Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc
Born	Melvin Jerome Blank May 30, 1908 San Francisco, California
Died	July 10, 1989 Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Heart disease Emphysema
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Voice actor
Years active at Hanna-Barbera	1959-1989
Characters played	Barney Rubble Dino Hardy Har Har Cosmo Spacely Droop-a-long Coyote Sneezly Secret Squirrel Salty Yak Yak Bully Brothers Chugga-Boom Bubba McCoy Zonk Stub Speed Buggy Captain Caveman
Circa 1987.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (born Blank; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality known for being one of the most influential people in the voice acting career, and for being known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices." At Warner Bros.' cartoon unit during the Golden Age of animation, he was famously known for originating almost all the character voices in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig, among many others.

Blanc died due to complications from emphysema on July 10, 1989, at the age of 81.

Roles

Breezly and Sneezly

• Sneezly in the Breezly and Sneezly segments in The Peter Potamus Show TV series (1964-1966).

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

• Captain Caveman in the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels TV series (1977-1980).

Flintstones

Main article: Flintstones (franchise)

• Barney Rubble and Dino in The Flintstones TV series (1960-1966).
• Barney Rubble in The Man Called Flintstone theatrical film (1966).
• Barney Rubble in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show TV series (1971-1973).
• Barney Rubble, Dino, Zonk, and Stub in The Flintstone Comedy Hour TV series (1972-1973).
• Barney Rubble in the Fred Flintstone and Friends TV series (1977-1978).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in the A Flintstone Christmas TV special (1977).
• Barney Rubble in The Flintstones: Little Big League TV special (1978).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in the Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue TV special (1978).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in the Fred and Barney Meet the Thing TV series (1979).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in The New Fred and Barney Show TV series (1979).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in the Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo TV series (1979-1980).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling TV special (1980).
• Barney Rubble, Dino, and Captain Caveman in The Flintstone Comedy Show TV series (1980-1982).
• Barney Rubble in The Flintstones: Jogging Fever TV special (1981).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma TV special (1981).
• Barney Rubble and Captain Caveman in The Flintstone Funnies TV series (1982-1984).
• Dino, Robert Rubble, and Piggy McGrabit in The Flintstone Kids TV series (1986-1988).
• Barney Rubble in The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration TV special (1986).
• Barney Rubble and Dino in the Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration TV special (1989).
• Dino (archival recordings) in The Flintstones theatrical film (1994).
• Dino (archival recordings) in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas theatrical film (2000).

Jetsons

Main article: Jetsons (franchise)

• Mr. Spacely in The Jetsons (1962-1963; 1985-1987).
• Barney Rubble, Dino, and Mr. Spacely in The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones TV movie (1987).
• Mr. Spacely in the Rockin' with Judy Jetson TV movie (1988).
• Mr. Spacely in the Jetsons: The Movie TV film (1990).

Laff-a-Lympics

• Speed Buggy and Captain Caveman in the Laff-a-Lympics TV series (1977-1978).
• Barney Rubble in the Laff-a-Lympics episode "The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan" (1977).
• Barney Rubble in the Laff-a-Lympics episode "India and Israel" (1977).
• Rubble in the Laff-a-Lympics episode "North Pole and Tahiti" (1977).
• Rubble in the Laff-a-Lympics episode "Quebec and Baghdad" (1977).

Lippy Lion

• Hardy Har Har in the Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har segments in The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series TV series (1962-1963).

Loopy De Loopy

• Loopy De Loop theatrical shorts (1959-1965).

Ricochet Rabbit

• Droop-a-long Coyote in the Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-long segments in The Magilla Gorilla Show TV series (1964-1965).

Scooby-Doo

Main article: Scooby-Doo (franchise)

• Speed Buggy in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "The Weird Winds of Winona" (1973).

Secret Squirrel

• Secret Squirrel in the Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole segments of The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show TV series (1965-1967).

Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt

• Salty in the Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt TV series (1965-1966).
• Voice and announcer in the Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt episode "Knight Fright" (1965).

Speed Buggy

• Speed Buggy in the Speed Buggy TV series (1973).

Tom and Jerry

Main article: Tom and Jerry (franchise)

• Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse in the Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts (1963-1967).

Wacky Races

Main article: Wacky Races (franchise)

• Yak Yak, the Bully Brothers, and Chugga-Boom in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop TV series (1969-1970).

Where's Huddles?

• Bubba McCoy in the Where's Huddles? TV series (1970).
• Oscar in the Where's Huddles? episode "Hot Dog Hannah" (1970).

Yogi Bear

Main article: Yogi Bear (franchise)

• Grifter Ghizzling in the Hey There, It's Yogi Bear theatrical film (1964).
• Quack-Up in the Galaxy Goof-Ups TV series (1978-1979).
• Barney Rubble in the Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper TV special (1982).

Other roles

Before working for Hanna-Barbera, Blanc made a prolific career in radio programs during the Golden Age of Radio, including The Jack Benny Program, where he provided the distinct voices for Benny's Maxwell automobile, violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael and the train announcer. He would carry a majority of these roles when the program transitioned to television in 1950.

Blanc was briefly attached as the initial voice of Woody Woodpecker (including his trademark laughter) for Walter Lantz's series of theatrical shorts for Universal, but stopped after the character's first three shorts when he signed an exclusive contract for Warner Bros. Despite this, Blanc's laugh was used in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons until 1951, when Gracie Stafford provided Woody's voice and laugh until the series' end in 1972.

He was hired to provide the voice for Gideon the cat, in the 1940 Disney feature film Pinocchio, but it was eventually decided that the character would be mute (save for a hiccup heard three times in the final film).

After voicing Twiki in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Blanc's last original character was Heathcliff from the titular comic strip, whom he voiced in both the 1980 Ruby-Spears animated series and the 1984 DIC series.

In 1988, Blanc reprised some of the Looney Tunes characters for cameos in the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, including an iconic scene of Bugs Bunny falling alongside Mickey Mouse (voiced by Wayne Allwine), and Daffy competing in a piano duel with Donald Duck (Tony Anselmo). Blanc wasn't able to reprise Yosemite Sam in the film, due to his failing condition during production, so it was provided by Joe Alaskey for his cameo.

Behind the scenes

• While Mel Blanc was recovering from his near-fatal car accident on Sunset Boulevard's Dead Man's Curve in Los Angeles, Daws Butler (who previously voiced Barney in the pilot pitch) briefly stepped in his place for a few season two episodes. According to the TV special, That's Not All Folks - A Tribute to Mel Blanc, Blanc resumed the role as soon as he could, to the point where he acted out scenes from his bed while he was in a full body cast for nine months.

Tributes

• Jetsons: The Movie was dedicated to him.
• In DC Comics' The Flash/Speed Buggy Special #1, a scientist called Doctor Blanc merged with a dune buggy to become Speed Buggy.