Arthur Q. Bryan

**Arthur Quirk Bryan** (May 8, 1899 – November 30, 1959) born and raised from Brooklyn, New York, was the actor who portrayed Elmer Fudd in Warner Bros. Studios's 1957 classic *The Looney Wizard Of OZ*, and appeared in many other cartoons.

## Early Career And Looney Tunes

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bryan sang in a number of churches in the New York City area and had plans to be a professional singer. By 1918, he was an insurance clerk at the Mutual Life Insurance Company. He sang tenor with the Seiberling Singers and the Jeddo Highlanders on NBC radio. Bryan started voicing Elmer in 1939 in *A Feud there Was* and voiced the character all the way until his death.

## Radio

He started as a singer in 1926 on WGBS and he continued as a tenor soloist on WEAF in 1928. In 1929, Bryan was an announcer at WOR radio in New Jersey.Contemporary radio listings in a daily newspaper indicate that he was still at WOR as late as September 13, 1931. In October 1931, he began working as an announcer at WCAU in Philadelphia, and in 1933 he moved to Philadelphia's WIP By 1934, he was heard on WHN in New York. In 1938–1940, he was a regular on *The Grouch Club*, which aired on the CBS Pacific network and was featured in some short-subject films made by the group.

Bryan's work in animation did not go unnoticed by radio producers. Although his first forays into that medium were accompanied by instructions that he use the Fudd voice, Bryan soon came to the attention of Don Quinn and Phil Leslie, the production and writing team responsible for *Fibber McGee and Molly* and their supporting characters, two of whom spun off into their own radio hits, *The Great Gildersleeve* and *Beulah*. The Gildersleeve character, played by Harold Peary, became series broadcasting's first successful spin-off hit; that plus the onset of World War II (which cost *Fibber McGee & Molly* their Mayor La Trivia, when Gale Gordon went into the Coast Guard in early 1942, and "The Old Timer" Bill Thompson was drafted almost a year later) nabbed nearly every other remaining male voice.

Bryan was first hired for the new *Great Gildersleeve* series, to play the part of Cousin Octavia's secretary/assistant, Lucius Llewellyn (using the Elmer Fudd voice), and later one of Gildersleeve's cronies, Floyd Munson, the barber. His work on the series (in Bryan's natural voice) so impressed Quinn and Leslie, that Bryan was added to the cast of their main show, *Fibber McGee and Molly*, in 1943.

In the early 1940s, Bryan played Waymond Wadcliffe on the *Al Pearce & His Gang* program on CBS. Bryan starred as Major Hoople (from June 22, 1942, to April 26, 1943) in *The Charlotte Greenwood Show*. and played Lt. Levinson on radio's *Richard Diamond, Private Detective* (from September 6, 1950, to June 29, 1951). In the mid-1940s, he had the role of Duke on *Forever Ernest*.

## Films

Bryan first became involved with the movie industry when he moved to Hollywood in 1936 to become a scenario writer for Paramount Pictures.

Bryan's live action work remained largely in uncredited cameo roles, usually employing the Fudd persona, or minor supporting roles in B-movies (like the apoplectic newspaper editor in the Bela Lugosi thriller *The Devil Bat*). In the 1940 Charley Chase short *South of the Boudoir*, he speaks in his normal voice, but at one point slips into his Fudd voice while coming on to Chase's wife. He did work steadily, appearing in dozens of films over the years, in such successful releases as *Samson and Delilah*; two Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" films, *Road to Singapore* and *Road to Rio*; and the Ozzie and Harriet feature *Here Come the Nelsons*. He appeared frequently in live-action short-subjects for Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures.

Bryan continued as the *Fibber* show's secondary male lead, even after Thompson and (for a time) Gordon returned to the show, and he stayed as Dr. Gamble all the way through its final incarnation on the NBC *Monitor* series in 1959, as well as playing Floyd on "Gildersleeve" through its conclusion in 1954. Bryan's final original work as Fudd came in the Warner Bros. Edward R. Murrow spoof *Person to Bunny*.

## Television

Bryan was a panelist on the early TV quiz show *Quizzing the News* (1948–49). He would be found in numerous productions in the early 1950s predominantly in 1-episode bit parts, such as in the early filmed for television comedy, *Beulah*. He also landed a minor television role in 1955, as the handyman Mr. Boggs in the short-lived CBS sitcom, *Professional Father*. On *The Halls of Ivy*, Bryan played Professor Warren, head of the college's history department, a role he also had on the radio program of the same name.

