The girl who voiced Ducky in “The Land Before Time“, also voiced Ann-Marie in “All Dogs Go To Heaven“, another childhood movie favourite of mine. The actress’ name was Judith Eva Barsi, and she was shot and killed by her own father at the tragic age of 10.

By the age of 7, Judith was making about $100,000 a year, and was able to bring her mother and father off of welfare. It was said that Judith loved voice acting, and wanted to do it into adulthood, however, her father was an abusive alcoholic, whose condition only worsened as Judith’s career grew.

On Monday, July 25, 1988, Judith missed an audition for a role in an upcoming TV cartoon series. Two days later, it was discovered that Judith’s father had shot her and her mother in their home, set the house on fire, and then shot himself. Judith and her mother were buried in unmarked graves in the Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Hollywood Hills, California.

“All Dogs Go To Heaven” wasn’t completed until 2 years after Judith’s death, and the song that was used in the credits, “Love Survives”, was dedicated to her as a final farewell from the film’s cast and crew. In 2004, a marker was added to her grave. Along with the words, “Our Concrete Angel” the marker also featured Ducky’s signature phrase, as Judith always said that Ducky was her favourite role to play.