History Creator / MelBlanc

Needless to say, Blanc is a ''legend'' among voice actors and fans. His voice work is considered the milestone that marks the Golden Age of animated comedy, and his characters' catchphrases are ''still'' remembered nearly a half-century later. In the years since his death, his roles were inherited by not one, but a whole cast-list of rotating voice actors; basically, the voice actor of characters like Bugs Bunny in one ''Looney Tunes'' production often doesn't reprise the role in another. For example, each film in the franchise has had different voice actors for Bugs Bunny (Creator/BillyWest in ''Film/SpaceJam'', Creator/JoeAlaskey in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction, and Creator/JeffBergman in ''Film/SpaceJamANew Legacy) and Daffy Duck (Creator/DeeBradleyBaker in ''Space Jam'', Joe Alaskey in ''Back in Action'', and Creator/EricBauza in ''A New Legacy''.

Needless to say, Blanc is a ''legend'' among voice actors and fans. His voice work is considered the milestone that marks the Golden Age of animated comedy, and his characters' catchphrases are ''still'' remembered nearly a half-century later. In the years since his death, his roles were inherited by not one, but a whole cast-list of rotating voice actors; basically, the voice actor of characters like Bugs Bunny in one ''Looney Tunes'' production often doesn't reprise the role in another (for example, while Bugs was voiced by Creator/EricBauza in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons'', ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' had Creator/JeffBergman voice the rabbit).

Needless to say, Blanc is a ''legend'' among voice actors and fans. His voice work is considered the milestone that marks the Golden Age of animated comedy, and his characters' catchphrases are ''still'' remembered nearly a half-century later. In the years since his death, his roles were inherited by not one, but a whole cast-list of rotating voice actors (basically, the voice actor of characters like Bugs Bunny in one ''Looney Tunes'' production often doesn't reprise the role in another).

Needless to say, Blanc is a ''legend'' among voice actors and fans. His voice work is considered the milestone that marks the Golden Age of animated comedy, and his characters' catchphrases are ''still'' remembered nearly a half-century later.

* WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd - Actually, Mel Blanc was '''not''' the regular voice of Elmer Fudd. Elmer was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, who was just about the only actor besides Blanc, Foray, and Bea Benaderet to meaningfully contribute to the Looney Tunes canon during the Golden Age.[[note]] After Bryan's death in 1959, Hal Smith – better known for voicing Owl in ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' and Glomgold & Gyro Gearloose in ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales}}'' – voiced Elmer in two shorts, but Elmer was retired as a character thereafter.[[/note]]

Born in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco and raised in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Blanc got his start on local Portland radio after high school, before moving to Hollywood in 1935. After getting work in commercials and radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios -- who produced cartoons for Creator/WarnerBros in the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930s]] only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. He would die soon after and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull -- Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history.

Blanc is most notable for voicing most of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' (among other cartoons), which frequently saw him TalkingToHimself. What's amazing is that most people probably wouldn't be able to tell that most, if not ''all'', of the characters in each ''Looney Tunes'' short were being done by the same guy (Creator/LeonardMaltin once put his talent into perspective by marveling that Tweety Bird and Yosemite Sam were the ''same man''). He was ''that'' good. It even got to the point that his knack for doing many voices was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the Porky Pig short ''Curtain Razor''. He was also one of the only voice actors in his day to ever get a credit for his work in any theatrical shorts (which led to a variant of MisattributedSong when voices done by Creator/DawsButler, Creator/StanFreberg, or Arthur Q. Bryan were also assumed to be Blanc). It ought to also be remembered that Blanc essentially won voice actors the honor of being credited cast members. He had become so indispensable to Leon Schlesinger's studio that the only way the cheapskate could avoid giving into Blanc's demands for a raise was to guarantee him sole on-screen credit as a voice actor, which gave Blanc the notability to be sought after by name. Later, other voice actors followed suit, and within a few years it was unthinkable to not credit a voice actor.

Blanc's work was not just limited to cartoons; when he wasn't recording the voice of Bugs Bunny he could be found working on many classic radio programs -- like the Happy Postman on ''Radio/TheBurnsAndAllenShow''. But his most famous radio work was on ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' where he played dozens of characters -- Jack's long suffering violin teacher Professor [=LeBlanc=], Jack's Maxwell car, amongst others. At the height of Mel's popularity brought on by now having screen credit for his cartoon work, he was given his own show on CBS, ''The Mel Blanc Show'' where he played himself as the fumbling owner of a fix-it shop. Sadly the program didn't play to Mel's comic strengths by having him play the straight man and it only lasted one season.

