Jeff Bergman | |
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Born | Jeffrey Bergman July 10, 1960 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Alma mater | University of Pittsburgh |
Occupation | Voice actor |
Years active | 1974–present |
Children | 2 |
Signature | |
Jeffrey Bergman (born July 10, 1960) [1] [2] is an American voice actor who has provided the modern-day voices of various classic cartoon characters, most notably with Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera.
Bergman was the first to replace Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny and several other Warner Bros. cartoon characters following Blanc's death in 1989. Bergman shared the roles of Blanc's characters with Greg Burson and Joe Alaskey before their respective deaths in 2008 and 2016, as well as Bob Bergen, Billy West, Jim Cummings, Maurice LaMarche, Fred Tatasciore, and Eric Bauza for various Warner Bros. Animation productions.
Bergman was born on July 10, 1960, to a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [2] [3] Throughout his early life, he impersonated several celebrities and cartoon characters, his first impression being comic influence Ed Sullivan at the age of 6. At the age of 15, Bergman began doing impressions of various Looney Tunes characters. [2]
He studied theatre and communications at the University of Pittsburgh where he first did voice work after becoming involved with a student-run radio station and interning at the KQV and WDVE radio stations. [2] [4] While there, he made his first demo reel and was profiled in a story on KDKA-TV's Evening Magazine . The story was picked up on similar TV news magazines shows and helped land him his representation with William Morris Agency following his graduation from Pitt in 1983.
During his time at university, Bergman attended an on-campus lecture by Mel Blanc, who was best known for voicing the Looney Tunes such as Bugs Bunny. Bergman later tracked Blanc down and met him at his Oakland hotel room in 1981, where Bergman imitated Blanc's characters for him, earning himself a 45-minute session. Bergman credits Blanc with helping him graduate two years later. [2] [4]
Bergman voiced the Pillsbury Doughboy from 1986 to 2014 following Paul Frees' death in 1986. [5] Bergman's work with Warner Bros. began in 1986, recording voices for The Bugs Bunny Show . After being rebuffed several times by Warner Bros. directors, he recorded a tape of himself as several of Blanc's characters, including Bugs Bunny. He took the tape to the production company and used a switch to toggle back and forth between his work and the original Mel Blanc recording. Then-Warner Bros. president Edward Bleier was unable to tell the difference between the voices, [6] and Bergman, at the age of 29, became the first performer to provide the voice of Bugs Bunny after Mel Blanc died on July 10, 1989 – Bergman's 29th birthday. [2]
Bergman's first performance as Bugs Bunny was during the 62nd Academy Awards as Bugs presented the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. [7] He voiced Bugs, as well as Daffy Duck, during the 1990 TV specials Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and The Earth Day Special (also voicing Tweety Bird and Porky Pig in the latter). That same year, he also lent his voice to Bugs, Daffy and Porky in the animated sequences of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Bergman later voiced Bugs and Daffy again as well as Elmer Fudd in the 1991 theatrical short Box-Office Bunny , Bugs's first in over 25 years. He voiced Bugs, Daffy, Elmer and Yosemite Sam in the 1991 short (Blooper) Bunny , as well as several characters (including Sylvester the Cat and Foghorn Leghorn) in animated TV specials and newer animated series such as Tiny Toon Adventures and The Plucky Duck Show .
Outside of the Looney Tunes, Bergman also voiced George Jetson and Mr. Spacely in Jetsons: The Movie (1990) when their previous voice actors George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc both died during production; [6] he had been working at his local radio station in Pennsylvania when he received the call to travel to California and complete the dialogue. He also voiced George Jetson in the theme park attraction The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera . By the mid-1990s, Bergman decided to not continue voicing the Looney Tunes, due to reluctance about relocating to Los Angeles. At the time, he was living in Pittsburgh so Warner Bros. hired other voice actors such as Joe Alaskey (who was the first person to replace Blanc as the voice of Yosemite Sam in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988), Greg Burson, Bob Bergen, Billy West and Blanc's son Noel Blanc. [8]
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bergman continued voicing various Hanna-Barbera characters, namely Fred Flintstone, in newer specials such as The Flintstones: On the Rocks following Henry Corden's retirement from the role in 2000, only understudying the voices of the Looney Tunes in times when Alaskey and West were not available. In 2003, he voiced Bugs in a sketch on the NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live . Eventually, after almost 20 years, and after sporadically appearing as the Looney Tunes characters for nearly two decades, he returned as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester the Cat, Pepé Le Pew and Tweety in 2011's The Looney Tunes Show . [4] He also returned for the 2015 series New Looney Tunes , voicing Bugs, Foghorn, Sylvester and Elmer Fudd, as well as other minor characters such as Michigan J. Frog. He also voices some characters in Looney Tunes Cartoons ; Eric Bauza voices Bugs, Daffy, and Tweety for that series, with Bergman handling Foghorn, Sylvester and Elmer Fudd.
