History Creator / MelBlanc

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 any more 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.

He published his autobiography ''That's Not All, Folks'' shortly before his death. And oh yeah, this is his [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mel_Blanc_4-15-05.JPG tombstone]]. The [[http://moralauthority.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/3_speechless.jpg "Speechless"]] lithograph was also made following his death, with the illustration originally used a trade paper tribute ad taken out by WB.

* 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 1950s, 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".

He published his autobiography ''That's Not All, Folks'' shortly before his death. And oh yeah, this is his [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mel_Blanc_4-15-05.JPG tombstone]]. The [[http://moralauthority.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/3_speechless.jpg "Speechless"]] lithograph was also made following his death.

Blanc is most notable for [[ActingForTwo voicing most of the cast]] of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' (among other cartoons), where most people probably wouldn't be able to notice 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 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.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny - [[StarMakingRole By far his most iconic role]]; 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),[[note]]His surname was originally Blank, but he changed the spelling after a teacher made the obvious mean-spirited pun about the name[[/note]] 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.

Oh, yeah, this is his [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mel_Blanc_4-15-05.JPG tombstone]]. The [[http://moralauthority.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/3_speechless.jpg "Speechless"]] lithograph was also made following his death.

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. It didn't ruin Blanc's voice completely, but some clips used in at least one TV special had to have Blanc rerecording the soundtrack to fit, another reason why SmokingIsNotCool.

[[caption-width-right:350:The male Creator/JuneForay.]]

* And a whole lot more, including a number of secondary and one-time characters. Many have tried to make a complete list and failed. Even Wiki/ThatOtherWiki admits that its list of Blanc's roles is incomplete.

* [[WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop - The Bully Brothers, Chugaboom and Yak-Yak]]

* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Porky Pig]] - his first major role, as well as [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit one of his last]]. Originated by Joe Dougherty, who had an actual stutter which was hard to control; Blanc replaced him in 1937.
* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Pepe Le Pew]] - based on French actor, Creator/CharlesBoyer (though thanks to Blanc's take on Boyer for Pepe Le Pew, many generations wouldn't know that).

* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Foghorn Leghorn]] - based off of Kenny Delmar's Senator Claghorn character from radio (and, much like WesternAnimation/PepeLePew, has succumbed to ParodyDisplacement).
* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Tasmanian Devil]] - this was usually Blanc making wild growls, roars, snarls, grunts, screeches, shrieks, babbles, snorts, raspberries, and other sounds

* 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 1950s, 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".

* [[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons Mr. Spacely]] - also very close to his real voice (and sounds similar to Yosemite Sam's when he gets angry). His final performance before his death was for ''WesternAnimation/JetsonsTheMovie''.

* [[WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop The Bully Brothers, Chugaboom and Yak-Yak]]

* [[WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats Heathcliff]] - his last "new" character, first assumed in 1980 (more than four ''decades'' after his debut as a voice actor).

* WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu: Basically the same voice he uses for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny (who happens to cameo in a short [[ActingForTwo alongside the bumbling soldier]]).

Blanc was still recording lines for cartoons from his hospital bed mere days before his death in 1989,[[note]]He died one day before another master from another end of the acting spectrum, Creator/LaurenceOlivier[[/note]] 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''.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny - [[StarMakingRole By far his most iconic role]]; 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.]]

* 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/DuckTales1987'' – voiced Elmer in two shorts, but Elmer was retired as a character thereafter.[[/note]]

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/SpaceJamANewLegacy'') and Daffy Duck (Creator/DeeBradleyBaker in ''Space Jam'', Joe Alaskey in ''Back in Action'', and Creator/EricBauza in ''A New Legacy'').

* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Foghorn Leghorn]] - based off of Kenny Delmar's Senator Claghorn character from radio (and, much like WesternAnimation/PepeLePew, has succumbed to the WeirdAlEffect).

* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Tasmanian Devil]] - this was usually Blanc making wild growls, roars, snarls, screeches, shrieks, babbles, snorts, raspberries, and other sounds

* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Tasmanian Devil]] - but only in four shorts

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/SpaceJamANewLegacy'') 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, 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/SpaceJamANewLegacy) and Daffy Duck (Creator/DeeBradleyBaker in ''Space Jam'', Joe Alaskey in ''Back in Action'', and Creator/EricBauza in ''A New Legacy''.