Mel was notable for his refusal to do imitations as he believed it to be disrespectful to be "stealing" another's person's voice -- he was very reluctant to takeover the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan passed way, but did so since no other suitable replacement could be found (which is why Elmer is not on the "Speechless" Lithograph). When he was cast as Barney Rubble for ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' he rubuffed Creator/HannaBarbera's request for him to imitate Ed Norton, what he gave them was a voice similar to Norton's but not an exact imitation.

Mel was also a FriendToAllChildren, gladly call kids on their birthday in their characters' favorite voice, and his house would be the most popular on Halloween. He was also a Shriner and would lend his talents for ads to raise money for their children hospitals. In his later years and his son Noel formed Mel Blanc Associates, an advertising agency and would give lectures on voicing acting.

** In 1961, Blanc had a case of "[[IAmNotSpock I Am Spock]]" after a near-fatal car accident which left him in a coma for three weeks. After many attempts to wake him up from his coma, a doctor thought of saying, "How are you today, Bugs Bunny?" at which point he replied (obviously, in WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's voice) and went on to have a full recovery.

* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker: He briefly voiced the character in his first three cartoons, but was immediately forced to step down from the role once he gained an exclusive contract for the Looney Tunes series--but the famous Rat-A-Tat laugh that he gave Woody would be recycled well up into the 1950's, even after Woody found other actors. His voice for Woody landed somewhere between a mix of his voices for WesternAnimation/PorkyPig and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck (but obviously sped up), with his laugh being derived from a rejected laugh he used for the rabbit in "WesternAnimation/PorkysHareHunt".

** A sometimes-mentioned running gag on the Jack Benny Show was that all of the various characters, animals and objects played by Mel Blanc bore a striking resemblance to each other...
* WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu: Basically the same voice he uses for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny (who happens to cameo in a short [[ActingForTwo alongside the bumbling solider]]).

Born in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco and raised in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Blanc got his start on local Portland radio after high school, before moving to Hollywood in 1935. After getting work in commercials and radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios -- who produced cartoons for Creator/WarnerBros in the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930s]] only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. Luckily he died and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull -- Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history.

Mel was notable for his refusal to do imitations as he believed it to be disrespectful to be "stealing" another's person's voice -- he was very reluctant to takeover the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan passed way, but did so since no other suitable replacement could be found (which is why Elmer is not on the "Speechless" Lithograph). When he was cast as Barney Rubble for "WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones" he rubuffed Creator/{{HannaBarbera}}'s request for him to imitate Ed Norton, what he gave them was a voice similar to Norton's but not an exact imitation.

Blanc was still recording lines for cartoons from his hospital bed mere days before his death in 1989, when he fell out of a hospital bed without guardrails (though Blanc aficionados would just as soon credit [[{{Workaholic}} exhaustion]]). To this day, few, if any, voice actors can match his range. Warner Bros. currently requires a regular cast of voice actors to cover what was once done by ''one person''.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. the ''[[TropeMaker original]]'' "ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Originally working in commercials and radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios -- who produced cartoons for Creator/WarnerBros in the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930s]] only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. Luckily he died and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull -- Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. [[TropeMaker ''original'']] "ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. the "[[TropeMaker ''original'']" "ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. the [[TropeMaker ''original''] "ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. the ''[[TropeMaker original]'' "ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. "'''[[TropeMaker The]]''' ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny - He even chewed raw carrots to get the sound right... [[DoingitForTheArt and immediately spat them back out, because he couldn't swallow them fast enough since he hated the taste of them]]. He admits in his autobiography, ''That's Not All, Folks.'' that they tried a myriad of other vegetables for him to crunch, but unfortunately nothing else sounds like a carrot. There is a popular urban legend that he was allergic to carrots, but [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/melblanc.asp this is false.]]

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. "[[TropeMaker '''The''']] ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. "The ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. "The ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, just when UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation was brewing.

His wide range of work gave him the cool nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices", hence he is the TropeNamer (it should be noted that this is an exaggeration; he admitted in his autobiography that he'd done around 850 voices which is still very high, but not quite 1000). Despite his propensity for driving a hard bargain, especially later in his career, he was known for being affable and easy to work with once was actually in the studio. He had a fair amount of respect for his contemporary – and the only other ''Looney Tunes'' actor to regularly receive a screen credit – Creator/JuneForay (though Creator/ChuckJones held Foray in higher esteem and never hesitated to say so). Unfortunately, Blanc was also a heavy smoker and that addiction later affected his voice to a noticeable degree by the late years of his career; although it didn't ruin it completely, some clip used in at least one TV special had to have Blanc rerecording the soundtrack to fit.