Bergman is a recurring cast member on Family Guy , usually voicing Fred Flintstone and Sylvester the Cat, as well as The Cleveland Show and American Dad! .
From 2000 until 2015, Bergman was also the announcer of Turner Broadcasting's Boomerang.
Bergman had a recurring role as a radio intern Gus Kahana on the AMC comedy-drama Remember WENN, which aired in the late 1990s. [4] He also provided the voice of Zap in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure , Skylanders: Giants , Skylanders: Swap Force , Skylanders: Trap Team , Skylanders: SuperChargers, and Skylanders: Imaginators .
More recently, Bergman became the new voice of Eustace Bagge in the Courage the Cowardly Dog / Scooby-Doo crossover, Straight Out of Nowhere , replacing the previous voice actors, the late Lionel Wilson and the late Arthur Anderson.
Bergman has voiced a large quantity of characters over his career. His vocal repertoire includes Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Taz, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Boo Boo, Ranger Smith, Wally Gator, Pixie and Dixie, Baba Looey, Mr. Jinks, Top Cat, Officer Dibble, Peter Potamus, George Jetson, Elroy Jetson, Astro, Mr. Spacely, Garfield, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Mr. Slate, Dino, Lippy the Lion, Mr. Incredible, Hadji, Dr. Benton C. Quest, Race Bannon, Squiddly Diddly, Fleegle, Droopy, and Eustace Bagge.
Bergman lives in Los Angeles, California, and has two sons. [9]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | The New Show | Walter Kronkite's Wonderful World of Bloopers Announcer, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, George Jetson | [14] |
1986 | The Bugs Bunny Show | Additional Voices | |
1990 | Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck | TV short, first to voice after Blanc's death |
The Earth Day Special | Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Porky Pig | ||
1990–1991 | Tiny Toon Adventures | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Tasmanian Devil, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety, Additional voices | |
1991 | Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes | Bugs Bunny, Pepé Le Pew | TV short |
Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Papa Bear, Mr. Meek | ||
1992 | Bugs Bunny's Creature Features | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam | |
The Plucky Duck Show | Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck | Episodes: "A Quack in the Quarks", "A Ditch in Time" and "Slugfest/Duck Dodgers Jr./Duck Trek" | |
1996–1999 | Doug | Coach Spitz | |
2000-2015 | Boomerang | Commercial Announcer | |
2001 | The Flintstones: On the Rocks | Fred Flintstone, Parking Guard, Vendor | TV movie |
The Jetsons: Father & Son Day | George Jetson, Elroy Jetson, Mr. Cosmo Spacely | ||
2002 | Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law | George Jetson, Bakov, Clown | Episode: "Shaggy Busted" |
The Jetsons: The Best Son | George Jetson, Elroy Jetson, Robot Boy | ||
2003 | Cartoon Network's Funniest Bloopers and Other Embarrassing Moments | Porky Pig, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, George Jetson, Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg, Henery Hawk | TV short |
2004 | Johnny Bravo | Fred Flintstone | Episode: "Wilderness Protection Program/A Page Right Out of History" |
2006–present | Family Guy | Fred Flintstone, Sylvester the Cat, Max Weinstein, Victor, Homer Simpson | |
2007 | Totally Spies! | Dr. Seth Douglass | 34 episodes |
2008, 2009 | Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy | Host, Fred Flintstone | Episodes: "A Dog on the $25,000 Pyramid" "Fred and Barney Try to Get Into a Club" "Fred Flintstone Takes a Shit" |
2010 | The Cleveland Show | Alda-nator, Garrison Keillor | Episodes: "Love Rollercoaster" "Buried Pleasure" |
2011–2014 | The Looney Tunes Show | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Girardi | |
2012 | Cartoon Network 20th Anniversary | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck | |
2013 | Mad | Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, James P. Sullivan, Dan Schneider | Episodes: "First White House Down/McDuck Dynasty" "Iron Bland 3/Monsters Community" "World War ZZZ/SHAZAM! & Cat" |
