VU Grad, legendary pitchman JoBe Cerny scratches his head at some Super Bowl commercials

The Academy Award nominated film "The Artist" is attracting crowds as it tells a story of drama and humor in two hours — all without saying a world.

JoBe Cerny isn't surprised that people can be effectively drawn to the sounds of silence.

He was doing the same decades before for one of the most successful advertising campaigns of the 1990s.

The 1970 Valparaiso University alumnus is known to millions as "the Cheer detergent man," the poker-faced soul who faithfully pushed laundry soap without ever saying a word. Wearing his trademark wire-rimmed glasses and sporting his "cookie duster" mustache, Cerny was usually shown gripping a soiled shirt in each hand and plunging them into sudsy water to reveal the results based on each detergent brand.

But it's also Cerny's tickled voice that rings a bell to many, in addition to his familiar pitchman face.

It's just his name that stumps people.

Cerny, 54, has also spent decades as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy. It's his pipes behind that famous giggle, which he's been providing since 1987.

So when it's Super Bowl weekend and everyone is talking about the hype associated with the launch of clever commercial campaigns, Cerny is  naturally curious, but not always impressed.

"There are many times today when commercials are so abstract and so carefully disguised, the audience has to try to figure out what's even being advertised," Cerny said.

"There's a difference between clever and clouded."

Cerny, who originally hails from Cicero, now lives in Highland Park, Ill. And ironically, his neighbor is David Rudman, who has been doing the voice and puppetry for "Sesame Street" staple Cookie Monster since 2002.

"It's pretty funny to think that the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy is next-door neighbors with the voice of Cookie Monster," said Cerny, who returned to the VU campus during the holidays to greet students and autograph copies of a new biblical stories boxed CD set featuring dozens of famous voices.

Cerny, who has his own state-of-the-art production company in Chicago called Cerny/American Creative, is especially proud of his set of audio Bible recordings featuring a who's who of famed names lending their vocals to bring to life greats of the scripture.

Actor Michael York provides the narration while Jim Caviezel, who starred in "The Passion of the Christ," reprises Jesus. Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss is Moses.

There's also Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene and Golden Globe winner Stacy Keach as Paul, Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Lou Gossett Jr. as John, Lou Diamond Phillips as Mark, Luke Perry as Judas and John Schneider of TV's "Dukes of Hazzard" as James.

"Word of Promise New Testament Audio Bible" sells for $49.99, "Word of Promise Complete Audio Bible" for $149.99 and the MP3 version for $79.99. For more details, contact the University Bookstore at (219) 464-5421 or visit cernyamerican.com.

"I'm still doing my commercial work, but this project has been my creative passion in recent years," said Cerny, who spent his early years performing in productions for Bill Welman's Bridge VU Theater in Valparaiso.

He went on to do his graduate work at Northwestern University, where he earned his master's degree in speech and drama in 1972.

He said he knew from the start that pursuing an acting career would be a challenge.

"I can remember making an appointment with the head of Northwestern's drama department to get some advice," Cerny said.

"I told him, this is something I really want to do. I can remember him telling me, 'Well, work real hard, and maybe if you're lucky, some day you'll get a beer commercial.'"

Today, Cerny has performed in more than 3,000 commercials worldwide, and has won more than 200 major American Advertising awards. His commercials have aired in 16 different countries. His Cheer commercials alone have won four Hugo awards at the International Film Festival and won a prestigious Clio award (the Emmy award of the commercial and advertising industry), winning more than 23,000 other commercials competing for the same honor.

But for Cerny, commercial work is not just his "bread and butter," it's his love.

"I'm really proud of all of the voice-overs and commercials I've done," he said.

"For some reason, my commercials were always especially very popular in Spanish-speaking countries."

Cerny has held many major commercial contracts, working for companies such as Ameritech, McDonald's and Kellogg's.

"I once did the voice for a talking raisin in a bowl of cereal for a television commercial," Cerny said.

"Now, that's not something everyone can say they've done before."

Cerny also admits to some regrets for contracts he has turned down.

"I can remember years ago, a company approached me for a big commercial advertising campaign, but they wanted to know if I could sing," Cerny said.

"Well, I do voice-over work. But I've never thought of myself as a singer. So, I told them no. They really wanted me, but what I eventually found out they wanted me to do was a jingle. They ended up hiring someone else who's voice is very similar to mine. The jingle they wanted me to sing was: 'Hamburger Helper ... When you need a helping hand.' I'm still kicking myself for that one."