Noel Blanc
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Short description|American voice actor (born 1938)}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Noel Blanc
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Noel Barton Blanc
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|10|19|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| occupation = Voice actor, commercial producer
| years_active = 1951–2012 (voice actor)
1955–present (commercial producer)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Larraine Zax|1967|1972|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Martha Smith|1977|1986|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Katherine Hushaw
|1998}}
}}
| father = Mel Blanc
}}
Noel Barton Blanc (born October 19, 1938){{cite web|title=Noel Blanc|url=https://californiabirthindex.org/birth/noel_barton_blanc_born_1938_1991748|publisher=CaliforniaBirthIndex.org|access-date=September 13, 2024}} is an American commercial producer, retired voice actor, and the son of the late cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc.
Early life and career
Blanc was born on October 19, 1938, in Los Angeles, California. He is the only child of voice actor Mel Blanc, and throughout Noel's childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, he worked with his father on the Looney Tunes.{{cite web|url=http://www.bobbergen.com/clips.htm|title=Bob Bergen Official Web Site: Cool Clips|publisher=BobBergen.com|date=|access-date=May 16, 2010}} In 1961, Noel performed some of Mel's voices, uncredited, when Mel was injured in a car crash.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJeySvo5HVA&t=761s|title=Mel Blanc visits Gadgets in the Eastwood Mall (Home of The Looney Tunes Revue and Sammy Sands) (1982)|date=January 15, 2025|publisher=YouTube|access-date=May 5, 2025}}{{cite book|title=Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices|isbn=9781593932596|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8KCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT182|quote=According to one report, Noel, by then a fair imitator of his father's characters, was asked by Warner Bros. to loop a series of cartoons, ones which needed an extra phrase or word redone. He would still pinch-hit for Mel later on occasion too, but "about 99% of what the public hears is my dad. My voice is basically used in public service announcements and on Armed Forces broadcasts."|access-date=23 November 2023|last1=Ohmart|first1=Ben|date=November 15, 2012}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_kD6ZFEBnQ|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/8_kD6ZFEBnQ|archive-date=December 20, 2021|url-status=live|title=BUCKiT #6-Noel Blanc: The Son of Mel Blanc, Voice of the Looney Tunes|website=YouTube|date=July 25, 2018|access-date=May 30, 2020}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cm8nlBAie0&t=1361s|url-status=live|title=Noel Blanc interview (son of Mel Blanc - the man of a thousand voices) 2022|website=YouTube|date=May 1, 2022|access-date=February 18, 2025}} Following his father's death, Noel voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd (a character that was originally Arthur Q. Bryan's role that Mel inherited after Bryan's death and occasionally during Bryan's lifetime), the Tasmanian Devil, Porky Pig and other characters in Tiny Toon Adventures and a series of You Rang? answering machine messages;{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsejG8XycDs&t=192s|title=Noel MelBlanc full|date=November 9, 2012|publisher=YouTube|access-date=April 23, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWy8mc7-1Y&t=106s|title=You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Bugs Bunny|date=March 30, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=November 23, 2023}} he was one of several successors to his father in the immediate aftermath of Mel's death, with others including Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey, Bob Bergen, Greg Burson, Billy West and most recently Eric Bauza. Warner Bros. had been splitting up the various voice-acting roles to prevent any one of them from being a singular successor.That's Still Not All Folks! 2009, by Joe Alaskey, page 96 {{ISBN|978-1593931124}} He later contributed voice work to Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.
