Who initially performed the voice of Donald Duck, the Walt Disney character?

Donald Duck was created by Walt Disney when he heard Clarence Nash doing a "duck" voice while reciting the nineteenth-century nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb. Disney then wanted a character that was more negative than Mickey Mouse, so the bad-tempered Duck was born.

From 1934 to 1983, Clarence Nash, an American voice actor, was the voice of the Disney character, Donald Duck. He was known for being the distinctive voice of this Disney cartoon character for almost 50 years, in over 120 promos and films. When he was ending his career as a voice actor, he personally decided to train Tony Anselmo to take over for him as Donald's voice.

Because of the way Donald talked (pronounced his words), Mickey Mouse at least once, if not several times told him, "Donald, I can't understand a word ya say.”

Specifically, concerning the life of Clarence Nash, he was born in Watonga, Oklahoma on December 7, 1904. He died on February 20, 1985 of leukemia in the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California at the age of 80. He was interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. The tombstone of the grave he now shares with his wife Margaret Nash (who died in 1993) depicts a carving of Donald and Daisy Duck holding hands.