Yosemite Sam performer Mel Blanc
Voice actors
Mel Blanc
The role of Yosemite Sam was originated by Warners Bros' principal voice man, Mel Blanc. In his autobiography, Blanc said he had a difficult time coming up with the voice when he played a similar character called Tex on Judy Canova's radio show. He tried giving Sam a small voice but did not feel that it worked. One day, he decided to simply yell at the top of his voice, which was inspired by a fit of road rage he had that day. It fit perfectly with the blustery character but was also a strain on Blanc's throat, thus he always did Yosemite Sam's lines at the end of a recording session so he could rest himself overnight. As he got into his 70s, the voice became too rough on his throat; the role of Sam was taken over by future Looney Tunes voice actor Joe Alaskey in Who Framed Roger Rabbit while Blanc played all his other Looney Tunes roles in the film. This makes Sam one of the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone else during his lifetime. Blanc used the same voice to depict Bob and Doug McKenzie's father (portrayed by Dave Thomas, but dubbed with Blanc's voice) in the film Strange Brew (1983). Blanc voiced the character for the last time in his lifetime in the 1989 TV special Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports. Archive recordings of Blanc as Yosemite Sam (along with Sylvester and The Tasmanian Devil) were used in the 1990 pinball game, Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball (a year after Blanc's death). Archived recordings of Blanc for Yosemite Sam were also used in the 1999 PlayStation video game, Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (a decade after Blanc's death). Blanc used a voice similar to Yosemite Sam's for Mr. Spacely character on The Jetsons.