His parents were actors, but Jack decided to pursue his love of art. He got a job as an inbetweener (rookie animator) at the Fleischer studio. Dave Fleischer happened to hear him singing the Popeye theme song in a funny voice, and asked Jack to try voicing one cartoon. He later became a writer at the Fleischer studio.
Following his death, he was interred at Summerfield Methodist Cemetery in Oxford, Warren County, New Jersey.
Jack Mercer passed away on December 4, 1984, 40 days away from what would have been his 75th birthday on January 13, 1985.
Mercer was the son of vaudeville and Broadway performers, and so his background included performing on the vaudeville and theatre.
Jack was only eighteen when he landed the role of Popeye and was actually frightened, he would not be able to sustain the voice for a long period of time. He would go home everyday and practice continuously to get his voice deep enough.
Mercer's natural voice was relatively high-pitched for a man, and he was able to do some of the female voices as well.
Mercer liked to imitate voices, he was so good, he suffered one close call where he mimicked the high-pitched and loud voice of the wife of one of the Fleischers after he mistakenly thought she had left the studio.
Mercer's first wife Margie Hines provided the voice of Olive Oyl from 1939 to 1944.
The voice of Popeye the Sailor
