A friend recently forwarded a post from Dan Lewis’ “Now I Know (That’s Half the Battle!)” that discussed Mel Blanc. I had already known that Mel had been the voice of many cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Barney Rubble, but I learned a fascinating thing about Mel Blanc that I’d never known before:

Bugs Bunny saved Mel Blanc’s life! Below is a snippet from the article.

“In 1961, Bugs would save Blanc’s life. On January 24th of that year, Blanc was in a head-on car crash which caused his skull to fracture in three places, fractured both his legs and his pelvis, and sent him into a coma. After roughly two weeks of trying to get Blanc to communicate, doctors were finding little success. A doctor took an unconventional approach, for reasons unknown, and asked the incapacitated Blanc, “How are you today, Bugs Bunny?” Blanc replied — using Bugs’ voice. He’d recover from the coma a week or so later as doctors were able to communicate with him, using Bugs Bunny as a bridge to Blanc’s consciousness. In his autobiography, Blanc credits the breakthrough — and Bugs Bunny specifically — for bringing him out of the coma.”

I find that story amazing and wonderful. By the way, I also learned that on Mel Blanc’s tombstone it reads (at his request): “That’s All Folks!”

You might want to check out Dan Lewis’ site for more fascinating information on a wide variety of topics.