The Many Voices of Mel Blanc

Born May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, changed the spelling of his last name at the age of 16. Upon graduating high school in Portland Oregon, he got a steady job on a local radio show titled "The Hoot Owls." It was the first of many jobs in Vaudeville and radio. When Movies started to talk, Mel went to Hollywood.

He struggled for many years and moved back to Portland for two years, but he started getting regular radio work. His biggest break came in the form of a stuttering pig named Porky.

For a year and a half Mel tried to get his foot in the door at Warner Brothers, only to be turned down by a man who didn't really know what he was actually doing. When the man suddenly died and Mel tried once more, he was brought in and hired as soon as the directors heard his audition.

Blanc was credited as the man who raised the standards of animation art. His voices work was very well respected among his peers. After frist doing the voice of the stuttering pig, Mel went on to do more and more voices. He did voices for Warner Brothers and also did voices for Hanna-Barbera characters.

Jack Benny once made a statement. There are about 5 real people in Hollywood and everyone else is Mel Blanc.

Blanc was one of Benny's closest friends. Blanc was the voice of Benny's car during his radio show after seeing one night that the phonograph record player wasn't turned on to do the voice. Mel did the sounds himself and impressed Benny.

 It is hard at times to really describe someone like Mel Blanc. His voice has been heard by millions and possibly billions of children around the world for decades. I believe the videos I have posted here to be sufficient in showing his talent.

In 1961, Mel was in an auto accident and was on the edge of death. He in fact slipped into a coma. A doctor was inspired to talk with Bugs Bunny instead of Mel Blanc and got some response. Over 1,500 get well cards were mailed to Blanc many of them addressed to Bugs Bunny or another of his characters in Hollywood.

On July 10, 1989 Blanc died from heart disease. He had worked up to his death and his work spanned across 5 decades. Many of his characters are still around and can be heard on many TV stations. He is sadly missed by many, but his voices live on.

Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Porky Pig, Woody Woodpecker, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety Bird, Tasmanian Devil, Pepe LePew, Marvin the Martian, And the Road Runner (MEEP MEEP!) are all voices of Mel Blanc.

There are many others including Barney Rubble of the Flintstones. He also did a lot of TV work with shows like Buck Rogers in the Twenty First Century as the voice of Twiki. The Jetsons also featured his voice in some of their episodes.