A family announcement and a premiere he was due to attend
Eric Bauza, an Emmy-winning voice actor who served as the contemporary voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and many other Looney Tunes figures, has died at 46. His family disclosed the death on Sunday through a post on his Instagram account, describing it as sudden and promising further information later. The announcement did not specify when he died or what caused it.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
According to press documents, Bauza had been expected that Sunday afternoon at the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation's The Cat in the Hat, where he was to show support for Daffy Season, a short screened ahead of the feature. The timing placed his death alongside an event built around one of the characters he had come to embody.[S1]
Warner Bros. Animation mourns a voice of its flagship characters
Channing Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and U.S. Networks, issued a tribute describing Bauza as a singular vocal talent whose work spread happiness and laughter to audiences worldwide. She noted that across 15 years with Warner Bros. Animation he performed as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, among a long list of other roles, and that he had taken up the path carved by giants such as Mel Blanc.[S1]
Dungey recalled that Bauza regarded the continuation of the Looney Tunes legacy as one of the great privileges of his career, and she called him a cherished member of the studio's animation community. She closed by expressing condolences to those close to him.[S1]
From character design to a cartoon universe
Born December 7, 1979, Bauza came from Toronto and in later years made his home in Los Angeles. His biography with SBV Talent, the agency that represented him, says he entered animation as a character designer, working with several Hollywood production studios before moving in front of the microphone.[S1]
His credits as a performer spanned a wide range of series, including Unikitty, Archibald's Next Big Thing, The Rocketeer, Ballmastrz: 9009, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Turtles, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Breadwinners, Uncle Grandpa, Atomic Puppet, The Powerpuff Girls, The Fairly OddParents, Ultimate Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Guardians of the Galaxy, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Sanjay and Craig and Mighty Magiswords. He also voiced parts in the films The Book of Life and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and he played Woody Woodpecker in Universal's animated feature of the same name.[S1]
Advertising work also carried his voice, including Lucky the Leprechaun for Lucky Charms, the Trix Rabbit for Trix cereal, and Marvin the Martian in campaigns for Nike and in Walmart's Famous Visitors spot.[S1]
Coyote vs. Acme and a crowded roster of characters
In Coyote vs. Acme, released earlier this year, Bauza handled a large ensemble of roles: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner and Charlie the Dog, among others. Most of those parts had first been created by the late Mel Blanc.[S1]
He returned to the same stable of characters in Space Jam: A New Legacy, voicing Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd and Marvin the Martian, and in Looney Tunes Cartoons, where he played Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. More recently he lent his voice to DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island.[S1]
He voiced the lead in The Adventures of Puss in Boots, played Fozzie on Muppet Babies, and portrayed Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in Looney Tunes Cartoons, earning nods from the Daytime Emmys, the Children's & Family Emmys and the Annie Awards. Shortly before his death he had been included on The Hollywood Reporter's inaugural Animation Power list and turned out for the gathering held in honor of those selected.[S1]
Writing for that list, Scott Roxborough observed that Bauza had quietly become the voice of an entire cartoon universe, one of the inheritors of Mel Blanc's roles as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian and more, and that the Canadian actor went further still in Coyote vs. Acme by covering everyone from Bugs Bunny to Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety Bird. Bauza said of the film that many gifted people had worked hard on it and that seeing it embraced by audiences around the world made the long wait worthwhile.[S1]
