initially developed by Disney as a replacement for Piglet. Apparently the proposed character of Gopher was thought to have a more "folksy, all-American, grass-roots image" than Piglet. While American audiences loved the character, British audiences were less than pleased.

Gopher is also known for his unique voice characterization. He tends to whistle his consonants, particularly his S's. This is lampshaded in his debut; when Pooh impersonates Gopher's speech pattern while asking for honey, Gopher tells Pooh he should do something about his speech impediment.

Personality
Gopher has a very plain personality; he is rarely seen outside of his burrow so not much is known about him socially. He is generally a hard-worker, especially in his mine shafts (tunnels) and spends most of his time tediously working on them. Despite his low social life, Gopher is not a silent character, while talking to the other animals he has a habit of whistling out his sibilant consonants.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese : Mahito Tsujimura''' (1977 - Present)
 * English : Howard Morris (1977), Michael Gough (1987 - Present)