List of every actor who has played Woody Woodpecker

Mel Blanc, known as "The Man of Thousand Voices" is regarded as the most prolific actor to ever work in Hollywood with over a thousand screen credits. He developed and performed nearly 400 distinct character voices with precision and a uniquely expressive vocal range. The legendary specialist from radio programs, television series, cartoon shorts and movie was rarely seen by his audience but his voice characterizations were famous around the world.

Blanc under exclusive contract until 1960 to Warner Brothers voiced virtually every major character in the Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies cartoon pantheon. Characters including Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Wile E. Coyote,The Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, Sam the Sheepdog, Taz the Tazmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé la Pew, Charlie the Dog, Blacque Jacque Shellacque, Pussyfoot, Private Snafu among others were voiced by Blanc.

After 1960, Blanc continued to work for Warner Brothers but began to work for other companies once his exclusive contract ended. He worked for Hanna-Barbera voicing characters including Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Cosmo Spacely, Secret Squirrel, Captain Caveman, Speed Buggy, Wally Gator among others. He provided vocal effects for Tom & Jerry in the mid 1960's working with fellow Warner Bros. alum, Chuck Jones at what would become MGM Animation. In the mid 1960's, Blanc originated and voiced Toucan Sam for the Kellogg's Fruit Loops commercials. He would later go to originate and voice Twiki for Buck Rogers and Heathcliff in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

The son of a Hungarian-born furrier was born David Weberman and started out in showbiz as 'Dave Weber'. By the time he arrived in Hollywood in 1935, he was already a seasoned radio comedian. A series of clever celebrity impersonations on the 'Burns & Allen' show promoted his act and led to gigs as a voice dubber for Charles Mintz's Screen Gems cartoons, where he was put to work mimicking stars like Bing Crosby and Eddie Cantor. The short, bespectacled comic simultaneously worked at Columbia, Metro and, most importantly, for Warner Brothers. He was signed by sound editor Treg Brown to provide the vocals for Looney Tunes characters, working in tandem with the legendary Mel Blanc. Webb voiced the Elmer Fudd prototype "Egghead" in his first pairing with the zany fowl in Daffy Duck & Egghead (1938). In later cartoons, he gave expression to a whole bunch of other critters, in fact, everyone not already covered by Blanc. He also worked for Walter Lantz on various Woody Woodpecker shorts.

Webb eventually enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, worked his way up to staff sergeant and ended up entertaining troops in North Africa. Dwight D. Eisenhower was sufficiently impressed by his technique to bestow upon him the sobriquet of 'Comedy Commando', a tag which stuck around for several years after the war had ended. Webb later returned to radio, became the voice of 'Sad Sack', briefly hosted the quiz show "Guess Who" and then had a minor career on local television which fizzled sometime after 1951.

Kent Rogers was born on 31 July 1923 in Houston, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Horton Hatches the Egg (1942), All-American Co-Ed (1941) and The Heckling Hare (1941). He died on 9 July 1944 in Pensacola, Florida, USA.

Dick Nelson was born on 26 April 1917 in Ottawa, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Great Guns (1941) and Wink of an Eye (1958). He died on 2 February 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Animator, gag writer, storyboard artist and director Ben Hardaway is fondly remembered for his important contributions to Warner Brothers cartoons and as co-creator (with Walter Lantz) and voice (1944-1949) of Woody Woodpecker. Hardaway started out as a cartoonist for the Kansas City Star in 1910. He saw military service as an artillery sergeant under the command of Captain Harry S. Truman during World War I. During this time he acquired the nickname 'Bugs'. After demobilization, he resumed working for various mid-West newspapers. In 1922, Hardaway was hired by the Kansas City Film Ad Company and became closely acquainted with the famous pioneer animator Ub Iwerks. Iwerks eventually moved to Hollywood, and, in 1931, employed Hardaway as a story writer. He stayed on for two years, then had a brief spell with Disney. Eventually, he settled at Leon Schlesinger's animation factory at Warner Brothers, a studio which permitted artists substantially greater artistic freedom.