2014 | Rick and Morty | Additional voices | Episode: "Rixty Minutes" |
Phineas and Ferb | Episode: "The Klimpaloon Ultimatum" | ||
Mike Tyson Mysteries | Elton John, Elon Musk, Robert Redford, The Phantasm, | Voice | |
2015–2020 | New Looney Tunes | Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Michigan J. Frog, Boyd (Season 2), Poochini | Voice [15] |
2016 | American Dad | Additional voices | Episode: "Next of Pin" |
2018 | We Bare Bears | Narrator | Episode: "El Oso" |
2018–2020 | Our Cartoon President | Donald Trump, Lou Dobbs, Joe Biden, Bill de Blasio, John F. Kennedy | Voice |
2019 | Amphibia | Jonah, Additional voices | Episode: "Cracking Mrs. Croaker" |
2020 | Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs | Fred Flintstone, Mr. Slate | Voice |
2020–2023 | Looney Tunes Cartoons | Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Ralph Wolf | |
2020 | Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous | Mr. DNA | |
2020 | Animaniacs | Sylvester | Episode: "Suffragette City" |
2021–present | Jellystone! | Yogi Bear, Ranger Smith, Wally Gator, Mr. Jinks, Lippy the Lion, Dirty Dawg, Snake, Fred Flintstone, George Jetson, Ookla the Mok | Voice |
2022 | Pibby | Fred Flintstone | |
2022 | Ada Twist, Scientist | Tooth Troll | Episode: "Tooth Fairy Bells" |
2022–present | Bugs Bunny Builders | Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn | Voice |
2023–present | Tiny Toons Looniversity | Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn | Voice [16] |
2023 | What If...? | Odin | Voice (2 episodes) |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | Taz-Mania | Tasmanian Devil | Sega Genesis version |
1994 | Flintstones/Jetsons: Timewarp | Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Dino, Baby Puss, George Jetson, Rosie the Robot Maid, Mr. Spacely, Officer, Satellite Number 4-15 Pilot, Spacely's Sprockets Computer, Muscle Trainer 3000, Interstellar Express Ship, Sleeping Worker, R.U.D.I., Ring Salesman, Food Rack Cycle, Alpha Seltxer 3000, Apollo Anti-Gravity Dish Machine, Garbage Disposatizer 3000, Encyclopedia Titanic, Alphabet Machine, Tree Brontosaurus, Mower-a-Saurus, Elephant, Bear Rug, Birds, Gravaldo, Movie Dinosaur, Caveman, Bathing Dinosaur, Compactosaurus, Dishwasher Pelican, Sawing Bird, Hammering Bird, Office Worker, Caveman, Dinosaur, Groks, Caveman Tourist | [17] [18] |
Taz in Escape from Mars | Tasmanian Devil | ||
2011 | Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure | Zap | |
2012 | The Expendables 2 Videogame | Barney Ross | |
Skylanders: Giants | Zap | ||
2013 | Skylanders: Swap Force | ||
2014 | Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes: Cartoon Universe | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester | |
Skylanders: Trap Team | Zap | ||
Looney Tunes Dash! | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Tweety, Sylvester, Tasmanian Devil, Tasmanian She-Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, Beaky Buzzard | [19] | |
2015 | The Flintstones | Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble | Slot machine [20] |
Skylanders: SuperChargers | Zap | [21] | |
2016 | Ice Age: Arctic Blast | Manny | [22] |
Skylanders: Imaginators | Zap | ||
2018 | Lego The Incredibles | Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible | [23] |
The Flintstones: Welcome to Bedrock | Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble | Slot machine [24] | |
Yogi Bear | Yogi Bear, Ranger Smith | Slot machine [25] [26] | |
2020 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Ronald Reagan |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Wun Wabbit Wun | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd | [1] |
2017 | Daffy Duck Dance Off | Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Tweety | |
2018 | The Flintstones Bedrock River Adventure | Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble | |
Meet Bugs (And Daffy) | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester | ||
Ani-Mayhem | Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Barnyard Dawg |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986–2014 | The Pillsbury Company | Pillsbury Doughboy | [5] |
Melvin Jerome Blanc was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova and his own short-lived sitcom.
