Mel Blanc, the man of 1000 voices was truly a force of nature. He worked steadily for over 60 years in radio, film and television, and at one point it was estimated that over 2 million people heard his voice every single day. His early career was spent in radio, working with such luminaries as Jack Benny and eventually transitioned into voice work for animation. He is, of course, best known as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Yosemite Sam, but few people would know his face. His long career at the top of the voice acting field gave him few opportunities to show it. Below are a few clips of him in the flesh.
This is part two of an episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis from 1959. Mel plays Mr. Zigler, the tailor. Also look for Warren Beatty. It was uploaded to YouTube by Matthias1949.
Here's Mel, capitalizing on his little known face in a 1970's American Express television commercial, uploaded by blegume.
Of course, I couldn't leave you without an example of his voice work. Here's Mel doing what he was known best for. In Duck Amuck, uploaded by Sephraith21000, he plays both Daffy and Bugs.
There is so much about Mel Blanc on the internet. He continues to be an inspiration to young vocal talent today. If you're interested you can find out all about him on IMDB and Wikipedia, and if you haven't had enough of his work, here's the link to a little seen film he did for the Dallas Freeway System back in 1970. Jack Benny once said "There are only five real people in Hollywood. Everybody else is Mel Blanc." That just might have been true.
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