Born Melvin Jerome Blank on May 30, 1908 in San Francisco, CA, the future voice impresario grew up mainly in Portland, OR. Well aware of his vocal talents at a young age, Blanc began work as an announcer at a local radio station, KGW, in the mid-1930’s. Soon a regular on radio’s top-rated “The Jack Benny Program” (NBC, 1932-1948), Blanc proved himself indispensable, providing not only a number of voices for the show – but sound effects as well. Truly a one-in-a-million talent, Blanc billed himself as a “voice characterization artist.” That said, Blanc gave voices not only to characters, but to inanimate objects, as well. Case in point: one of Blanc’s most popular “roles” on the show was as Jack Benny’s automobile – a sputtering, coughing, wheezing jalopy badly in need of a tune-up. Over the next decade, Blanc appeared in a score of other radio programs including “Burns and Allen” (CBS, 1937-1948) and “Abbott & Costello” (NBC, 1942-47; ABC, 1947-49). Blanc also briefly had his own radio program for a time – the short-lived “Mel Blanc Show” (CBS, 1946-47).
However, it was Blanc’s contributions to film and television – specifically in the field of animation – for which he would be forever immortalized. A one-man voice factory for Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbara Studios for nearly half a century, Blanc was the acknowledged and undisputed master of his craft. A savvy businessman to boot, Blanc wisely took precautions to protect his talents by insisting on on-screen credit for his work – an unheard of request at the time for lowly “cartoon folks.”
Blanc’s most famous body of work was easily for Warner Bros. – home of Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and countless others. Blanc’s earliest contribution to the studio was in a 1937 short called “Porky’s Road Race.” The eponymous star of that film was a portly, stuttering pig with a heart of gold – Porky Pig. Though the character’s trademark stammer was not a Blanc creation (Porky was originally played by a different voice actor, Joe Dougherty), Blanc was definitely the one who made him a star, what with his signature line at the end of each short, "Th-th-th-that's all folks!" That same year, Blanc created the voice for yet another classic Warner character, Daffy Duck – a squat, stubby-legged black duck with a maniacal laugh and a mischievous streak. First introduced as a zany troublemaker, Daffy became famous for his perpetual lisp and his excited cries of “Hoo-Hoo Hoo-Hoo! Hoo Hoo!” Though the characterization of Daffy would undergo some significant changes in later years (going from a clown to petty gloryhound), his voice remained unchanged. Then, in 1940, Blanc gave voice to a new character – a carrot-chomping, sarcastic rabbit named Bugs Bunny. Arguably Blanc’s most inspired creation, Blanc modeled Bugs’ voice with equal parts Brooklyn and Bronx accents thrown in.
Over the course of his long association with Warner Bros., Blanc provided voices for literally hundreds of characters; many of which became some of the most recognizable cartoon voices ever recorded, including Foghorn Leghorn (“Son, I say… son!”), Tweety Bird (“I tawt I taw a putty-tat!”), Elmer Fudd ("Shhhhhhhh… be vewy vewy quiet; I'm hunting wabbits… Huhuhuhuhuhuhuh!”) and many, many others. In a stunning testament to his vocal versatility and the timeless appeal of his characters, Blanc continued in his role as Warner Bros.’s lead voice actor until his death in 1989.
Blanc also had success with several non-Warner Bros. properties. In the early 1960’s, Blanc went to work for Hanna-Barbara Studios on their landmark prime-time animated series, “The Flintstones” (ABC, 1960-66). Playing the voice of neighbor Barney Rubble, Blanc gave the character much of his easy-going charm, as well as his goofy laugh. Modeled closely after “The Honeymooners” (CBS, 1955-56), the weekly pre-historic sitcom was a massive hit, establishing Hanna-Barbara as key players in the field of TV animation.
In 1961, a near-fatal car accident almost ended Blanc’s career. While Blanc laid in a coma, the production of several animated projects grinded to a dead halt. Of the many clients Blanc provided services for, none was more affected than “The Flintstones.” Blanc awoke from his coma soon after, but was confined to bed for the next year in a full-body cast. In a testament to his peerless professionalism, however, Blanc had recording engineers set up shop in his hospital room (and later in his home), and from there, a bed-ridden Blanc provided Barney Rubble’s voice until the end of the season.
Blanc’s output diminished appreciably in the 1970’s and 1980’s, as his age began to catch up with him. While continuing to supply the voices for much of Warner’s line-up, Blanc started taking steps to prepare for the future. During the twilight of his career, Blanc began training younger voice artists – most notably, his son, Noah – to take over in his inevitable absence. In 1988, Blanc gave a memorable swan song performance in Robert Zemeckis’ landmark extravaganza, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” An animated $70 million homage to film noir, the film starred Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and virtually every major cartoon character in Hollywood history. In the film, Blanc provided for the last time, the voices for his five most beloved characters: Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, and Porky Pig. Many considered this moment to be the capstone of Blanc’s life-long career.
On July 10, 1989, Mel Blanc died of natural causes in Los Angeles. Hundreds turned out for Blanc’s funeral in Hollywood and the industry trades carried full-page tributes. In a touching farewell, Blanc’s epitaph read simply – “That’s All Folks.” After Blanc’s death, a number of voice actors stepped in to fill the massive void, including Joe Alaskey, Frank Welker, and Billy West. None of these talented voice artists, however, came close to matching Blanc’s sheer output or range. The man was a true original – the kind they just do not make anymore.