Noel Barton Blanc (born October 19, 1938) is an American commercial producer and retired voice actor. He is the son of the late cartoon voice actor,
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 ...
.
Early life and career
Blanc was born on October 19, 1938 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. He is the son of voice actor
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 ...
, and throughout Noel's childhood and early adulthood, he worked with his father on the ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. '' voices so that when Mel Blanc eventually retired or died, Noel could take over for his father. In 1961, Noel performed some of Mel's voices, uncredited, when Mel was injured in a car accident. Following his father's death, Noel voiced
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 ...
(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
Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...
and other characters in ''
Tiny Toon Adventures
''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...
''; he was one of several successors to his father in the immediate aftermath of Mel's death, others including
Jeff Bergman
Jeffrey Bergman (born July 10, 1960) is an American voice actor and impressionist who has provided the modern-day voices of various classic cartoon characters, most notably with ''Looney Tunes'' and Hanna-Barbera.
Bergman was the first to repla ...
,
Joe Alaskey
Joseph Francis Alaskey III (April 17, 1952 – February 3, 2016) was an American actor, voice actor, broadcaster, impressionist and stand-up comedian.
Alaskey was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his deat ...
, and
Greg Burson
Gregory Lewis Burson (June 29, 1949 – July 22, 2008) was an American voice actor. He was best known as a replacement for voice actors Daws Butler and Mel Blanc following their deaths in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
Career
Burson was trained ...
. Warner Bros. had been splitting up the various voice-acting roles to prevent any one of them from being a singular successor. He later contributed voice work to ''
Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story''.
On January 29, 1962, Noel and his father Mel formed Blanc Communications Corporation,
a media company which remains in operation. Together, they produced over 5000 public service announcements and commercials, appearing with
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...
,
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...
,
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
,
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and e ...
,
Liberace
Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
, and
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
. Kirk Douglas' son,
Joel Douglas
Joel Andrew Douglas (born January 23, 1947) is an American film producer. The second son of Kirk Douglas (1916–2020) and Diana Douglas (1923–2015), he was born one day after his mother's 24th birthday. His paternal grandparents were Je ...
, was one of the executives at Blanc Communications Corporation and helped to develop and produce commercials.
Personal life
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
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 ...
on June 3, 1998.
In February 1991, Blanc was injured in his personal helicopter, when the aircraft collided with a small plane above
Santa Paula Airport
Santa Paula Airport is a privately owned, public use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of Santa Paula, a city in Ventura County, California, United States. It exclusively serves priv ...
. Two other people were also injured, including
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...
, and two people in the plane were killed.
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
Santa Paula Hospital (SPH) is a hospital in Santa Paula, California, United States. The hospital is a campus of the Ventura County Medical Center. SPH has 145 full-time employees, 30 shared patient beds, and 19 private patient rooms.
Services ...
.
Filmography
Television and film
Documentaries
* ''
This Is Your Life'' – Himself
* ''Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toontown'' – Himself
* ''50 Years of Bugs Bunny in 3
1/
2 Minutes'' – Himself, Porky Pig
* ''Happy Birthday, Bugs!: 50 Looney Years'' – Himself, Porky Pig
* ''What's Up Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny'' – Himself
* ''Entertaining the Troops'' – Himself
* ''Behind the Tunes'' – Himself
* ''100 Greatest Cartoons'' – Himself
* ''The Chuck Woolery Show'' – Himself
* ''
Vicki!
''Vicki!'' (stylized as V''i''cki!) was a syndicated talk show hosted by actress and ''Carol Burnett Show'' alumna Vicki Lawrence from 1992 to 1994. The show earned a number of Daytime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Talk Show Host ...
'' – 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
''I Know That Voice'' is a documentary film about American voice acting. It premiered on November 6, 2013, at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. The documentary was narrated by John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender on '' Futurama'' and Jake on ''Adventure ...
'' – Himself
Theme park attractions
*
Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...
– Radio personalities
*
Carousel of Progress
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater audio-animatronic stage show attraction in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida. Created ...
– Radio personalities
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanc, Noel
1938 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male voice actors
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Jewish American male actors
Male actors from Los Angeles
21st-century American Jews