Difference between revisions 104449042 and 104449043 on dewiki

  {{cleanup-date|April 2006}}    

'''Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler''' ([[November 16]], [[1916]] –– [[May 18]], [[1988]]) was a [[voice actor]] born in [[Toledo, Ohio]], who created and play|Toledo]], [[Ohio]]. He originated the voices of many famous [[animated cartoon]] characters, including [[Yogi Bear]] and [[Huckleberry Hound]].

One of his first voice roles was that of [[Snap, Crackle and Pop|Snap]], one of the [[Rice Krispies]] elf mascots [[Snap, Crackle and Pop]]. His first major success, however, came in the mid  -[[1940s]] at [[MGM]]. [[Tex Avery]] hired Butler to provide narration work for several of his cartoons. In many cartoons there was a nameless Wwolf who spoke in a [[Southern American English|southern accent]] and whistled all the time. Butler provided the voice for this Wwolf. While at MGM, Avery wanted Butler to try to do the voice of [[Droopy Dog]], a character that [[Bill Thompson (voice actor)|Bill Thompson]] regularly gave voice tod. Butler diperformed the voice for a few cartoons, but he then told Avery about [[Don Messick]], a soon-to-be-legendarynother voice actor and Butler's life-long friend. After Messick got his foot in the door, like Butler, it was all uphill from therequickly became a legendary voice actor.

In [[1949]] Butler landed a role in a televised [[puppet]] show created by [[Warner Brothers]] cartoon director [[Bob Clampett]] called ''[[Time for Beany]]''. 33-year-old Butler was teamed up with 23-year-old [[Stan Freberg]], and together they did all the voices ofor the puppet shows. Butler was "voice Beany Boy" and "Captain Huffenpuff". Freberg was "voiced Cecil" and "Dishonest John". An entire stable of recurring characters were seen. The show's writers were Charles Shows and Lloyd Turner, whose dependably funny dialog was still always at the mercy of Butler's and Freberg's [[ad lib]]s. ''Time for Beany'' ran from 1949 to [[1954]] and won several [[Emmy Award]]s, and. It was the basis for the cartoon ''[[Beany and Cecil]]''.

Butler briefly turned his attention to TV commercials, although he quickly moved on to providing the voice to many nameless [[Walter Lantz]] characters on the ''[[Woody Woodpecker]]'' program. His notable character was the penguin "[[Chilly Willy]]" and his side-kick, the southern  -speaking dog Smedley. Also in the 1950s, Stan Freberg asked Butler to help him write comedy skits for his [[Capitol Records]] albums. Their first collaboration, "[[St. George and the Dragon-Net|Saint George and the Dragonet]]" (based on ''[[Dragnet (drama)|Dragnet]]''), was the first comedy record to sell over one million copies. Freberg was more of a satirist who did song parodies, but the bulk of his "talking" routines were co-written by, and co-starred, Daws Butler. Freberg's box-set, ''Tip of the Freberg'' on ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhino]] from]], [[1999]],) chronicles every aspect of Freberg's career except the cartoon voice-over work, and it showcases his career with Daws Butler.

In [[1957]] [[Hanna-Barbera]] left MGM. Daws Butler and Don Messick were on-hand to provide voices. The first, ''[[The Ruff & Reddy Show]]'', set the formula for the rest of the series of cartoons that the two would helm until the mid [[1960s]].

It was During the 1957––[[1965]] era that, Daws Butler gave voice to the following characters, among others:⏎
⏎

*[[The Ruff & Reddy Show|Reddy the dog]]
*[[Huckleberry Hound]]
*[[Yogi Bear]]
*[[Snagglepuss]]
*[[Quick Draw McGraw]]
*[[Quick Draw McGraw|Baba Looey]]
*[[Loopy De Loop]]
*[[Pixie and Dixie|Dixie Mouse]]
*[[Pixie and Dixie|Mr. Jinks]]
*[[Snooper and Blabber|Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse]]
*Fibber Fox
*Aesop's Son (in the "Aesop and Son" segment of ''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show]]'')
*[[J. Wellington Wimpy|Wimpy]] (from the ''[[Popeye]]'' cartoons)
*[[Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy|Augie Doggie]]
*[[Hokey Wolf]]
*[[Wally Gator]]
*Alfie Gator
*[[Peter Potamus]]
*[[Lippy the Lion]]
*Elroy [[The Jetsons|Jetson]]
*[[The Jetsons|Cogswell]]
*[[The Jetsons|Henry Orbit]]
*Captain Skyhook
*Rock Slag
*Big Gruesome
*Red Max
*SGTgt. Blast
*Peter Perfect
*Ruffus Ruffcut 
*[[Scooby-Dum]]⏎
*among others