The superb humor and satirical quality of his writing (for example, Confederate Honey (1940), a hilarious send-up of Gone with the Wind (1939), featuring Elmer Fudd as 'Nett Cutler' romancing 'Crimson O'Hairoil') ensured Hardaway's rapid advancement to head of the story department. He also filled in as co-director of several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies episodes during Friz Freleng's three-year long stint at MGM. Many of these featured Porky Pig. One of them, Porky's Hare Hunt (1938), had as chief protagonist an unnamed white rabbit created by Robert Clampett. It looked nothing like Bugs Bunny and sounded and acted rather like Daffy Duck. Before long, the rabbit reappeared in Hare-um Scare-um (1939) -- now in familiar colors, but with relatively short ears, wide buck teeth (and still sounding suspiciously like Daffy). On a corner of the model sheet with the original drawing by Charles Thorson, Hardaway wrote the name 'Bugs'. It stuck ,and thus the famous rabbit got its name -- albeit officially only after the release of A Wild Hare (1940). Hardaway found himself demoted after Freleng's return from MGM and departed Warner Brothers to head up the story department for Walter Lantz working on Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

Lee Sweetland was born on 9 October 1916 in Webb City, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Beach Nut (1944), Chew-Chew Baby (1945) and Woody Woodpecker's Amazing Journey (2008). He died on 10 August 2009 in Valley Village, California, USA.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut on November 5, 1893, silent screen lead Theodore Von Eltz was the son of a Yale professor and educated at Hill School at Pottstown Pennsylvania. Originally prepped to become a doctor, he decided instead to pursue acting. At age 19 he made his New York debut and soon was hitting the Broadway boards with performances in "Children of Earth" (1915), "Rio Grande" (1916) and "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1917). Von Eltz evolved into a dark and dashingly handsome silent film actor. Well-dressed with a trimmed mustache, he romanced a number of the silent screen's most lovely stars in both comedy and drama, including Bebe Daniels in The Speed Girl (1921) and Viola Dana in Fourteenth Lover (1922), before moving into a pattern of disreputable second leads and support roles with Tiger Rose (1923), The Sporting Chance (1925), The Red Kimono (1926), The Sea Wolf (1926). He received lesser billing to a couple of animal heroes in White Fang (1925) and No Man's Law (1927).

By the advent of sound Von Eltz was firmly entrenched in character parts and was often relied upon to drum up sinister support such as his deceptive culprit in The Arizona Kid (1930); his gangster in Red-Haired Alibi (1932); the Shirley Temple vehicle Bright Eyes (1934), in which he played Jane Withers' annoyingly vexatious father; his henchman in The Sun Never Sets (1939); and, more notably, his minor role as the blackmailing pornographer whose actions ignite the classic film noir The Big Sleep (1946). On the other hand, he could also play benevolent doctors, lawyers and servants and did so in a film career that nearly hit the 200 mark. By the late 1930's his billing had slipped considerably to the point he was frequently uncredited. A well-oiled player on radio, he voiced the part of Papa Barbour on the popular program "One Man's Family" from 1948-1949, but was later replaced. He also played on 50s TV.

