Los Angeles, Feb 5 (IANS) Joe Alaskey, the voice behind notable cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, among other legendary cartoon characters, has died. He was 63.
Alaskey passed away on Wednesday due to cancer, reports variety.com.
His spokesperson K.P. Lynne shared the news on the actor’s Facebook page, writing: “Never doubt that Joe loved each and every one of you. Your comments and posts always made his day and brought joy to his heart and life.”
Alaskey replaced Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck after the latter’s death in 1989, assuming the Warner Bros. characters during the 2000s, including in the film “Looney Tunes: Back in Action”.
He also gave voice to other Looney Tunes animated heroes, including Tweety and Sylvester. He served as the primary voice for Plucky Duck on “Tiny Toon Adventures” and Yosemite Sam on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
Alaskey won a Daytime Emmy Award for voicing Daffy the Duck on Cartoon Network’s “Duck Dodgers”.
He also provided the voiceovers for Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Grandpa Lou Pickles on “Rugrats”, Droopy the Dog on “Tom and Jerry” and the ghost Stinkie from “Casper”.
He even lent his talent to “Forrest Gump” as the voice of Richard Nixon.
Alaskey’s last credits include Droopy on “Tom and Jerry,” Green Loontern on “Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham” and the narrator on Investigation Discovery’s “Murder Comes to Town”.
Alaskey was also a writer. He penned 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.”