Paul Winchell, best known as the voice of Tigger in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh cartoons and Gargamel in The Smurfs, has died at the age of 82, according to the Associated Press. Winchell began his career as a ventriloquist in the 1930s, and went on to star in his own TV shows in the 50s and 60s. He began what would be a long career as a voiceover actor starting in 1962 with The Jetsons, and in 1968 created his most popular voice part as Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. During this time he also found time to work as an accomplished inventor. Among his 30 patents are a disposable razor, a flameless cigarette lighter, an invisible garter belt, and – most importantly – an artificial heart (at the request of the University of Utah, his patent was donated for their use and became an important piece of the development of the first implanted artificial hearts). In 1974, Winchell won a Grammy Award for Best Recording For Children for his work on the Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too record. In 1997, he was awarded ASIFA-Hollywood’s Winsor McCay Award for lifetime acheivement. A year later he was nominated for an Annie Award for Individual Achievement for Voice Acting for Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. Winchell died June 24th “in his sleep at his Moorpark home, Burt Du Brow”, a television producer and close family friend said. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, five children, and three grandchildren.