Von Eltz was married twice. First wife Peggy Prior was a screenwriter for Pathe Studios. They had two children, Teddy and Lori, the latter becoming the soap actress Lori March. Following their divorce and a bitter custody feud (which he lost), he married Elizabeth Lorimar in 1932. They remained together until his death. He passed away at the Motion Picture Country Home after an extended illness and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Talented, prolific and versatile voice and character actor Walker Edmiston had a remarkable career in radio, movies and television that spanned over five decades. Walker was born on February 6, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. Edmiston discovered at an early age that he could perfectly mimic other people's voices; he used to entertain his family with his vocal impression of Lionel Barrymore. After World War II ended Walker went to Los Angeles to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. Edmiston was introduced to animation producer Walter Lantz while performing in a play. This in turn lead to his first steady job doing various incidental voices on the children's show "Time for Beany." In the 50s and 60s he hosted "The Walker Edmiston Show," a children's TV program broadcast in Los Angeles which featured puppets of Edmiston's own creation that included Kingsley the Lion and Ravenswood the Buzzard. Walker worked often for Saturday morning TV series creators Sid and Marty Krofft; he supplied the voices of Sparky the Firefly on "The Bugaloos," Dr. Blinkey and Orson the Vulture on "H.R. Puffnstuf," and Big Daddy Ooze on "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters." Moreover, Edmiston portrayed a crazy old Civil War prospector on "Land of the Lost" and had a recurring role as token benevolent and intelligent Sleestak Enik. He provided the scary grunts and growls for the ferocious Zuni fetish doll in the final and most frightening segment of the made-for-TV horror anthology "Trilogy of Terror." Walker did the voice of Inferno for the "Transformers" cartoon show. For twenty years Edmiston was the voice of both beloved "nice guy" Tom Riley and the notorious Bart Rathbone on the popular radio program "Adventures in Odyssey." In addition, Walker was the voice of Ernie the Keebler Elf in countless TV commercials for ten years. Among the TV shows he had guest spots on are "Maverick," "Thriller," "The Virginian," "Green Acres," "Get Smart," "Star Trek," "The Wild, Wild West," "Bonanza," "Mission: Impossible," "Gunsmoke," "Fantasy Island," "The Waltons," "Little House on the Prairie," "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Falcon Crest," and "Knots Landing." He appeared on several records with Spike Jones, looped actor's voices on numerous films (one of these jobs was doing the off-camera lines for Orson Welles in "Start the Revolution Without Me"), and even supplied many different voices on all five "Planet of the Apes" pictures (he's the voice of the talking baby chimp in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes"). Walker Edmiston died from complications from cancer at age 81 on February 15, 2007.

Harry Babbitt was born on 2 November 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for You'll Find Out (1940), That's Right - You're Wrong (1939) and Playmates (1941). He was married to Betty Babbitt. He died on 9 April 2004 in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, USA.

Danny Kaye left school at the age of 13 to work in the so-called Borscht Belt of Jewish resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It was there he learned the basics of show biz. From there he went through a series of jobs in and out of the business. In 1939, he made his Broadway debut in "Straw Hat Revue," but it was the stage production of the musical "Lady in the Dark" in 1940 that brought him acclaim and notice from agents. Also in 1940, he married Sylvia Fine, who went on to manage his career. She helped create the routines and gags, and wrote most of the songs that he performed. Danny could sing and dance like many others, but his specialty was reciting those tongue-twisting songs and monologues.

Samuel Goldwyn had been trying to sign Kaye to a movie contract for two years before he eventually agreed. Goldwyn put him in a series of Technicolor musicals, starting with Up in Arms (1944). His debut was successful, and he continued to make hit movies such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and The Inspector General (1949). In 1954, he appeared with Bing Crosby in White Christmas (1954), which was based on the Irving Berlin song of the same name. In 1955, he made what many consider his best comedy, The Court Jester (1955), with the brilliant Pellet with the Poison routine. Like all things, however, the lifespan of a comedian is limited and his movie career waned. In 1960, he began doing specials on television and this led to his own TV series, The Danny Kaye Show (1963), which ran from 1963 to 1967.

Some of his last roles were also his most memorable, such as an intense Holocaust survivor in Skokie (1981) and as a kind but goofy dentist in an episode of The Cosby Show (1984). He also worked tirelessly for UNICEF.

Actress, Grace Stafford was born in New York City, New York, as Grace Boyle. She was both an actress & an off-screen voice, (especially as "Woody Woodpecker"), the most popular character created by her second husband, Walter Lantz. She acted in three theatrical films: Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), Chili Con Corny (1972) & Bye, Bye, Blackboard (1972). Stafford was married twice, first to Tom Keene for 20 or 21+ years, (1919 - 1940), then to Lanz later in 1940, for 51+ years, (1940 - 1992). She died Tuesday, March 17th, 1992.

Gladys Holland was born on 7 July 1923 in Ponta, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for Stargate (1994), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and Little Treasure (1985). She was married to Bill Zuckert. She died on 21 October 2017 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Dal McKennon was born on 19 July 1919 in La Grande, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for Lady and the Tramp (1955), Gumby: The Movie (1995) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He was married to Betty Warner. He died on 14 July 2009 in Raymond, Washington, USA.

