Melvin
Jerome Blank was born May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, and grew up in Portland,
OR. He changed the spelling of his last name at age 16. (Source: http://www.toonopedia.com/blanc.htm)
Mel Blanc was the famed voice of popular and beloved animated cartoon characters, including Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Pie, Sylvester, TAZ and many others.
Known as The Man of 1,000 Voices, Blanc's voice as these cartoon characters became instantly recognizable to generations of children starting with the golden era of Merrie Melodies cartoons by Warner Brothers.
Among the many lines he uttered: Bugs Bunny's "Eh, what's up, Doc", "I tawt I taw a putty tat", from the tart-tongued canary Tweety; the Road Runner's "Beep, beep", Sylvester the Cat's "Thufferin' thuccotash", Woody Woodpecker's signature "Hee, hee, heh, ho. Hee, hee, heh, ho", and stutter- strewn Porky Pig's "Th-th-th-th-that's all f-f-f-folks."
He
began his career in show business as a musician and a radio performer in 1927,
when he sang and performed on a Portland radio show called The Hoot Owls.
His first Warner Bros. character was a drunken bull in the 1937 Looney Tunes short Picador Porky. As legend has it, the actor playing Porky Pig in that short actually did stutter. A few months later, Mr. Blanc took over the role in Porky's Duck Hunt, stuttering intact, and created Daffy Duck at the same time.
He
went on to invent the voices of other well-known cartoon figures, such as
Speedy Gonzalez, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, Heathcliffe the cat, Speed
Buggy and Yosemite Sam.
His last cartoon contribution came with 1988's popular animation-live action film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in which he did the voices of Daffy, Tweety, Bugs and Sylvester. He died in 1989 (July 10) in Los Angeles, California. He was 81 and had been hospitalized since May 19 suffering from heart disease and related medical problems.
