Noel Barton Blanc (born October 19, 1938) is an American commercial producer, retired voice actor, and the son of the late cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc.
Early life and career
Blanc was born on October 19, 1938, in Los Angeles, California. He is the only child of voice actor Mel Blanc, and throughout Noel's childhood and early adulthood, he worked with his father on the Looney Tunes voices so that when Mel Blanc eventually retired or died, Noel could take over for his father.[1] In 1961, Noel performed some of Mel's voices, uncredited, when Mel was injured in a car crash.[2][3] Following his father's death, Noel voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd (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 and other characters in Tiny Toon Adventures and a series of You Rang? answering machine messages;[4] he was one of several successors to his father in the immediate aftermath of Mel's death, with others including Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey, Greg Burson and Billy West. Warner Bros. had been splitting up the various voice-acting roles to prevent any one of them from being a singular successor.[5] He later contributed voice work to Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.
On January 29, 1962, Noel and his father Mel formed Blanc Communications Corporation,[6][7] a media company which remains in operation.[8] Together, they produced over 5,000 public service announcements and commercials, appearing with Kirk Douglas, Lucille Ball, Vincent Price, Phyllis Diller, Liberace, and The Who. Kirk Douglas' son, Joel, served as one of the executives at Blanc Communications Corporation and helped to develop and produce commercials until the late 1980s.[9]
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 on June 3, 1998.[10][11]
In February 1991, Blanc was injured in his personal helicopter when the aircraft collided with a small plane above Santa Paula Airport. Two other people were also injured, including Kirk Douglas, and two people in the plane were killed.[12] 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.[13]
^Ohmart, Ben (November 15, 2012). Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices. ISBN9781593932596. Retrieved November 23, 2023. According to one report, Noel, by then a fair imitator of his father's characters, was asked by Warner Bros. to loop a series of cartoons, ones which needed an extra phrase or word redone. He would still pinch-hit for Mel later on occasion too, but about 99% of what the public hears is my dad. My voice is basically used in public service announcements and on Armed Forces broadcasts."