Hal Smith was born on 24 August 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Great Race (1965), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and The Andy Griffith Show (1960). He was married to Harriet Louise Curtis and Vivian Marie Angstadt. He died on 28 January 1994 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Daws Butler spent the greater part of his career as one of the premier voice-over actors in Hollywood- providing the voices for such well- known characters as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick-Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Jinks the cat, Dixie the mouse, Augie Doggie, Peter Potamus, Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse, Cogswell Cogs, Elroy Jetson and many others. He also provided the voices for such long-running commercial characters as Snap, diminutive companion of Crackle and Pop of noisy cereal fame, as well as Cap'n Crunch, spokesman for a somewhat quieter breakfast treat.

Butler was born in Toledo, Ohio and spent his formative years in Oak Park, Illinois. Although his initial ambition was to be a cartoonist, he had a talent for vocal humor and mimicry as well. Paradoxically, he was also quite shy. As a sort of self- imposed therapy, he forced himself to address large audiences by entering local amateur contests and performing impersonations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rudy Vallee and a Model T Ford starting on a cold morning (an audience favorite). He found that the laughter and applause he got in response was well worth the effort and it clinched his decision to pursue an acting and performing career. Eschewing the last few months of his senior year in high school, he began appearing in Chicago theaters and nightclubs along with two other impersonators he had met along the way. Because they all maxed out at around five feet, two inches in height and primarily did impressions of radio personalities, they billed themselves as "The Three Short Waves."

After two years in the Navy during World War II, during which he met and married Myrtis Martin of Albemarle, N.C. (whose next-door neighbor provided the inspiration for what would later become the southern drawl of Huckleberry Hound), Butler ferried his wife and son out to Hollywood. He finally broke into radio, performing in dramatic as well as comedy programs and specializing in dialects and a wide range of vocal characterizations.

In 1949, Butler and Stan Freberg were featured in a new television puppet show called "Time for Beany." Butler was the voice of a propeller-capped kid named Beany while Freberg voiced his best pal, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. During five years of five shows a week, they were honored with two Emmy awards.

At Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Butler and Freberg co-wrote and co-voiced a comedy record takeoff on the TV show "Dragnet," called "St. George and the Dragonet." Not only was Jack Webb flattered and amused by the record, but it was the first comedy record to sell more than a million copies. Butler's and Freberg's partnership produced several other comedy platters beloved by disc jockeys across the country, even today. Butler was also a part of Freberg's comedy ensemble on the Stan Freberg Radio Show in the summer of 1957 and on a later and very popular comedy single called "Christmas Dragnet."

After lengthy and very productive collaborations with famed animators/directors Tex Avery and Walter Lantz, Butler embarked on yet another inspired partnership, with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at Hanna-Barbera Productions. There, beginning in the late 50s, Butler created his most famous cartoon characterizations, aided and abetted by another gifted voice actor, Don Messick-Boo Boo and Ranger Smith to Butler's Yogi Bear and Pixie the Mouse to his Dixie, among others.

For legendary cartoon producer Jay Ward, Butler, along with fellow actors and friends June Foray and Bill Scott, performed in two animated series, "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son." His long-running Cap'n Crunch character was also a Jay Ward creation.

In his later years, Butler established a popular and respected actors' workshop in his home, training talented students not only in voice- over techniques, but in all areas of acting, including the physical. On that subject, especially, one had only to witness Butler's histrionic physicality when voicing Yogi Bear or his laid- back, sleepy-eyed mien as he became Huckleberry Hound to understand why he considered facial expression and physical movement as essential as sound in producing a living, breathing character. One of Butler's star workshop students was Nancy Cartwright, later the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons." Daws Butler passed away on May 19, 1988 of a heart attack, having just completed three Yogi Bear films and 15 new half-hour Yogi Bear cartoon shows. He also lived to see the rebirth of The Jetsons for a new generation, voicing 30 of the new shows along with all the members of the original cast. During his longest- standing creative collaboration, the 30-odd years with Hanna-Barbara Productions, Daws Butler performed in the neighborhood of 40 different characters. In the years that followed his death, seven actors were required to replace them all.

