David "Danny" Weberman (May 24, 1906 — September 16, 1983) was an American voice actor.

Early life

Webb was born on May 24, 1906, in New York City to Herman Weberman, a

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

furrier, and Lena (née Rubin) Weberman. Herman left Budapest and moved to the United States in 1887 and worked as a salesman.

Career

When Webb arrived in Hollywood, he was using the name Dave Weber. He did celebrity impersonations on the Burns & Allen anniversary show along with doing voice work for a

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

cartoon called ''Sing Time'', where he impersonated

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Rudy Vallee Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

Andy Devine Andrew Vabre Devine (October 7, 1905 – February 18, 1977) was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature fil ...

and others. He started working for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in the mid-1930s and his first cartoon was '' The Coo-Coo Nut Grove''. He also voiced

Egghead In the U.S. English slang, egghead is an epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered out-of-touch with ordinary people and lacking in realism, common sense, sexual interests, etc. on account of their intellectual interests. It wa ...

in ''

Daffy Duck & Egghead ''Daffy Duck & Egghead'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon produced in 1937 and directed by Tex Avery. The cartoon was released on January 1, 1938, and stars Daffy Duck and Egghead. Plot Egghead (in a voice imitating radio com ...

'',

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.''Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheo ...

in ''

Cinderella Meets Fella ''Cinderella Meets Fella'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' directed by Tex Avery and written by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on July 23, 1938 and features the third appearance of an early version of Elmer Fudd. Plot The story st ...

'' (1938) and in ''

Believe It or Else Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

'' (1939). And Webb also did voices for the 1939 ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' short ''

A Day at the Zoo ''A Day at the Zoo'' is a 1939 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon supervised by Tex Avery. The short was produced in 1938 and released on March 11, 1939 and features an early version of Elmer Fudd. Plot This is one of the cartoons that Wa ...

''. Webb, for a brief time, voiced the Disney character

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

after

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

had a falling out with

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

and left the studio. "After four years, Walt apparently forgave Colvig for he returned to Disney to record Goofy's voice for the next twenty-six years. (During his absence Goofy was recorded by a Colvig imitator named Danny Webb)" In 1941, after

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

signed a contract with

Leon Schlesinger Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...

in which he exclusively did voice work for Warner Bros., Webb became the first person to succeed Blanc as the voice of

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lan ...

. He voiced the character for one short until he enlisted in the army and was succeeded by

Kent Rogers Kent Byron Rogers (July 31, 1923 – July 9, 1944) was an American actor who appeared in several live-action features and shorts, and a voice actor for Warner Bros. Cartoons and Walter Lantz Productions. Career For Warner Bros. Cartoons, R ...

. Webb enlisted in the

U.S. Army Signal Corps ) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...

, worked his way up to staff sergeant, and ended up entertaining troops in North Africa.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

was sufficiently impressed by his technique to deem him as 'Comedy Commando', a tag which stuck around for several years after World War II had ended. Webb later returned to radio, became the voice of

Sad Sack ''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...

, hosted the quiz show "Guess Who", and then had a minor career on local television sometime after 1951.

Death

Webb died on September 16, 1983, according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; he was 77. He died of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Filmography

Film

Radio

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Danny 1906 births 1983 deaths Looney Tunes American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American male voice actors Male actors from New York City United States Army personnel of World War II Walter Lantz Productions people United States Army non-commissioned officers