# Mel Blanc: The Greatest Voice Actor Ever
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 21, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447 "2015-01-21T02:42:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/21 "2015-01-22T14:19:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Oh, yeah – one other thing about Paul Frees that I admire – he sang in his cartoons, in character. Mel occasionally had his characters sing a few lines, but Paul did entire songs. He sang at least two songs as Ludwig von Drake for Disney, and a few other characters, I believe. His turn as the Undertaker in _Mr. Magoo’s Christma Carol_ is one of the highlights of that holiday special And he shares top billing (at least in the opening credits) with Judy Garland and Robert Goulet – distinguished company – in the musical full=length cartoon _Gay Purr-ee_, in which he gets entire songs to himself\*.
In the Rankin-Bass special, _Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town_, Paul Frees voiced both the Burgermeister Meisterburger, and his assistant Grimsby. Which meant that he got to sing a duet with himself.
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### Author:  [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/22 "2015-01-22T14:21:56Z")
I find it peculiar that in current incarnations the characters, esp. Bugs, just don’t sound the same. I thought this was because the studio had just decided to let his son Noel have the character, but I see now that it’s most often Billy West — incl. in Space Jam, which I just flatly refuse to watch.
For talented voice actors, I throw a vote in for Hank Azaria. [105 Characters On "The Simpsons" Are Voiced By 6 Different Actors](http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinchack/105-characters-on-the-simpsons-are-voiced-by-6-different-act#.qaXxmbmBo)
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/23 "2015-01-22T15:15:48Z")
Mel most certainly sang entire songs in character. Exhibit A: “What’s Opera, Doc?”
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/24 "2015-01-22T22:12:28Z")
> [@johnspartan](#):
>
> . . . Space Jam, which I just flatly refuse to watch. . . .
How come, dare I ask? It ain’t great, but it’s a bit of plain vanilla fun. Lola Bunny makes it worth while all by herself.
(In contrast, alas, to Loonatics Unleashed, which is simply unwatchable. Ghastly. The writing is some of the worst in cartoons, ever. Seriously horrid.)
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### Author:  [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/25 "2015-01-22T22:54:58Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> How come, dare I ask? It ain’t great, but it’s a bit of plain vanilla fun. Lola Bunny makes it worth while all by herself.
>
> (In contrast, alas, to Loonatics Unleashed, which is simply unwatchable. Ghastly. The writing is some of the worst in cartoons, ever. Seriously horrid.)
Because [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksqS7DQhGKQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksqS7DQhGKQ) is NOT Bugs Bunny.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKjUtTC3e0Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKjUtTC3e0Y) is.
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### Author:  [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/26 "2015-01-22T23:09:28Z")
Mel Blanc, eh? All I know is that [the hat he got for Christmas is too big](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV_PPtfTzXg).
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/27 "2015-01-22T23:50:56Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> he was a great voice artist.
>
> though he could be somewhat limited.
This means war!
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/28 "2015-01-23T00:03:47Z")
I have an autographed picture of him sitting behind his desk with a number of his characters (including Captain Caveman) illustrated around him.
My favorite line of his, though it predates me by quite a bit, comes from a running gag on the Jack Benny Show where he’d call out, “Train leaving for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga!” I’m not sure why that was funny exactly, except I guess none those places actually had train stations at the time, and of course Cucamonga is just an intrinsically funny word. In any case, now there’s a statue of Jack Benny in Rancho Cucamonga because of the fame he brought to the place. It should really include Mel standing there beside him in a train conductor’s uniform.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/29 "2015-01-23T18:58:58Z")
Mel Blanc is truly one of the best, if not the best.
However actors like Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria (both do 2 dozen characters each on the Simpsons), and Trey Parker (32 characters on Southpark) certainly deserve an honorable mention.
Also Patrick Warburton has to be one of the hardest working voice actors in the business. (Family Guy, Venture Brothers, Kim Possible, Adventures of Buzz Lightyear, The Emperor’s New Groove, etc.)
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/30 "2015-01-23T19:14:37Z")
> [@johnspartan](#):
>
> I find it peculiar that in current incarnations the characters, esp. Bugs, just don’t sound the same. I thought this was because the studio had just decided to let his son Noel have the character, but I see now that it’s most often Billy West — incl. in Space Jam, which I just flatly refuse to watch.
Billy West plays Elmer Fudd more often than he plays Bugs Bunny. Jeff Bergman plays Bugs and most of the other characters on the _Looney Tunes Show_. He was also the first actor to take over the classic Looney Tunes characters after Mel’s death.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/31 "2015-01-23T19:27:44Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> Also Patrick Warburton has to be one of the hardest working voice actors in the business. (Family Guy, Venture Brothers, Kim Possible, Adventures of Buzz Lightyear, The Emperor’s New Groove, etc.)
Patrick Warburton is simply the coolest guy on the planet.
He’s my man crush.
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### Author:  [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/32 "2015-01-25T03:03:01Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#):
>
> I have an autographed picture of him sitting behind his desk with a number of his characters (including Captain Caveman) illustrated around him.
>
> My favorite line of his, though it predates me by quite a bit, comes from a running gag on the Jack Benny Show where he’d call out, “Train leaving for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga!” I’m not sure why that was funny exactly, except I guess none those places actually had train stations at the time, and of course Cucamonga is just an intrinsically funny word. In any case, now there’s a statue of Jack Benny in Rancho Cucamonga because of the fame he brought to the place. It should really include Mel standing there beside him in a train conductor’s uniform.
It was the timing of the “CUC…AMONGA!” that made it funny. And later uses of the gag would occasionally play with it, such as having a whole scene take place between “CUC” and “AMONGA!” There were lots of other gags with the train conductor, too, such as when he went to lunch and his wife (Bea Benederet) takes his place while he’s gone. Later, she makes the “Train leaving on track 5 for Anaheim, Azuza, and Cuc-” announcement, and the conductor comes back and says, “Well dear, I’m back from lunch.” and continues the announcement- “HICCUP…amonga.” Apparently he had a few while he was at lunch!
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### Author:  [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-blanc-the-greatest-voice-actor-ever/710447/33 "2015-01-25T03:53:56Z")
I think the joke back then (at least in one of the earliest sketches, when Mel was reduced to pleading for SOMEONE to board the train–“Two of you, or even one of you! Just someone to keep the engineer company!”) was that these towns were considered nowhere towns that wouldn’t get much visitors.
Try to think back to a time when Anaheim, California, was a nowhere town with few visitors…
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