Melvin Jerome “Mel” Blanc was born on 30 May 1908, in San Francisco, California USA of Russian-Jewish descent, and was an actor, comedian, recording artist, and voice actor, best known for his 60-plus year career on radio. He was particularly known for being the voice of various “Looney Tunes” characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Sylvester the Cat. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today. He passed away in 1989.
How rich was Mel Blanc? As of late-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that was at $25 million, mostly earned through the success of his various animated projects and radio shows. He was the voice of all major Warner Bros. cartoon characters except for Elmer Fudd. All of these ensured the position of his wealth.
Mel Blanc Net Worth $25 million
Mel attended Lincoln High School, and while growing up he developed a fondness for voices, including musically. He would start voicing at a young age and then changed his name from “Blank” to “Blanc”. After matriculating in 1927, he split his time between leading an orchestra as a conductor and performing around various states.
He also began his radio work in the same year. At the young age of 19, he made his acting debut through the program “The Hoot Owls”, and was able to provide many voices. In 1932 he moved to Los Angeles, and then returned to Portland a year later to produce his own show “Cobweb and Nuts”. Three years later, he would return to Los Angeles to join KFWB which was owned by Warner Bros. He was also a regular on “The Jack Benny Program” on which he did numerous roles, one of which was the famous “Sy, the Little Mexican”; Benny and Blanc would work together for many years. By 1946, Blanc had appeared on over 15 radio programs and was part of the national program “The Abbott and Costello Show”. His net worth was well established.
For his animation voice work, Mel joined Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1936 which were responsible for creating cartoon shorts for Warner Bros. He started voicing characters, and would eventually replace Joe Dougherty as the voice of Porky Pig, which also marked the debut of Daffy Duck, voiced by Mel. He then became a widely known voice artist, responsible for creating “Looney Tunes” characters such as Bugs Bunny. In 1944, Blanc became the first voice actor to be given screen credits. He continued to work for Warner Bros. but also began providing voices for Hanna-Barbera, voicing Barney Rubble from “The Flintstones” and Cosmo Spacely from “The Jetsons”. He also did the vocal effects for the “Tom and Jerry” series from 1963 to 1967. During this time, he was asked to reprise some of his Warner Bros. characters, mainly voicing Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales.
Blanc continued working during the 1970s and 1980s, mainly for bridging sequences for “Looney Tunes” compilation films. He also continued to voice his characters in commercials and TV specials. In 1988, he reprised many of the “Looney Tunes” characters for the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.
For his personal life, it is known that Mel married Estelle Rosenbaum in 1933; they had a son and were together until his death. Mel was a heavy smoker and smoked a pack a day until he was forced to quit at the age of 77 because of emphysema. During a check-up he was diagnosed with advanced coronary artery disease, and passed away at the age of 81 just before the release of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. He was actually involved in a near-fatal car accident in 1961. He trained his son Noel in voice characterization, but Noel decided not to become a full-time voice artist.
