Think how different America’s cartoon universe would be, were it not for the man of a thousand voices, Mel Blanc.
Bugs Bunny. Daffy Duck. Elmer Fudd, Sylvester and Twety, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble. Heck, he was even the voice of Jack Benny’s Maxwell.
Virtually everyone has heard Mel’s voice characterizations.
Mel Blanc, it seemed, could create new, unqique, and memorable voices at will.
In our 1988 interview, I asked him how he got started.
But for all his cartoon voice work, this very talented actor was seldom seen on camera as himself.
Now, there’s a reason I couldn’t ask Mel to say certain things, in our interview.
But even if he had to avoid certain phrases, Mel Blanc never could resist the inevitable requests from fans.
Less than a year after our interview, Mel Blanc died at the age of 81, taking with him hundreds of the voices many of us grew up with.
Mel Blanc is one of the greatest American artists to have lived.