What Was Mel Blanc's Net Worth?
Mel Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian who had a net worth equal to $25 million at the time of his death in 1989, after adjusting for inflation. Mel Blanc's career spanned over 60 years. He worked extensively in radio and then became known around the world for voicing characters like Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, and Porky Pig, among many others, and earned the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Voices." He is arguably the most prolific voice actor in entertainment history. Mel Blanc died on July 10, 1989.
Mel Blanc's Characters
Some of the most notable characters Mel Blanc voiced include:
- Bugs Bunny
- Daffy Duck
- Porky Pig
- Tweety Bird
- Sylvester the Cat
- Yosemite Sam
- Foghorn Leghorn
- Marvin the Martian
- Pepe Le Pew
- Speedy Gonzales
- Wile E. Coyote
- Road Runner
- Barney Rubble
- Dino
- Mr. Spacely (from "The Jetsons")
- Heathcliff (from "Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats")
Early Life
Mel Blanc was born Melvin Jerome Blank on May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, California. His parents, Eva and Frederick Blank, were both of Jewish heritage. Mel grew up in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood before the family moved to Portland, Oregon. There, he attended Lincoln High School. From an early age, he developed a fondness for voices and dialects and began practicing them at the age of 10. He also was very musical and played a number of instruments. After graduating from high school in 1927, he became the youngest conductor in the country at the age of 19. He also began performing in vaudeville shows around Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
Career
Blanc began his radio career at the age of 19 in 1927 when he booked a role on the KGW program "The Hoot Owls." His ability to provide voices for multiple characters impressed the show's producers. He moved to Los Angeles in 1932 but then returned to Portland a year later. In 1933, he moved to KEX to produce and co-host his "Cobweb and Nuts" show, which aired Monday through Saturday. Mel later returned to Los Angeles and joined Warner Bros. in 1935. He was a regular on the NBC Red Network show "The Jack Benny Program" and played various voice roles. He continued to work on the show until it ended in 1955.
His success on the program led to his own radio show, "The Mel Blanc Show," which ran from 1946 to 1947. He also voiced characters on other shows, such as "The Abbott and Costello Show" and "Burns and Allen."
Meanwhile, the world of animation was beginning to develop. In December 1936, Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, which was producing short theatrical cartoons for Warner Bros. The first cartoon Mel worked on was "Picador Porky" in 1937. He soon after received his first starring role as the character of Porky Pig in "Porky's Duck Hunt," which also marked the debut of Daffy Duck, voiced by Blanc.
From this point onward, Blanc became a prominent vocal artist for Warner Bros., voicing a wide variety of "Looney Tunes" characters. In 1940, he debuted the character of Bugs Bunny in "A Wild Hare." He popularized the character's catchphrase, "Eh, what's up, doc?" Mel also developed the voice and laugh of Woody Woodpecker for the cartoon produced for Universal Pictures. However, he later signed an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. and stopped voicing the character.
hil Rudge/Evening Standard/Getty Images
Blanc was very business-savvy and took the necessary measures to protect the rights to his voice characterizations both contractually and legally. At a time when voice actors rarely received screen credits, Mel was the exception to this as his contract with Warner Bros. required that he receive credit.
In 1960, after his exclusive contract with Warner Bros. expired, he continued working with the company while also beginning to provide voices for cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera. Some of his roles during this time include voicing the characters of Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones" and Cosmo Spacely in "The Jetsons." He also voiced the characters of Dino the Dinosaur, Secret Squirrel, Speed Buggy, and Captain Caveman, among many others.
Blanc also began working with former "Looney Tunes" director Chuck Jones, doing the vocal effects for the "Tom and Jerry" series from 1963 to 1967. He was also the first voice of Toucan Sam in the Froot Loops commercials. In the late 1960s, Mel reprised some of his Warner Bros. characters when the studio contracted him to make new theatrical cartoons.
In his later career, Blanc performed a number of his "Looney Tunes" characters for bridging sequences in various compilation films of Golden Age-era Warner Bros. cartoons. These include "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie," "Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island," and "Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales," among others. In 1962, Blanc and his son formed Blanc Communications Corporation, a media company that produced over 5,000 public service announcements and commercials.
Blanc is regarded as the most prolific voice actor in entertainment history. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the radio industry. His character, Bugs Bunny, also was awarded a star in 1985.
Personal Life and Death
In January 1933, Blanc married Estelle Rosenbaum. The couple had a son together named Noel, who also became a voice actor. Mel and Estelle remained married until Blanc's death in 1989.
Blanc had begun smoking cigarettes at the age of nine and continued his pack-a-day habit until the age of 77 when he was diagnosed with emphysema. In May 1989, his family checked him into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after they noticed he had developed a bad cough. He was expected to recover, but then the doctors discovered he had advanced coronary artery disease. After spending two months in the hospital, Blanc died on July 10, 1989, at the age of 81. He is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his gravestone reads "That's All Folks" – the phrase said by the character Porky Pig at the end of Warner Bros. cartoons.