Butler would voice most of these characters for many decades, in both TV shows and in some commercials. "The breakfast cereal mascot [[Cap'n Crunch]]" became an icon of sorts on [[Saturday morning cartoons|Saturday morning TV]] through many cereal commercials produced by [[Jay Ward]]. Butler gave voice to the Cap'n from the 1960s to the [[1980s]]. He based the voice on an old character actor named Charlie Butterworth (who was also the inspiration for the voice of Quick Draw McGraw -, with a Western twang added). In the [[1970s]] he was the voice of "Hair Bear" and a few characters in minor cartoons such as ''C.B. Bears''. On ''[[Wacky Races]]'' Butler provided the voice for a number of the racers. On ''[[Laff-a-Lympics]]'', Butler was virtually the entire "Yogi Yahooey" team.

Butler based some of his voices on popular celebrities of the day. Yogi Bear began as an [[Art Carney]] impression (Butler had done a similar voice in several of [[Robert McKimson]]'s films at Warner Bros and [[Stan Freberg]]'s comedy record "The Honey-Earthers"). However, Butler soon changed Yogi's voice making it much deeper and more [[sing-song]]y, thus making it a completmore original voice.  Hokey Wolf began as an impression of [[Phil Silvers]], and Snagglepuss as [[Bert Lahr]].  But aAgain, Butler redesigned these voices, making them competely his own inventions.⏎
⏎
⏎
⏎
    Huckleberry Hound was inspired many years earlier, in 1945, by the North Carolina neighbor of Daws's wife's family. 

When [[Mel Blanc]] was recovering at home from a motor vehicle accident, Butler stepped in to doprovide the voice of [[Barney Rubble]]— (another rather Carney-esque voice—) in four episodes of ''[[The Flintstones|Flintstones]]''. episodes.⏎
Aside from ''[[tThe Jetsons]]'', Butler remained somewhat low-key in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1975, Butler began an acting workshop that spawned such talents as [[Nancy Cartwright (actress)|Nancy Cartwright]] (''[[The Simpsons]]''), [[Corey Burton]] (Old Navy, [[Disney]]), and [[Joe Bevilacqua]] ([[NPR]]).  

In the year of his death ''The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound'' was released, a tour-de-force featuring most of his classic early characters.

Daws Butler died of a heart attack on [[May 18]], [[, 1988]]. He was 71. Daws Butler is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]], [[California]]. Many of his roles were picked upassumed by [[Greg Burson]], who had personally studied with Butler for years.⏎
⏎
Daws Butler is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.⏎
  

==For further information==

*The video ''Daws Butler: Voice Magician'' is a [[1987]] documentary of Butler's career from his pre-MGM days on up through his teaming with Freberg in [[1949]] and the teaming with [[Don Messick]] in [[1957]].

*Former Butler protege [[Joe Bevilacqua]] hosts a radio series on XM Satellite Radio's Sonic Theater Channel (163) called ''The Comedy-O-Rama Hour'' which features a regular segment called ''What the Butler Wrote: Scenes from the Daws Butler Workshop'' with rare scripts of Daws performed by his students, including [[Nancy Cartwright]] (the voice of [[Bart Simpson]]), and rare recordings of Daws himself. Bevilacqua has also co-authored the authorized (with Ben Ohmart) biography book ''Daws Butler, Characters Actor'', and edited the book ''Scenes for Actors and Voices'' written by Daws Butler, both published by Bear Manor Media.

==External links==
*[http://www.dawsbutler.com The Official Daws Butler Wwebsite]
*{{voice actor|id=1250|name=Daws Butler}}
*{{imdb name|id=0124889|name=Daws Butler}}

[[Category:1916 births|Butler, Daws]]
[[Category:1988 deaths|Butler, Daws]]
[[Category:Looney Tunes voices|Butler, Daws]]
[[Category:American voice actors|Butler, Daws]]
[[Category:People from Toledo, Ohio|Butler, Daws]]
[[Category:Entertainers who died in their 70s|Butler, Daws]]

[[fr:Daws Butler]]
[[fi:Daws Butler]]