The control room at Cerny/American Creative in Chicago, the recording studio JoBe Cerny ran for more than 30 years, with a mixing desk, a lamp and a window into the booth. Image: Cerny/American Creative
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JoBe Cerny, Who Gave the Pillsbury Doughboy His Giggle, Dies at 78. He Was Also the Cheer Man Who Never Said a Word

Leah Brannigan · November 10, 2026 · 5 min read

JoBe Cerny, the Chicago actor whose giggle came out of the Pillsbury Doughboy for decades, has died at 78. His son says he died on 30 October in Illinois after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Millions also knew his face, if not his name, as the silent man in the Cheer detergent ads.

The news went public on Tuesday, eleven days after his death, when TMZ reported it with comments from his son, Tim Cerny. Tim said his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's around 2020 and stepped away from voicing the Doughboy around that time as his health declined. An obituary from Strang Funeral Chapel in Grayslake, Illinois, where he lived, says a private service has already been held for immediate family.

The Doughboy, known to Pillsbury as Poppin' Fresh, first appeared in commercials in November 1965, and Paul Frees was its first voice. The Times of Northwest Indiana reported in a 2012 profile that Cerny had been providing the famous giggle since 1987. TMZ called him "the man who brought the iconic Pillsbury Doughboy to life with his unmistakable voice," and the obituary says he'll be best remembered for his work in advertising, "where he provided the iconic voice for the Pillsbury Doughboy and was the Silent Demonstrator for Cheer Detergent."

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