## Death

Bryan died of a sudden heart attack on November 30, 1959, in Hollywood. Hal Smith assumed the voice of Elmer Fudd in 1960s *Looney Tunes* productions, and beginning in the early 1970s Mel Blanc would voice this character for various special television appearances. Bryan is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

## Legacy

The DVD specials for some cartoons such as *What's Opera, Doc?*, in *Looney Tunes Golden Collection*, includes bits of conversation between Bryan and Mel Blanc, affording a rare opportunity to hear them working together, and to hear Bryan's natural voice. Bryan's natural voice is also heard as the tired hotel guest in *A Pest in the House*, in which Bryan "talks to himself", Elmer Fudd being the hotel manager.

## Selected Filmography

* *The Great Library Misery* (1938, Short) – Mr. F.T Smith
* *Broadway Serenade* (1939) – Process Server (uncredited)
* *Dangerous Dan McFoo* (1939, Short) – Dan McFoo (voice, uncredited)
* *I Stole a Million* (1939) – Cafe Mgr. Forbidding Dancing (uncredited)
* *These Glamour Girls* (1939) – Dance Customer (uncredited)
* *Dad for a Day* (1939, Short) – Spanky's Father
* *Little Accident* (1939) – Customer
* *Elmer's Candid Camera* (1940, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *Road to Singapore* (1940) – Bartender (uncredited)
* *Millionaire Playboy* (1940) – J.B. Zany
* *Confederate Honey* (1940, Short) – Ned Cutler (voice, uncredited)
* *The Hardship of Miles Standish* (1940, Short) – John Alden (voice, uncredited)
* *South of the Boudoir* (1940, Short) – Thomas Bailey
* *Swing with Bing* (1940, Short) – Golf Duffer
* *A Wild Hare* (1940, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *The Devil Bat* (1940) – Joe McGinty
* *Elmer's Pet Rabbit* (1941, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *Manpower* (1941) – Drunk Texan (uncredited)
* *Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime* (1941) – Book Salesman
* *Look Who's Laughing* (1941) – Mayor Duncan's Aide (uncredited)
* *Wabbit Twouble* (1941, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *The Wabbit Who Came to Supper* (1942, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *Larceny, Inc.* (1942) – Man in Street Socking Jug (uncredited)
* *A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen* (1942) – Waymond Wadcwiff (uncredited)
* *Grand Center Murder* (1942) – Medical Examiner (uncredited)
* *Johnny Doughboy* (1942) – Irish Mayor (uncredited)
* *Swing Out the Blues* (1943) – Larry Stringfellow
* *National Barn Dance* (1944) – Samson (uncredited)
* *I'm from Arkansas* (1944) – Commissioner of Agriculture
* *She Wouldn't Say Yes* (1945) – Train Passenger in sleeping car (speaking in Elmer Fudd voice)
* *Idea Girl* (1946) – Commissioner P.J. Maple
* *The Dark Horse* (1946) – Mr. Hodges (uncredited)
* *The Devil Thumbs a Ride* (1947) – Santa Ana Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
* *Road to Rio* (1947) – Mr. Stanton (uncredited)
* *Samson and Delilah* (1949) – Fat Philistine Merchant Wearing No Robe
* *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1952) – Spectator (uncredited)
* *Here Come the Nelsons* (1952) – Deputy (uncredited)
* *The Life of Riley* (1953–1957, TV Series) – The Country Store Owner / Curtiss
* *Broken Lance* (1954) – Bit Part (uncredited)
* *Hell's Outpost* (1954) – Harry - Bank Accomplice
* *The Lieutenant Wore Skirts* (1956) – Mr. Curtis
* *Wideo Wabbit* (1956, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *The Go-Getter* (1956) – The Handyman
* *The Adventures of Jim Bowie* (1957, TV Series) – Hotel Clerk / Henri
* *The Looney Wizard Of OZ* – Elmer Fudd (voice)
* *A Mutt in a Rutt* (1959, Short) – Elmer Fudd (voice, uncredited)
* *Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales* (1982) – Elmer Fudd (voice)