Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning animated rabbit/hare who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1944. Today, he is the corporate mascot for Warner Brothers, especially its animated productions. According to his biography Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare, he was "born" in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York and the product of many creators: Ben "Bugs" Hardaway (who created a prototypical version of Bugs Bunny known around Termite Terrace as Bugs' Bunny) Bob Clampett, Tex Avery (who directed A Wild Hare, considered Bugs' formal film debut), Robert McKimson (who created the definitive Bugs Bunny character design), Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng. According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs Bunny's accent is a Flatbush accent, an equal blend of the Bronx and Brooklyn dialects. Bugs Bunny remains one of the most popular and recognizable cartoon characters in the world. In 2002, he was named by TV Guide as the greatest cartoon character of all time. His catchphrase is a casual "What's up, Doc?" usually said through a mouthful of carrot. When Mel Blanc died in 1989, Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey and Billy West became the new voices to Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes, taking turns doing the voices at various times. As far as his musical career, Bugs didn't produce that much songs. His most famous work is the rap song Buggin' as appeared on the soundtrack record from the movie Space Jam (1996) in which Bugs had one of the main roles next to Michael Jordan. In this live-action/animated film Bugs' voice was the work of Billy West. The soundtrack earned mostly good reviews and was successful on the Billboard 200, peaking at #2. The soundtrack also managed to sell very well; the soundtrack went double platinum less than two months after its release in January 1997. In 2001, the soundtrack was certified 6x Platinum.