Looney Tunes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Daws Butler

Charles Dawson 'Daws' Butler was the voice of many Hanna-Barbera characters, including Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss ('exit - stage left' is one of his catchphrases), Lippy the Lion, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear. Originally an impressionist, he made his voice acting debut in the 1948 short 'Short Snorts on Sports', and went on to be hired by Tex Avery to do voice work for several of his cartoons. His other 'Looney Tunes' roles included Ralph Crumden, a mouse based on Ralph Kramden from 'The Honeymooners,', and Sylvester's friend Sam Cat. Outside his voice acting work, he was a huge fan of the 'Sherlock Holmes' stories.

Butler also held voice acting workshops and trained various voice actors, including Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson), Corey Burton (Dale in 'Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers') and Bill Farmer (who replaced Will Ryan as the voice of Goofy). He died in 1988.

Answer: Plane crash

Kent Rogers was an impressionist and voiced multiple parodies of celebrities in 'Hollywood Steps Out', including Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, Groucho Marx and J Edgar Hoover. Fittingly, he also played an impressionist in 'All-American Co-Ed', a rare live-action appearance.

He was the original voice of Beaky Buzzard in 'Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid' and 'The Bashful Buzzard', and also played Junior Bear in 'Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears', the first entry in the 'Three Bears' series. During the Second World War, he was an Ensign in the Navy and died in a training flight crash in Florida, a few weeks short of his 21st birthday.

Answer: Stan Freberg

As well as Pete and Chester, Stan Freberg also took on the roles of Junior Bear and Beaky Buzzard after the death of Kent Rogers. He was originally going to voice the Jabberwock in a musical version of 'Jabberwocky' in Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland', but this was cut (although the Cheshire Cat sings the opening lines in the film). Mainly known for his radio work, he was one of the first artists signed to Capitol Records' spoken word division, with his signature hit being 'John and Marsha' (a soap opera parody that solely consists of the characters' names being repeated). He also recorded parodies of the Chords' 'Sh-Boom', 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' and 'Banana Boat Song', amongst others.

Freberg founded an advertising agency, Freberg Ltd., which brought humour to advertising with various satirical adverts; his clients included General Motors and Heinz. He died in 2015.

Answer: F Troop

Larry Storch served alongside Tony Curtis in the Second World War on the submarine USS Proteus. An impressionist and comedian, he appeared in various comedies and cartoons for both Warner Brothers and other studios; his main 'Looney Tunes' roles were Cool Cat, a hipster tiger with a slight resemblance to Snagglepuss, and Merlin the Magic Mouse, along with his Second Banana.

In 'F Troop', set in the Wild West, Storch played Corporal Randolph Agarn, a dimwitted soldier who acted as a sidekick to Sergeant Morgan Sylvester O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), and doubled up as Agarn's various relatives.

He died in 2022.

Answer: June Foray

June Foray took over the role of Porky Pig's girlfriend Petunia from Jane Webb. She also voiced Emma 'Granny' Webster, Tweety Pie's owner, and Witch Hazel (and the Disney character of the same name). She started out in radio with her own show, 'Lady Make Believe', before branching out into voice acting, playing Lucifer the cat in Disney's 'Cinderella' and Rocky, Natasha Fatale and several others in 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show', and Cindy Lou Who in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. She was also the original voice of the Chatty Cathy doll.

Foray incurred the wrath of Richard Nixon when she joined a boycott of meats in response to him freezing meat prices. (All of the other answers were on Nixon's Enemies List, compiled by Nixon's advisor Chuck Colson.) She died in 2017.

Answer: road runner

Not only was Paul Julian the voice of Wile E Coyote's archnemesis, he also provided backgrounds for several cartoons. He started out working on New Deal murals around southern California. Leon Schlesinger, a distant cousin of the Warner brothers, hired him as a background artist, where he worked under Fritz Freleng and drew urban backgrounds for Sylvester and Tweety Pie cartoons, and Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts.

The idea for the Road Runner voice came from Julian making a 'beep beep' sound to warn people to get out of his way when he was in a hurry, and editor Treg Brown recorded him making this sound and used it for the Road Runner films. Julian died in 1995.

Answer: Bea Benaderet

Fans of 'Petticoat Junction' and 'Green Acres' may remember Bea Benaderet as Kate Bradley, owner of the Shady Rest Hotel, who had three daughters: Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley), Bobbie Jo (Pat Woodell) and Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning). Along with June Foyer, Benaderet played multiple female 'Looney Tunes' characters; as well as Miss Prissy, she also played Mama Bear, Little Red Riding Hood and Mrs Cat, and over at Hanna-Barbera, Betty Rubble in 'The Flintstones'.

She started out as an actress in stock theatre before switching to comedy roles; her big break came when she played the telephone operator Gertrude Gearshift on 'The Jack Benny Programme', and she also appeared in 'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show' and 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'.

She died of cancer in 1962.

Answer: Elmer Fudd

Elmer Fudd started out as an almost completely different character called simply Elmer, who wore a green suit and appeared as a recurring character in various shorts. However, the more famous version of the character, who spends his time hunting 'wabbits', originally appeared in 'Elmer's Candid Camera' in 1940, where he was constantly harassed by a rabbit (who would later become Fudd's enemy, Bugs Bunny). Arthur Q Bryan provided his voice, which he had originally used for the lead character in 'Dangerous Dan McFoo'. Bryan's role as Elmer Fudd caught the attention of Don Quinn and Phil Leslie, who cast him as Dr Gamble in the radio comedy 'Fibber McGee and Molly'.

When he appeared in cameo roles in live-action movies, he often used the Fudd voice.

He died in 1959.

Answer: Tommy Bond

Tommy Bond appeared in 'Our Gang' in the post-silent era, known as the 'Roach sound period'; he was scouted by Hal Roach Studies aged just four years old and played Tommy for four years, before leaving the series to return to school. At the age of ten, he played Owl Jolson in 'I Love to Singa', a parody of 'The Jazz Singer' with a family of owls; if you're a 'South Park' fan, you might remember Cartman and Officer Barbrady singing the title song in 'Cartman Gets an Anal Probe'.

He returned to 'Our Gang' in 1936, where he played Butch, a bully and rival of Alfalfa.

As an adult, he played Jimmy Olsen in two 'Superman' films, 'Superman' (1948) and 'Atom Man Vs. Superman' (1950). He died in 2005.

Answer: Mel Blanc

If there was one actor who personified 'Looney Tunes', it was Mel Blanc. Known as the 'Man of a Thousand Voices', he played multiple 'Looney Tunes' characters; as well as the characters in the question, he also played Wile E Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Tweety Pie and Sylvester.

He also did voice work for Hanna-Barbera, playing Barney Rubble, Secret Squirrel, Hardy Har Har and Cosmo Spacely (George Jetson's boss), amongst others. He was the first voice actor to receive on-screen credit, and his versatility was credited to his unusually thick vocal cords.

He died in 1989, and both he and Bugs Bunny were awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.