His wide range of work gave him the cool nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices", hence he is the TropeNamer (it should be noted that this is an exaggeration; he admitted in his autobiography that he'd done around 850 voices which is still very high, but not quite 1000). Despite his propensity for driving a hard bargain, especially later in his career, he was known for being affable and easy to work with once was actually in the studio. He had a fair amount of respect for his contemporary – and the only other ''Looney Tunes'' actor to regularly receive a screen credit – Creator/JuneForay (though Creator/ChuckJones held Foray in higher esteem and never hesitated to say so).

Mel was notable for his refusal to do imitations as he believed it to be disrespectful to be "stealing" another's person's voice -- he was very reluctant to takeover the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan passed way, but did so since no other suitable replacement could be found (which is why Elmer is not on the "Speechless" Lithograph). When he was cast as Barney Rubble for "WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones" he rubuffed Creator/{{HannaBarbera}}'s request for him to imitate Ed Norton, what he gave them was a voice similar to Norton's but not an exact imitation.

* WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd - Actually, Mel Blanc was '''not''' the regular voice of Elmer Fudd. Elmer was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, who was just about the only actor besides Blanc, Foray, and Bea Benaderet to meaningfully contribute to the Looney Tunes canon during the Golden Age.[[note]] After Bryan's death in 1959, Hal Smith – better known for voicing Owl in ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' and Glomgold & Gyro Gearloose in ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales}} – voiced Elmer in two shorts, but Elmer was retired as a character thereafter.[[/note]]

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 -- July 10, 1989), a.k.a. "The ManOfAThousandVoices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation and working up until his death in 1989, just before the beginnings of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.

* WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd - Actually, Mel Blanc was '''not''' the regular voice of Elmer Fudd. Elmer was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, who was just about the only actor besides Blanc, Foray, and Bea Benederet to meaningfully contribute to the Looney Tunes canon during the Golden Age.[[note]] After Bryan's death in 1959, Hal Smith – better known for voicing Owl in ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' and Glomgold & Gyro Gearloose in ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales}} – voiced Elmer in two shorts, but Elmer was retired as a character thereafter.[[/note]]

''"Th-th-th-that's all, folks!"''

Mel was notable for his refusal to do imitations as he believed it to be disrespectful to be "stealing" another's person's voice -- he was very reluctant to takeover the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan passed way, but did so since no other suitable replacement could be found (which is why Elmer is not on the "Speechless" Lithograph). When he was cast as Barney Rubble for "WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones" he rubuffed Creator/HannaBarbera 's request for him to imitate Ed Norton, what he gave them was a voice similar to Norton's but not an exact imitation.

Originally working in commercials and local radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios -- who produced cartoons for Creator/WarnerBros in the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930s]] only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. Luckily he died and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull -- Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history.

Originally working in commercials and radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios -- who produced cartoons for Creator/WarnerBros in the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1930s]] only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. Luckily he died and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull -- Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history.

Blanc is most notable for voicing most of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' (among other cartoons), which frequently saw him TalkingToHimself. What's amazing is that most people probably wouldn't be able to tell that most, if not ''all'', of the characters in each ''Looney Tunes'' short were being done by the same guy (Creator/LeonardMaltin once put his talent into perspective by marveling that Tweety Bird and Yosemite Sam were the ''same man''). He was ''that'' good. It even got to the point that his knack for doing many voices was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the Porky Pig short ''Curtain Razor''. He was also one of the only voice actors in his day to ever get a credit for his work in any theatrical shorts (which led to a variant of MisattributedSong when voices done by Creator/DawsButler, Creator/StanFreberg, or Arthur Q. Bryan were also assumed to be Blanc). It ought to also be remembered that Blanc essentially won voice actors the honor of being credited cast members. He had become so indispensable to Leon Schlesinger's studio that the only way the cheapskate could avoid giving into Blanc's demands for a raise was to guarantee him sole on-screen credit as a voice actor, which gave Blanc the notability to be sought after for work by name. Later, other voice actors followed suit, and within a few years it was unthinkable to not credit a voice actor.

Blanc's work was not just limited to cartoons; when he wasn't recording the voice of Bugs Bunny he could be found working on many classic radio programs -- like the Happy Postman on "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show". But his most famous radio work was on "Radio/TheJackBennyProgram" where he played dozens of characters -- Jack's long suffering violin teacher Professor [=LeBlanc=], Jack's Maxwell car, amongst others. At the height of Mel's popularity brought on by now having screen credit for his cartoon work, he was given his own show on CBS, ''The Mel Blanc Show'' where he played himself as the fumbling owner of a fix-it shop. Sadly the program didn't play to Mel's comic strengths by having him play the straight man and it only lasted one season.