Mel Blanc, the voice of Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny and legions of other cartoon characters, put the same signature on his life as he did on his work, says his son, who had the famous words engraved on a new tombstone.
"That's All Folks," reads the 5-foot white marble monument at the Beth-Olam Cemetery, near Hollywood's Paramount Studio.Those were "the last words he ever said on-camera or off-camera," Blanc's son, Noel, said Monday.
The headstone was installed in time to mark the first anniversary of his father's death on July 10, 1989, Blanc said.
The elder Blanc delivered the daffy Looney Tunes sign-off, "That's All Folks," while filming a commercial for Buick automobiles with Noel when he was stricken and rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
He died about two months later at the age of 81.
Blanc was the voice who gave life to hundreds of cartoon characters, including Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat and other Warner Bros. creations.
Even now, "My dad is heard by 250 million people every day all over the world," Blanc said. "They figure that somewhere you can turn on a television and hear him."
The younger Blanc has carried on his father's tradition and recently recorded Bugs Bunny singing "Happy Birthday" greetings to more than 1,400 different names for a computerized 900 telephone service.
Nevertheless, he said, "Nobody ever will be able to do what (the elder Blanc) has done. He created more than 1,500 voices."
The new headstone reads:
"That's All Folks
Mel Blanc
Man of a Thousand Voices
Beloved Husband and Father
1908-1989."