Benny Rubin was born on 2 February 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for I Love Lucy (1951), Bright Lights (1935) and Traveling Saleslady (1935). He was married to Beatrice Dallinger and Mary Bolt. He died on 15 July 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Cherry Davis was born in Independence, Missouri, USA. She is known for The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977).

Dave Spafford is known for 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Pink Panther (2006) and The Little Mermaid (1989).

Jeff Bennett is an American voice actor who is well-known for voicing Johnny Bravo (based on Elvis Presley's voice), Dr. Hamsterviel from Lilo & Stitch, Kowalski from The Penguins of Madagascar, Petrie in The Land Before Time, Ted Shackleford (The Man in the Yellow Hat) from Curious George, Yosemite Sam in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Smee in Return to Never Land and Kingdom Hearts, Dexter's Dad in Dexter's Laboratory, Cyril in The Legend of Spyro, Extor in Samurai Jack, JB, Pins, Needles and Caged Juju in Tak and the Power of Juju, Ace, Big Billy, Pickloids, Broccoloids and Grubber in The Powerpuff Girls and Raj in Camp Lazlo.

William Richard Werstine is an American actor and radio personality with autism and ADHD. He grew up in both New Jersey and Boston. He became a regular cast member of the Howard Stern show. He became known for The Ren & Stimpy Show, Futurama, Doug, Space Jam and several commercials featuring the red M&M.

Eric Kelso is originally from Santa Cruz, California. After graduating from The University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Film Studies he set out to travel the world in search of film ideas. Along the way he fell in love with Japan, where he resides today. His international voice over credits include video games, the Iron Chef cooking show, Disney Studios, Universal Studios and DreamWorks. His voice is well-known in Japan on many NHK TV and radio programs, as well as TV commercials. And for the past 30 years he has been a writer for various TV and radio shows, screenplays (Sanity Road) and books.

Daniel Louis Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and television writer. Castellaneta is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, and Hans Moleman). Castellaneta also had voice roles in several other programs, including Futurama (1999), Sibs (1991) and Darkwing Duck (1991), The Adventures of Dynamo Duck (1990), The Batman (2004), Back to the Future (1991), Aladdin (1994), Taz-Mania (1991) and Hey Arnold! (1996). He also occasionally guest starred on shows like Friends (1994) and How I Met Your Mother (2005).

In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999) and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta released a comedy album "I Am Not Homer", and wrote and starred in a one-person show titled "Where Did Vincent van Gogh?".

Seth Green has starred in numerous films and television series including the Austin Powers trilogy, The Italian Job (2003), Without a Paddle (2004), Party Monster (2003), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Old Dogs (2009) and dozens more, including starring roles in Sexy Evil Genius (2013), The Story of Luke (2012) and Yellowbird (2014). He's portrayed Christopher Guest in Netflix's National Lampoon origin film, A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), and he starred opposite Katie Holmes and Michael Caine in Dear Dictator (2017). Green made his feature film directorial debut with Changeland (2019) starring Green, Breckin Meyer, Brenda Song, Macaulay Culkin, Clare Grant and Randy Orton. He is the co-creator/executive producer/primary voice talent and a writer/director on Robot Chicken (2005), 2010 & 2016 Emmy® Award-winner for Outstanding Short Format Animation Program. Green has voiced Chris Griffin on Family Guy (1999) since the series' inception. Green has been singled out for many Emmy voiceover nominations for Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. The show, the network's highest-rated original program, and their specials have won numerous Annie Awards for writing and producing, including one for Green for directing. In 2011, Green and his partners created Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, a full-service animation studio with many other projects including: Crackle's SuperMansion, Adult Swim's Hot Streets (2016) and WWE's Camp WWE (2016). In December 2017, the company signed a two-year first-look deal with 20th Century Fox Film to develop animated and live-action projects. Green has always been fascinated by space travel and has done a PSA for NASA and designed the CASIS patch for ISS U.S. National Laboratory missions for research to benefit life on Earth.

Eric Adrian Bauza is a Canadian-American voice actor from Scarborough, Toronto who is known for being one of Mel Blanc's successors for Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He also voiced Stimpy Cat in Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon, White Pantera in El Tigre, Foop from The Fairly OddParents, Fozzie Bear from Muppet Babies and the Beagle Boys from DuckTales. He has one child.