Face Behind the Voices

Have you ever wondered about the face behind the voices of some of the most memorable cartoon characters? Let's take for example Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Barney Rubble, and Daffy Duck to name only a few. They are animated cartoon characters who not only are a big hit in cartoon land but also on the silver screen. To children, they may seem as alive as you or I but eventually kids learn they are only characters. Yet, they talk and each has his/her own unique voice. A voice that comes from one person...

Melvin Jerome 'Mel' Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. In addition to being the voice of the characters mentioned above, he also voiced Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, the Tasmanian Devil and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short films, during the "Golden age of American animation". It was the voice of Porky Pig that set him on the road to stardom when in 1937 it was decided the porcine personality needed a facelift.
In the voice of Porky Pig, "Th-th-th-tha-tha-tha-that's NOT all, folks!" Surely you have guessed he was the original voice of Woody Woodpecker for Universal Pictures. Blanc's last original character was Heathcliff, in the early 1980s. Is it no wonder the man was dubbed "The Man of a Thousand Voices"? Blanc's stardom of radio, television and cinema never featured the face behind the voices, only the voice behind multiple faces. He is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry.

Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II.

Daffy Duck has usually has been depicted as the best friend and occasional arch-rival of Bugs Bunny.

Tweety (also known as Tweety Pie or Tweety Bird) is a very aggressive character who tries anything to foil his foe, even kicking his enemy when he is down.

Bugs Bunny is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality, a pronounced New York accent, his portrayal as a trickster, and his catch phrase "Eh... What's up, doc?" Yosemite Sam is the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny.

Indeed, as movie critic Leonard Maltin once pointed out, "It is astounding to realize that Tweety Bird and Yosemite Sam are the same man!"