Mel Blanc with Warner Bros. characters.

Mel Blanc’s legendary voice artist career spanned movies, television, radio and over 60 recorded albums. Mel’s success on the Jack Benny radio program led to his own on-air show, "The Mel Blanc Show," in the 1940s when his voice attracted the "animators" attention. He went on to create the voices of over 1,000 animated characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and more.

Mel’s rare ability to create voices for multiple characters earned him the title “The Man of A Thousand Voices.” Receiving a star on the Walk of Fame for his contributions, Mel Blanc is considered one of the most gifted and influential individuals in his field.

Mel Blanc on the Jack Benny Show.

In 1936 Mel became the primary voice for most of the Warner Bros. animation characters. Warner Bros. produced more than 1,000 cartoons during their Golden Age and Mel performed the voices in nearly 850 of these cartoons. Mel personally created the voices for Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and hundreds more.

Mel recording the voice of Bugs Bunny.

Mel would always tell fans that he didn’t “voice” his many cartoon characters, but instead he “managed” them. Mel was the first great cartoon voice actor and is considered by most to be the best of all time. With his skill, expressive range and the sheer volume of the characters he portrayed, no one has been able to match his vocal range.

Movie critic Leonard Maltin once pointed out,
“It is astounding to realize that Tweety Bird
and Yosemite Sam are the same man!”

According to his autobiography, “That’s Not All Folks!,” Mel did not like the taste of carrots. Since his best-known character was a carrot-chomping rabbit, he tried various vegetables to produce the desired crunch on tape. This did not work so, to produce the desired crunch, Blanc would save the "carrot-chomping" sections of Bugs Bunny's dialogue for the end of the recording session. He would eat the raw carrot, record his lines and spit the carrot out.

Mel leaving the hospital in 1961.

During World War II, Mel teamed with writer Theodor S. Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and several Warner Bros. directors to provide the soldiers with training films that featured the character Private Snafu. They made 24 black and white cartoons with this character. These training films, helping to establish the importance and necessity of the animation industry, are what kept the animation studios open during the war.

In January of 1961, Mel was involved in a head-on collision that left him in a coma and in a full-body cast for one year. In Mel’s autobiography he credits Bugs Bunny with saving his life. When a very clever doctor decided to address Mel as Bugs Bunny, he suddenly woke up from the three-week coma.

In the 1960’s, when Warner Bros. closed their animation unit, Mel went to Hanna Barbera. Mel participated in Hanna Barbera’s rise to becoming the premier animation studio for television in the 1960’s. Mel worked on big television series like “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons.” He was even credited with creating the voice of the popular Heathcliff the cat.

Nearly 20 years after his passing, Mel Blanc’s voice is heard daily all over the world. Here’s just some of Mel’s over 1,000 characters:

Porky Pig (1937)
Daffy Duck (1937)
Bugs Bunny (1940)
Woody Woodpecker (1940)
Tweety Bird (1942)
Yosemite Sam (1945)
Pepe LePew (1945)
Sylvester (1946)
Foghorn Leghorn (1946)
Henery Hawk (1946)
Charlie Dog (1947)
Marvin the Martian (1948)
K-9 (1948) (Marvin’s sidekick)
Road Runner (1949)
Bruno the Bear (1951)
Wile E. Coyote (silent until 1952, first spoke in the short "Operation: Rabbit")
Speedy Gonzalez (1953)
The Tasmanian Devil (1954)
Elmer Fudd (1959)
Barney Rubble (1960)
Dino (1960) (Fred Flintstone's pet)
Heathcliff (1980)

Click here to see Mel Blanc memorabilia.