American voice actor and radio personality (1908–1989)
Mel Blanc
Blanc in 1959
Born
Melvin Jerome Blank
(1908-05-30)May 30, 1908
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died
July 10, 1989(1989-07-10) (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Other names
"The Man of 1000 Voices"
Occupation(s)
Voice actor, radio personality
Years active
1927–1989
Spouse
Estelle Rosenbaum
(m. 1933)
Children
Noel Blanc
Awards
Inkpot Award (1976)[1]
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank/blæŋk/;[2][3] May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989)[4] was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, and his own short-lived sitcom.
However, he became known worldwide for his work in the Golden Age of American Animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, and numerous other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons.[5] Blanc also voiced the Looney Tunes characters Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd after replacing their original performers Joe Dougherty and Arthur Q. Bryan, respectively, although he occasionally voiced Elmer during Bryan's lifetime as well.[5] He later voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera's television cartoons, including Barney Rubble and Dino on The Flintstones, Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons, Secret Squirrel on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, the title character of Speed Buggy, and Captain Caveman on Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and The Flintstone Kids.[5]
Referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices",[6] he is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry, and as one of the greatest voice actors of all time.[7]
^"Inkpot Award". Comic-con.org. December 6, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
^"Blanc". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
^"Blanc". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
^Flint, Peter B. (July 11, 1989). "Mel Blanc, Who Provided Voices For 3,000 Cartoons, Is Dead at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
^ abc"Mel Blanc". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
^Harmetz, Aljean (November 24, 1988). "Man of a Thousand Voices, Speaking Literally". The New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
^"Mel Blanc's bio at Ochcom.org". Retrieved October 20, 2014.
Blanc (born October 19, 1938) is an American commercial producer, retired voice actor, and the son of the late cartoon voice actor MelBlanc. Blanc was...
Talky Hawky. Foghorn's voice was created and originally performed by MelBlanc and was later performed by Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey, Greg Burson, Frank...
Finlayson (a frequent foil to Laurel and Hardy) and Frank Nelson (one of MelBlanc's costars on The Jack Benny Program). Freleng also cited the Terrible-Tempered...
Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger Productions) and voiced originally by MelBlanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie...
version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor MelBlanc, who was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb, Kent Rogers, Dick Nelson...
people may hold, owing to the long eyelashes and high-pitched voice (which MelBlanc provided), Tweety is male although his ambiguity was played with. For...
MelBlanc. They both speak with pronounced Southern accents. Bunny and Claude are pursued by a stereotypical Southern sheriff (also voiced by Blanc in...
Merrie Melodies. One of Egghead's final appearances is Count Me Out. MelBlanc (as Egghead; Egghead Rides Again, and Egghead when he "woo-hoos" in Daffy...
The mice call in the plucky, excessively energetic Speedy (voiced by MelBlanc) to save them. Amid cries of "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! ¡Epe...
was the first to replace MelBlanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny and several other Warner Bros. cartoon characters following Blanc's death in 1989. Bergman...
Porky's additional lines were done by Count Cutelli. MelBlanc replaced Dougherty in 1937. Blanc continued the stutter; however, it was harnessed for...
Avery, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and Robert McKimson and voice actor MelBlanc later in the decade. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featured Looney...
1970s and 1980s, Douglas worked as an executive for MelBlanc and Noel Blanc's media company, Blanc Communications Corporation, developing and producing...
the years are his voice characterization by MelBlanc; and his black feathers with a white neck ring. Blanc's characterization of Daffy once held the world...
asked Blanc what was the difference between Daffy and Sylvester's voices. Blanc said to him that Daffy is a Jew and Sylvester is a Gentile. MelBlanc (1945–1989...
the other characters were based on their The Honeymooners counterparts, MelBlanc was asked to model Barney's voice after the voice of Ed Norton, but he...
Chuck Jones was quoted as saying: "June Foray is not the female MelBlanc. MelBlanc was the male June Foray." June Lucille Forer was born on September...
animated cartoons featuring Daffy Duck. He was voiced by vocal artist MelBlanc, and in later years by other vocal artists such as Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey...
(voiced by MelBlanc) first appeared in The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series in 1962, along with Wally Gator and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. MelBlanc used the...
Tunes Little Red Walking Hood - voiced by MelBlanc (MM, Tex Avery) The Isle of Pingo Pongo - voiced by MelBlanc (MM, Tex Avery) Cinderella Meets Fella...
lines due to the length of the audio and budgetary issues. After that, MelBlanc took over the role and voiced Porky for 52 years. Dougherty spoke with...
Belding Agency and animated by Tex Avery. The character was voiced by MelBlanc, who used an exaggerated Mexican accent not unlike another character of...
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