The most famous voice talent in cartoon history, Mel Blanc was the Looney Tunes star who voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and dozens of others. Blanc grew up in Portland, Oregon, where he worked in radio from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, when he headed to Hollywood. He landed voice work with Walter Lantz and Walt Disney, but it was his long (and eventually exclusive) relationship with Warner Brothers’ Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes that brought Blanc fame. He worked for Warner Brothers cartoons from 1937 to 1969 and helped shape the characters that would become world famous: Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester & Tweety, Pepe LePew, Wile E. Coyote, Speedy Gonzalez, Yosemite Sam and others. While voicing cartoons he also worked in radio, most memorably with Judy Canova and Jack Benny (Blanc did the comic sounds of Maxwell, Benny’s sputtering jalopy). After Warner Brothers shut down their animation department Blanc did voice work for films and commercials (the Frito Bandito), and enjoyed his position as the most famous cartoon voice in the world.
Extra credit: Blanc is also credited with creating the character voices for Woody Woodpecker and Barney Rubble (Fred Flintstone’s sidekick and neighbor).
This awesome 1981 video of Mel Blanc invited on Lettermans’ Show speaks for itself
Bonus:
This post was written by bullets on October 18, 2007
