The voice behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester is lost forever. Joe Alaskey, the enthusiastic voice performer behind these beloved cartoon characters, passed away on 3 February, 2016. He gave up his breath due to cancer at the age of 63.
Born in New York, Alaskey began his career with his extensive mimic skills and later on began providing his voice for various characters. He voiced Foghorn Leghorn and Yosemite Sam in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. His journey at Warner Bros. commenced as he voiced the prominent cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
His journey then had a wide start; he further went on to voice other Looney Tunes animated characters like Tweety and Sylvester. He played other popular WB characters like Marvin the Martian, Droopy the Dog and Tiny Toon Adventures’ Plucky Duck.
He won an Emmy for his Daffy Duck voice work and a Daytime Emmy Award for voicing the title role on Duck Dodgers, and he was nominated for an Annie Award for Looney Tunes: Back in Action for his Daffy Duck.
Apart from Looney Tunes, Alaskey also mastered several roles like Stinkie for Casper in the film and TV series, Grandpa Lou Pickles on Nickelodeon’s Rugrats, Droopy in direct to video Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest and Green Loontern in the LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham game.
Alaskey was also a writer, penning a memoir, “That’s Still Not All Folks!!” in 2009 and recently published a horror novel, Frater Dementis, and a collection of short stories Queasy Street: Volume One — Eleven Tales of Fantasy.
The legendary Joe Alaskey worked as a comedian, impressionist and actor and had a passion for classic TV and radio shows. His voice replaced the well known Mel Blanc who would voice Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck until he died in 1989. Both Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are known for their distinct tone of voice and remarkable innovations in terms of expression, and the man behind them will live for eternity due to his phenomenal talent.
