Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 - July 10, 1989) was a famous American voice actor for Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Blanc's ability to create voices for multiple characters first attracted attention when he worked as a voice actor in radio. He was a regular on the Jack Benny Program in various roles, including as as Benny's automobile (a Maxwell in desparate need of a tune up) and Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael. Blanc also appeared on other national radio programs, and later played various small part on Benny's television show.

Mel Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Studios (the subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures which produced animated cartoons) in 1936. He soon became noted for voicing a wide variety of cartoon characters, including Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble[?], and many others. His death was considered a significant loss to the cartoon industry because of his skill, expressive range, and the sheer number of characters he portrayed, which now had to be taken up by others as literally no one person could match his vocal range.

He was born in San Francisco, California and died in Los Angeles, California.

List of characters and year he first voiced them:^{1 (http://www.thegremlin.com/CELMAIL.mblanc.html) 2 (http://www.hlla.com/reference/wb.html) 3 (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Blanc,+Mel)}

1. Porky Pig (1937, assumed from Joe Dougherty)
2. Daffy Duck (1938)
3. Bugs Bunny (1941)
4. Woody Woodpecker (1941)
5. Tweety Bird (1942)
6. The Hep Cat[?] (1942)
7. Private Snafu (1943)
8. Yosemite Sam (1945) ("Hare Trigger[?]")
9. Pepe LePew (1945)
10. Sylvester the cat (1946) aka Thomas (1947) in some films
11. Foghorn Leghorn (1946)
12. Henery Hawk[?] (1946)
13. Charlie Dog (1947)
14. Wile E. Coyote (1948)
15. K-9 (1948) (sidekick to Marvin the Martian)
16. Marvin the Martian (1948)
17. Road Runner (1948)
18. Tasmanian Devil (1954)
19. Speedy Gonzalez (1955)
20. Elmer Fudd (1959, assumed from Arthur Q Bryan)
21. Barney Rubble[?] (1960)
22. Dino[?] (1960) (Fred Flintstone's pet.)
23. Cosmo G. Spacely[?] (1962)

Books: That's Not All, Folks! by Mel Blanc, Philip Bashe. Warner Books, ASIN 0446390895 (Softcover) ASIN 0446512443 (Hardcover)