Christine Cavanaugh Dead
Christine Cavanaugh was known as the voice of Chuckie Finster on "Rugrats." She is pictured with her character at the November 1998 premiere of "The Rugrats Movie." Reuters

Christine Cavanaugh, who provided the voices of beloved 1990s cartoon characters like Chuckie Finster of "Rugrats" and Dexter of "Dexter's Laboratory," died Dec. 22 at age 51, TMZ reported. No details have been released about the circumstances surrounding her death.

Cavanaugh's childlike voices (often those of boy characters) were beloved by viewers of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other animation outlets. She worked on “Aaahhh!!! Real Monsters,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” numerous "Rugrats" spinoff movies, "The Powerpuff Girls," "Darkwing Duck" and more. She voiced Babe the pig in the 1995 sleeper hit film “Babe.”

When she wasn't busy lending her famous voice to children's films and TV shows, the actress also appeared onscreen. She guest-starred on the TV series “The X-Files" and “ER" and had a small part in Tom Cruise’s 1996 film “Jerry Maguire,” among other credits. She retired in 2001, according to IMDb.

“Many know of her from the roles she played, but in each role there was a part of her showing through that the ones who truly knew her could see,” her obituary in the Los Angeles Times read. “The childlike awe of the world, humor to deal with the unpleasantness of reality, strength to deal with the challenges we all face, and intelligence to know when to act or accept what fate had allowed. Christine lived her life the way she wanted.”

According to her obituary, Cavanaugh was married in 1985 to Kevin Cavanaugh, but their marriage ended in divorce. The couple had no children. Cavanaugh is survived by two siblings, six half siblings and several nieces and nephews. The family held a memorial for her on Antelope Island, a state park in her home state of Utah.

Fans have taken to Twitter to express their sorrow over losing the actress.

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