Nicole Cowgill Jaffe (born May 23, 1941) is a retired Canadian actress. She is best known as the original voice actress for Velma Dinkley in Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoon series from 1969 to 1973.

Biography

In 1969, Jaffe married Actors Studio^[1] classmate Brad David at the age of 28.

Under her maiden name, Nicole Jaffe, she appeared in The Trouble with Girls (1969) with Elvis Presley and Scooby-Doo voice actor Frank Welker, and in Disney's The Love Bug (1968). She also starred in a stage production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown as Patty,^[2] where she was seen by Hanna-Barbera recording director Gordon Hunt, who auditioned her for and eventually cast her as Velma on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

During the second season of Scooby-Doo, in 1970, after Stefanianna Christopherson, who voiced Daphne on Scooby-Doo, left the show, Jaffe recommended her roommate Heather North as a replacement;^[2] North voiced Daphne in various Scooby productions for the next three decades. Velma was Jaffe's only voice role, which she reprised in the spin-off series The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972–74). During this time, Nicole also appeared in a starring role in the Room 222 second season episode "What Would We Do Without Bobbie?" in 1970.

Jaffe retired from acting in 1973 and went into talent representation. Under her married name - Nicole David – she and Arnold Rifkin formed the Rifkin/David agency in 1982, which was merged two years later into the Triad Artists agency.^[3] Triad was sold to the larger William Morris Agency in 1992 for over $20 million.^[3][4] David worked as a senior agent and senior vice president at William Morris and its successor William Morris Endeavor until 2013; her clients over the years have included John Travolta, Whitney Houston, Lauryn Hill, and Elijah Wood.^[4][5]

She occasionally returned to the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1977 through 2003, concluding with two direct-to-video movies: Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico.

Nicole David was divorced from Brad David in 1979 (she kept her married name). She then married L.A. photographer Brian Braff in 1982. Subsequently, Braff founded the charity group for teens and young adults who have cancer, High School Yearbook: A Teen & Young Adult Cancer Community.^[6] David served on the charity's board of directors.

Filmography