The Curious Case of the Human Torch

There appears to be some confusion online over who played the Human Torch in Hanna-Barbera's Fantastic Four cartoon. A man named Jac Flounders was credited, but most fan websites and even Wikipedia agree that this was little more than a stage name for someone else, that being actor Jack DeLeon. Since the Fantastic Four film trailer came out, several outlets have repeated this claim. I have no idea where it came from, but let's examine it for a moment. 

For those unaware, DeLeon (pictured left) was an actor who worked from the early sixties to the late nineties. He was best known for his role as Marty Morrison on the series Barney Miller, but he was also heard in various animated productions throughout the years. He played characters in The Hobbit, Kwicky Koala, and the 1981 Spider-Man, just to name a few. He also portrayed the Mole Man in this version of Fantastic Four, and given that he went by other names during his career (he was credited as Christopher Weeks in his later years), it seems possible that he did voice Torch.

 That's the belief many hold, and even I thought the same before I started my research. As I rewatched the series, part of me didn't buy the idea that the same man voiced the Mole Man and Johnny Storm. Sure, they sound a little alike, but they're not that similar. I decided to look more into this Jac Flounders fellow, and somehow, I think I've managed to get to the bottom of this. To cut to the chase, no, Jack DeLeon did not voice Human Torch. It was, indeed, Jac Flounders. Well, Jac Flanders, to be exact. He was born Jac Flounders but changed his last name sometime after the show aired. Now, who was Jac Flanders? 

Jac Flanders was born on March 6th, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent most of his adolescence in Virginia, writing stories and appearing in plays. After graduating from the University of Richmond, he began to write ads for several agencies. He traveled all across the country during this time and eventually found himself in Hollywood. Shortly after his arrival, he became good friends with Mr. Fantastic, Gerald Mohr.

 You may be thinking Mohr got him the Fantastic Four gig, but according to Flanders, that wasn't the case. Flanders was actually friends with a writer on the show, who suggested he audition for it during a poker game. As you can imagine, Flanders was shocked to see Mohr enter the room for their first recording session. 

Now is a good time to discuss Flanders's take on Torch. Jac did a solid job bringing Johnny Storm's hot-headed and youthful energy to the screen. He's great, especially considering this was his first voice-over role. He didn't come from radio like Gerald Mohr, nor was he a cartoon legend like Paul Frees, but he took the challenge of voice acting head-on and conquered it. Even that description sounds pretty in line with the character of Human Torch.

After Fantastic Four ended production, Flanders more or less left the acting world. He had a few bit parts, but that was it. In the years following the show, he'd become the personal assistant to the one and only Jerry Lewis. In the nineties, he wrote several TV specials. He'd even get his own news program, The Adventures of Jac Flanders, on KTXL in the eighties. 

Jac Flanders appears to have retired around 2011, though he would publish an autobiography, What I Learned on the Way Down, several years beforehand. Sadly, Flanders passed away in March 2024. The news was made public through several Jerry Lewis fan pages on social media, which he also interacted with. He is survived by his wife and son. I send the best of wishes to Flanders' family, friends, and anyone else whose lives he touched. 

If you'd like to know more about Jac Flanders, I have a couple of places you could look at. You could read the aforementioned autobiography, but it's also worth mentioning that Flanders also had several websites. One was a blog full of his writings, and you can check it out here. He also had a more straightforward website during the 2000s that showcased his body of work. This is an archive of the website, but you'll need a flash substitute for it to work. All of these resources proved invaluable in putting this post together. I've really only scratched the surface of his life, so I recommend giving some of these a look.

So there you have it. Jac Flanders and Jack DeLeon were two separate individuals, and Flanders was indeed the man who portrayed Human Torch. Beyond setting this story straight, I hope I've done a good job bringing light to the life and work of the first man to portray the fire of the Fantastic Four. To wrap this post up in a nice bow, here's a segment of Jac Flanders during his KTXL days. Though this was twenty years after his work on Fantastic Four, he still sounds like Johnny.