Daphne Blake

Daphne Blake is a fashion-loving character in the long-running American animated series Scooby-Doo. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her red hair, her fashion sense, her catch phrase ("jeepers!"), and her tendency to get into danger, hence earning from Fred the nickname "Danger-prone Daphne."

Actresses portraying Daphne
Daphne was voiced in the first season (1969-70) of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! by Indira Stefanianna Christopherson. When Christopherson married in 1970, Heather North assumed her role. North continued to voice Daphne until 1980, when Daphne was dropped from the series.

Daphne returned to Scooby-Dooby-Doo with The All-New Scooby and Happy-Puppy Hour Show in 1983, and North resumed her role as voice actress until Scooby-Doo was cancelled in 1986. North returned to play Daphne in the Johnny Bravo-Scooby Doo crossover episode before taking leave again. She returned once again to play Daphne in Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico before leaving for good. Kellie Martin voiced the junior-high school aged Daphne in the Pup Named Scooby-Doo series from 1988 until 1991. Recent voice actresses have included the late Mary Kay Bergman (1998 - 2000) and Grey DeLisle (2001 - current). In the two live-action Scooby-Doo films, Daphne is portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Character Biography
Together with her other cohorts, Frederick "Freddie" Jones, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy's pet Great Dane Scooby-Doo, Daphne would engage in solving various mysteries the gang would run across. She was often portrayed as the stereotypical "damsel in distress", being the one female in the group who was most likely to get kidnapped, tied up, and left helpless in some hiding-place.

While not as smart as she looks, Daphne would attempt to solve her problems in a different way. The character later became more confident and started playing a more active role as time went on, a result of changing attitudes towards women during the 1970s and 1980s. In What's New, Scooby Doo?, Daphne has also been known to open locks or do other tasks with strange items from her purse. It has been theorized by many viewers that Daphne and Fred are attracted to one another, something the later direct-to-video features and the Warner Bros. feature films toyed with while never officially putting them together.

Daphne's character is more danger prone in the early Scooby-Doo spinoffs, when the focus of the series briefly shifted to her, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Shaggy. This was particularly noteworthy in the spinoff The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.

The A Pup Named Scooby-Doo version of a youthful Daphne would commonly call upon her butler, Jenkins, to do various tasks, such as ridding her of people, beating a monster up, etc. This version was also portrayed as much more fashion-sensitive than the mature Daphne.

Relatives
Relatives of Daphne shown during the series' run include:

George R. Blake: Daphne's father, the creator of the product "Blake's Bubbles".

Elizabeth Blake: Daphne's mother.

Uncle Matt: Daphne's uncle, a cattle rancher.

John Maxwell: Daphne's uncle, a movie director.

Olivia Derby: Daphne's aunt.

Jennifer: Daphne's cousin.

Dannika: Daphne's cousin, a famous French model.

Shannon Blake: Daphne's Scottish cousin.