Mel Blanc

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Mel Blanc
(Photo: Alan Light, 1976)

Melvin Jerome Blanc (born May 30, 1908 in San Francisco , California , † July 10, 1989 in Los Angeles , California) was an American radio play and dubbing actor both in radio programs and in many cartoons , mostly for Warner Bros. films . and Hanna-Barbera .

Life

Early years and radio work

Born in San Francisco, California to Jewish parents, Blanc originally wrote himself “Blank”. After attending Lincoln High School in Portland , Oregon , he changed his name to "Blanc" at the age of 16.

Blanc was working as a speaker in radio plays when his ability to interpret the roles he was speaking with different voices gained attention. As a regular speaker on the Jack Benny Show , Blanc played numerous characters, including Benny's car, violin teacher Professor LeBlanc , the parrot Polly and Jack Benny's pet, the polar bear Carmichael .

Blanc's success on the Jack Benny Show led to its own radio show, The Mel Blanc Show , on CBS , which ran from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947. Blanc played an unsuccessful repair shop owner and was assisted by a number of other comical characters voiced by Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conried , Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus and Bea Benaderet.

In addition, Blanc appeared on other radio shows, such as The Abbott and Costello Show , as Happy Postman on Burns and Allen , as August Moon in Point Sublime or as Sad Sack on GI Journal . And on the later Jack Benny TV show, he also spoke various smaller characters. On Benny's radio and television show, the character Sy, the little Mexican Blancs became best known. All he had to do was add “ si… Sy… sew… Sue ” and the audience burst into laughter (the radio broadcasts were produced live in front of an audience).

Another famous role on the Benny Show was the platform announcer for the Union Train Depot , who repeatedly announced the departure of the train from Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim and Cucamonga , with a succinct pause between Cuc ... and ... amonga spilling over Minutes could drag on.

Mel Blanc received a star for its radio work at 6385 Hollywood Blvd. on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

Cartoon voices in Hollywood

In 1936, Blanc joined the Leon Schlesinger Studios, a Warner Brothers company that produced cartoons. Here he soon became a sought-after speaker for numerous figures such as Yosemite Sam , Foghorn Leghorn , Tweety , Porky Pig and Daffy Duck . In his natural voice he also spoke to the cat Sylvester , who keeps trying to catch the little bird Tweety. The carrot-chewing rabbit, Bugs Bunny , became his most famous character, although Blanc hated carrots, as he noted in his autobiography.

From 1943 to 1945, Blanc also gave his voice to Adolf Hitler in seven cartoon films .

Talented voices for Hanna-Barbera

In the early 1960s, Blanc moved to the Hanna-Barbera-Studio and continued his work with Barney Rubble from the " Flintstones " ( The Flintstones ) and added Mr. Spacely from the series " The Jetsons ".

The actual main speakers for Hanna-Barbera at the time were Daws Butler and Don Messick, and Blanc was a newcomer to the studio . But after the Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s were all broadcast on television and competed against those produced only for television by Hanna-Barbera, Mel Blanc's talents were soon seen as very valuable here too.

On January 24, 1961, Blanc suffered a near-fatal car accident on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, which confined him to bed with a double broken leg, pelvic injuries and a triple skull fracture and a coma for several weeks. He received over 15,000 well-being wishes from all over the USA, which were often only addressed to Bugs Bunny, Hollywood, USA . A newspaper even falsely announced that he had died. In a radio interview, Blanc later said that he had been told that he had woken up from a coma because the attending physician had addressed him with " How are you today, Bugs Bunny " and that he replied in the Bugs Bunny voice. That's how Bugs Bunny actually saved his life. Blanc sued the city of Los Angeles for $ 150,000 in damages for poor road conditions, thereby ensuring that the city finally approved more money for road construction.

After he was briefly replaced as a speaker by a colleague at the Flintstones, the show's producers came up with the idea of ​​simply moving the sound recording to his house, and Blanc then spoke to Barney from his sickbed. For the 1961 Christmas program of the Jack Benny Show , Blanc went to the recording with crutches and in a wheelchair.

In the late 1960s, Warner Brothers also launched its first television-only cartoon series with adventures by Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales , Tweety and Sylvester, all set to music by Mel Blanc.

Late career and death

In 1977, Blanc was one of hundreds of candidates for the speaking role of C-3PO in George Lucas ' science fiction film Star Wars . However, he suggested Lucas, instead of a new speaker the actor of C-3PO , Anthony Daniels to let speak for themselves what Lucas then did.