On January 29, 1962, Noel and his father Mel formed Blanc Communications Corporation,{{cite book|last=Blanc|first=Mel|url=https://archive.org/details/thatsnotallfolks00blan|title=That's not all Folks!|publisher=Warner Books|year=1988|isbn=0-446-51244-3}}{{Cite web|title=BLANC COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION :: California (US) :: OpenCorporates|url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C0427033|access-date=June 21, 2021|website=opencorporates.com}} a media company which remains in operation.{{cite web|title=Blanc Communications Corporation official site|url=https://www.melblanccommunications.com/|access-date=October 8, 2017}} Together, they produced over 5,000 public service announcements and commercials, appearing with Kirk Douglas, Lucille Ball, Vincent Price, Phyllis Diller, Liberace, and The Who. Kirk Douglas' son, Joel, served as one of the executives at Blanc Communications Corporation and helped to develop and produce commercials until the late 1980s.{{Cite web|title=Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois on September 12, 1982 · Page 73|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/90743689/|access-date=June 21, 2021|website=Newspapers.com|date=September 12, 1982|language=en}}
Personal life
=Relationships and marriages=
Blanc has been married three times; he first married Larraine Zax in 1967; they divorced in 1972. Blanc then married actress Martha Smith in 1977; the marriage lasted for nine years, until they divorced in 1986. Blanc married his third wife, Katherine Hushaw, at the Warner Bros. Studios on June 3, 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/06/02/stone-temple-pilots-singer-arrested|title=Stone Temple Pilots singer arrested}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.deseret.com/platform/amp/1998/6/3/19383652/mel-blanc-s-son-marries-at-warner-bros-studios|title=Mel Blanc's son marries at Warner Bros. Studios|date=June 3, 1998}}
=Helicopter incident=
In February 1991, Blanc was injured in his personal helicopter when the aircraft collided with a small plane above Santa Paula Airport. Two other people were also injured, including Kirk Douglas, and two people in the plane were killed.{{cite news|last1=Gorman|first1=Gary|last2=O'Donnell|first2=Santiago|date=February 14, 1991|title=2 Die as Plane, Copter Crash; Kirk Douglas, 2 Others Hurt|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-14-mn-1684-story.html|access-date=August 16, 2015}} Blanc suffered multiple fractures to his right leg, five broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a bruised kidney. He was taken to the intensive care unit at Santa Paula Hospital.{{Cite web|title=Kirk Douglas, Noel Blanc Recovering After Air Collision That Killed Two|url=https://apnews.com/article/0c28c487122c3e3e67d200fe7a23a2fc|access-date=March 13, 2022|website=AP NEWS|language=en}}
Filmography
=Television and film=
=Video games=
- Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball – Bugs Bunny (vocal effects), Daffy Duck (additional lines), Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales, Barnyard Dawg, Chickens
=Documentaries=
- This Is Your Life – Himself
- Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown – Himself
- 50 Years of Bugs Bunny in 31/2 Minutes – Porky Pig{{cite web|url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5mmkc2|title=50 Years Of Bugs Bunny - Happy Birthday Bugs|publisher=Dailymotion|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- Happy Birthday, Bugs!: 50 Looney Years – Himself, Porky Pig{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnQzfxjDnLs|title=Fifty Years of Bugs Bunny in 3 1/2 Minutes|date=July 7, 2011|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- What's Up Doc? A Salut/refe to Bugs Bunny – Himself
- Entertaining the Troops – Himself
- Behind the Tunes – Himself
- 100 Greatest Cartoons – Himself
- The Chuck Woolery Show – Himself
- Vicki! – Himself
- Friz on Film – Himself
- Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices – Himself
- King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution – Himself
- I Know That Voice – Himself
=Theme park attractions=
- Tomorrowland – Radio Personalities
- Carousel of Progress – Cuckoo Clock, Radio Personalities{{cite web|title='May the century begin': History behind Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress|date=September 27, 2021|url=https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/09/27/may-the-century-begin-history-behind-walt-disneys-carousel-of-progress/|publisher=ClickOrlando|quote=Since 1964, Uncle Orville has been voiced by the one and only Mel Blanc. Blanc originally voiced the cuckoo clock in the Carousel, and a few other odds and ends but those were re-voiced for 1993 by his son, Noel Blanc.|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- The Looney Tunes Revue – Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Sylvester Jr., Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Tasmanian Devil
- Rabbit-cadabbra – Bugs Bunny (one line){{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ1AgGk4y1M&t=157s|title=Rabbitcadabbra - Magic Mountain 7-18-85|date=March 12, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- Looney Tunes River Ride – Marc Antony
=Discography=
- You Rang?: Bugs Bunny – Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Tasmanian Devil, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales
- You Rang?: Daffy Duck – Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Pepé Le Pew, Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJjzalrtLcA&t=104s|title=You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Daffy Duck|date=March 30, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- You Rang?: Porky Pig – Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, Chicken Little{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4DNP0xEy0&t=106s|title=You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Porky Pig|date=March 12, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- You Rang?: Sylvester and Tweety – Sylvester, Tweety, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales, Pepé Le Pew{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtFe8j_wKWs&t=111s|title=You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Sylvester and Tweety|date=March 30, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- You Rang?: Holidays and Special Occasions – Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Tweety, Speedy Gonzales{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYronPcrjy0&t=109s|title=You Rang? Answering Machine Messages Holidays and Special Occasions|date=December 25, 2020|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 10, 2024}}
- Bugs Bunny and the Pink Flamingos – Porky Pig{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYgGwVnny5A&t=99s|website=YouTube|title=Bugs Bunny and the Pink Flamingos - Golden Story Book 'n' Tape (Audio Only)|date=December 22, 2021|publisher=YouTube|access-date=December 21, 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0086957}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Jeff Bergman}}
{{s-ttl|title=Voice of Porky Pig|years=1990}}
{{s-aft|after=Bob Bergen}}
{{s-bef|before=Jeff Bergman}}
{{s-ttl|title=Voice of Tasmanian Devil|years=1990}}
{{s-aft|after=Maurice LaMarche}}
{{s-bef|before=Chris Edgerly}}
{{s-ttl|title=Voice of Elmer Fudd|years=2005}}
{{s-aft|after=Quinton Flynn}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc, Noel}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:Jewish American male actors