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Beaky Buzzard was retired to honor original voice actor
There's a reason why Beaky Buzzard doesn't appear in more early cartoons, despite his popularity.
Beaky Buzzard has recently been revived in modern Looney Tunes cartoons, but back in the 1940s when he first appeared, his cartoons were intentionally limited to honor the original voice actor behind the young turkey vulture.
Kent Rogers provided the original voice for Beaky Buzzard before the turkey vulture was even called by that name.
Originally, Beaky Buzzard was called Killer in the 1942 short "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid."
The next time we saw Beaky Buzzard was in a short released in 1945 called "The Bashful Buzzard." This is the cartoon that gave the turkey vulture his now-familiar name.
Between these two shorts, however, Rogers was tragically killed during a training flight while he was serving as an ensign in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Rogers had already recorded some of Beaky's dialog for "The Bashful Buzzard," and comedian-musician Stan Freberg filled in the rest.
After that, Mel Blanc took over as the voice of Beaky Buzzard officially in the 1950 cartoons "The Lion's Busy" and "Strife With Father."
These were the only appearances of Beaky Buzzard in early Looney Tunes cartoons, the "classic era," and though some cartoon experts maintain that the turkey vulture's popularity fizzled out, it's also been reported that the character was intentionally limited after Rogers' death.
In Rogers' career, he voiced cartoons that aired from 1941 to 1946, including a stint as Woody Woodpecker and once voicing Horton the Elephant. Back in the world of Looney Tunes, he also originated the voice of Henery Hawk.
But Beaky Buzzard, despite his limited appearances, might be Rogers' best-remembered work.
In the 2014 book Cartoon Carnival, author Michael Samerdyke wrote that "perhaps the most memorable of Bugs Bunny's one-time foes is Beaky Buzzard."
One of Rogers' most astounding vocal feats, though, likely came in the Tex Avery cartoon "Hollywood Steps Out."
At only 18 years old, Rogers voiced a staggering number of celebrity impersonations for the cartoon, including James Cagney, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Peter Lorre, Groucho Marx, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, J. Edgar Hoover, Henry Fonda, and Bing Crosby — to name a handful.
His tragic loss at the age of 20 stunted what would've been a truly golden voice-acting career, right up there with Mel Blanc.
Do you think Beaky Buzzard is one of the best Bugs Bunny villains?
39 Comments
I'd be a gooney old thing that would lead ya ta sing, a hooey a hooey.
"shoehorn"
So there were a number of good Bugs Bunny villains aside from the most popular (imo).
Hell I still watch cartoons, Three Stooges, etc. Nothing like a good belly laugh...
Some stories were personally written and they also had great writers who exemplified there idea so well.
Unfortunately there will never be anyone exactly like them ever again. Sure there have been great directors since, some may have tried to even copy but never Rod Serling or Alfred Hitchcock ever again.
Even though they are gone, there fabulous and sometimes perplexing stories are still interesting to watch, sometimes seeing something different, something in the background or a slight blooper after seeing them for the last 50 years.
Even Earl Hamner was a writer for them.
After 50 years it is still great!
-I believe that they appeared
Together One Time Only in a
Bugs Bunny cartoon where there
Was Spoof of This Is Your Life.
Looney Tunes ever say that
EGGHEAD and ELMER FUDD
Were supposed to be the same
Character?
Looney Tunes, but a recognized animation historian Michael Barrier stated " , "Elmer Fudd was not a modified version of his fellow Warner Bros. character Egghead" and that "the two characters were always distinct". You can view more information on the Wikipedia page on Elmer Fudd @:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Fudd