Mel Blanc

The Man of a Thousand Voices behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and countless others.

via Wikipedia: Mel Blanc · see source

Mel Blanc was an American voice actor and radio performer whose career lasted more than sixty years. Nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Voices", he is often called the most influential voice actor ever. His lasting fame comes from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts made for Warner Bros. in the golden age of American animation, where he gave voice to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian and many more. He also took over Porky Pig from Joe Dougherty and later voiced Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Melvin Jerome Blank
Born: 30 May 1908
Birthplace: San Francisco, California, US
Died: 10 July 1989
Place of death: Los Angeles, California, US
Resting place: Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation: Voice actor, radio personality
Other names: "The Man of 1,000 Voices"

Facts from the source article.

Background

Born Melvin Jerome Blank on May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, he grew up there and later in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Lincoln High School. He started practicing voices and dialects at 10 and said he changed Blank to Blanc at 16 after a teacher mocked his name. In 1927 he debuted on the KGW program The Hoot Owls, and with his wife Estelle he later co-hosted Cobweb and Nuts on KEX. He moved to KFWB in Hollywood in 1935 and in December 1936 joined Leon Schlesinger Productions. His first cartoon was Picador Porky (1937), and his breakthrough came voicing Porky in Porky's Duck Hunt, which also introduced Daffy Duck.

Did You Know?

To match Bugs Bunny's carrot munching, he bit into a real carrot and spat it out; he denied the story that he was allergic to carrots.
His only surviving work in Disney's Pinocchio is Gideon's hiccup.
His Maxwell car role for Jack Benny began when a sound-effects recording failed and he improvised live.
He died on July 10, 1989.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Looney Tunes characters did Mel Blanc voice?

Among many others: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, Pepé Le Pew and Marvin the Martian.