Blanc then voiced the little robot Twiki for two seasons in the science fiction series " Buck Rogers " ( Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , 1979), and the last new work he did was the voice of the cartoon cat "Heathcliff" (1980 ), which reminded a little bit of Bugs Bunny. Blanc continued his work on the famous old characters, but increasingly let the shrill voices, such as Yosemite Sam , Foghorn Leghorn or the Tasmanian Devil , pass to other speakers, as they now burdened his own voice too much. One of his last works was for the Jetson family's theatrical version, "Jetsons - The Movie" (1990).

Blanc's death from cardiovascular disease was deeply mourned in the film industry. No other speaker has lent his voice to so many characters with such different expressions, and so far no one has managed to replace this vocal diversity. Sometimes the different voices came about through the use of technology, for example the Duffy Duck voice, which was the same as for the cat Sylvester, but played a little faster. Later, Blanc was even able to do without technical support and delivered these quick votes live.

Mel Blanc's grave in Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Even after Blanc's death, his voice was still used, for example in the 1994 Flintstones film , in which his growl was used by the pet Dino , whom he had spoken for the cartoon series. In return, the film company filed a lawsuit for unauthorized use and not being included in the credits .

Mel Blanc is buried in the " Hollywood Forever Cemetery ". As required in his will, his tombstone bears the inscription THAT'S ALL FOLKS .

Blanc's son Noel has also followed in his footsteps as a speaker and has meanwhile also set some Bugs Bunny cartoons to music.

Characters that Mel Blanc spoke

  1. Porky Pig (1937, taken over by Joe Dougherty)
  2. Daffy Duck (1937)
  3. Happy Rabbit (Bugs Bunny Forerunner) (1938)
  4. Bugs Bunny (1940)
  5. Woody Woodpecker (1940)
  6. Tweety (1942)
  7. The Hep Cat (Sylvester Forerunner) (1942)
  8. Private Snafu (numerous cartoons about World War II, 1943)
  9. Yosemite Sam (1945) (film: Hare Trigger )
  10. Pepé Le Pew (1945)
  11. Sylvester (1946, called Thomas in some films )
  12. Foghorn Leghorn ( 1946 )
  13. Henery Hawk (1946)
  14. Charlie Dog (1947)
  15. Mac (from Mac & Tosh , 1947)
  16. K-9 ( Sidekick by Marvin the Martian , 1948)
  17. Marvin the Martian (1948)
  18. Road Runner (1949)
  19. Bruno the Bear (1951)
  20. Wile E. Coyote (silent until 1952, first spoken in Operation: Rabbit )
  21. Speedy Gonzalez (1953)
  22. The Tasmanian Devil (1954)
  23. Elmer Fudd (1959, after the death of Arthur Q. Bryan )
  24. Barney Rubble (1960)
  25. Dino (1960, Fred Feuerstein's pet)
  26. Cosmo G. Spacely (1962, in The Jetsons )
  27. Hardy Har Har (1962–1964 in Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har )
  28. Secret Squirrel (1965-1966)
  29. Bubba McCoy (in Where's Huddles? )
  30. Chug-a-Boom / The Ant Hill Mob / The Bully Brothers (in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop , 1969)
  31. Officer Short-Shrift / The Dodecahedron / The Demon Of Insincerity (in The Phantom Tollbooth , 1970)
  32. Speed ​​Buggy (1973)
  33. Captain Caveman (1977)
  34. Twiki (in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , 1979)
  35. Heathcliff (1980)
  36. Mr. McKenzie (in Strange Brew , 1983)

Social commitment and memberships

  • Member of the United Jewish Welfare Fund
  • Mel Blanc was a member of the Freemasons Association . He was particularly committed to providing free medical care for children with the Shriners . a. the Shrine Hospital Children's Burn Center .

Others

  • When the presenter Peter Tomarken gave the wrong answer (Daffy Duck) to the quiz question "Which cartoon character used the term 'sufferin' succotash '" on the game show Press Your Luck , Mel Blanc called him on the show with his voice from the cat Sylvester and explained that it was New Year's Eve and also provided the voices of Speedy Gonzales and Porky Pig ( Piggy Dick ). Tomarken apologized, and the candidates who hadn't guessed were allowed to run again on another show.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Famous Freemasons Mel Blanc , Homepage: Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (Retrieved April 25, 2012)

Web links

Commons : Mel Blanc  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Blanc, Mel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blanc, Melvin Jerome
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American voice actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1989
Place of death Los Angeles , California