Looney Tunes is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Daffy Duck is a cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, in which he is usually depicted as a foil for either Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig or Speedy Gonzales. He was one of the first of the new "screwball" characters that emerged in the late 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters who were more popular earlier in the decade, such as Mickey Mouse, Porky Pig, and Popeye.
Porky Pig is a cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts featuring the character. Even after he was supplanted by later characters, Porky continued to be popular with moviegoers and, more importantly, the Warners directors, who recast him in numerous everyman and sidekick roles.
Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. His characteristics are based on Red Skelton's famous "Junior the Mean Widdle Kid." He appeared in 46 cartoons during the golden age, made between 1942 and 1964.
Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr. is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Most of his appearances have him often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper. He appeared in 103 cartoons in the golden age of American animation, lagging only behind superstars Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck. Three of his cartoons won Academy Awards, the most for any starring a Looney Tunes character: they are Tweetie Pie, Speedy Gonzales, and Birds Anonymous.
Joseph Francis Alaskey III was an American actor and comedian. He was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his death. He alternated with Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Jim Cummings, Bob Bergen, Maurice LaMarche and Billy West in voicing Warner Bros. cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and Taz, among many others. He also voiced Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures from 1990 to 1995. Alaskey was the second actor to voice Grandpa Lou Pickles on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats. He voiced Lou again in the Rugrats spin-off series All Grown Up!.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 28, 2003. The first release of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, it contains 56 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements. The set won the Classic Award at the Parents' Choice Awards.
The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a 1950 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The cartoon was released on March 4, 1950, and stars Daffy Duck along with a number of other prominent Looney Tunes characters. The title is a play on the 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is a 2006 animated direct-to-DVD Christmas comedy film starring the Looney Tunes characters, directed by Charles Visser, produced by Warner Bros. Animation and animated by Toon City Animation. The film is based on Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol (1843). The special was released on DVD on November 14, 2006, and was then broadcast on Cartoon Network in December 2006. The special was rereleased on DVD as part of the Looney Tunes Holiday Triple Feature on September 1, 2020.
Foghorn Leghorn is an anthropomorphic rooster who appears in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of American animation. All 29 of these cartoons were directed by McKimson.
Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antagonizing characters. He speaks in an unusual way, replacing his Rs and Ls with Ws, so he often refers to Bugs Bunny as a "scwewy" (screwy) or "wascawwy (rascally) wabbit". Elmer's signature catchphrase is, "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits", as well as his trademark laughter.
Gregory Lewis Burson was an American voice actor. He was best known for being one of the many successors to voice actors Daws Butler and Mel Blanc following their deaths in 1988 and 1989 respectively.
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies is a 1972 American animated one-hour television movie that was broadcast on ABC on December 16, as an episode of the anthology series The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. In this Filmation-produced movie, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other Looney Tunes characters interact with the characters from the Filmation series Groovie Goolies.
Barnyard Dawg is a Looney Tunes character. A feisty anthropomorphic basset hound, he is a friend and the archenemy of Foghorn Leghorn. He was created by Robert McKimson, who also created Foghorn, and was voiced by Mel Blanc. Dawg also feuds with other notable Looney Tunes characters as well, such as Henery Hawk, Daffy Duck and Sylvester. He appeared in 23 Golden Age–era Warner Bros. shorts.
Noel Barton Blanc is an American commercial producer, retired voice actor, and the son of the late cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc.
The Looney Tunes Show is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and aired on Cartoon Network for two seasons from May 3, 2011, to November 2, 2013. The series featured characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon shorts in a sitcom format with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, who live a suburban life together within a neighborhood of fellow cartoon neighbors, dealing with various issues in their own way. Many episodes also include a musical short under the Merrie Melodies name, and the first season also includes computer-animated shorts involving new antics between Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
The movie stars LeBron James, Zendaya, Don Cheadle—and Bergman, of course, who voices Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone.