Profile: Daws Butler

[tv star collector]

While Daws Butler never became as well-known as Mel Blanc, it would be difficult to find a more humble and generous person in the business. Peers and fans agree that--with a resume that included Chilly Willy, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Cap'n Crunch--Daws Butler was arguably the greatest talent in the history of voice-overs.

Charles Dawson Butler was born in Toledo, Ohio, on Nov. 16, 1916. An only child, he was shy and withdrawn, but he realized at an early age that he had a certain wit, which made him stand out from the rest of his classmates.

At age 21, he moved with his parents to Geneva, Illinois, where his father worked as a salesman. For a time, Daws joined him in business. Then came WWII and Daws left the family business to help with the war effort, inspecting bombs for the military. He later spent nearly four years in the U.S. Naval
Intelligence and Navy Reserve.

In 1943, he married his sweetheart Myrtis. Although his performing had been limited to the stage, Daws signed up to learn the ropes in radio broadcasting. Within a year, he was auditioning and getting roles on such shows as SUSPENSE, THE WHISTLER and U.S. STEEL HOUR.

In 1949, Bob Clampett had heard Butler perform on radio and contacted him about an idea for a live-action TV puppet show, TIME FOR BEANY. Clampett wanted Butler to be the puppeteer and voice for the title character. The role turned out to be the beginning of a long-term partnership with Stan Freberg, the actor hired to play Cecil the Sea Sick Sea Serpent on the show. TIME FOR BEANY ran for five years, won two Emmy Awards, had adult fans including Groucho Marx and Albert Einstein, and was the inspiration for Clampett's 1962 TV cartoon series BEANY & CECIL.

Next Daws Butler worked for Tex Avery, then the supervising director for MGM cartoons. Avery made some of the greatest cartoons of all time. Butler co-starred with Bill Thompson in a series of Droopy cartoons and starred in such classics as "Little Rural Riding Hood" and "Magical Maestro." In these
cartoons, Butler introduced his Huckleberry Hound voice (which, by the way, was not based on Andy Griffith but on William Harwood, a North Carolina veterinarian and next-door neighbor of Daws' future wife, Myrtis).

Unlike Mel Blanc, Daws never received screen credit for his cartoons at MGM. But it was while working for Avery at MGM that he happened to meet Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera--a meeting that would change the face of animation. While doing incidental voices for Tom & Jerry cartoons, Daws also did some work for Walter Lantz, including putting a voice to up-to-then mute penguin Chilly Willy. He also used the Huckleberry Hound voice again for Smedley, the dog in the Chilly cartoons and for Gabby Gator in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

In 1957, MGM closed their animation department, and suddenly Oscar-winning cartoon directors Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were unemployed. Within five months, the two men started their own studio. With a budget that was a fraction of what they were used to at MGM, they developed a style of
limited animation, using fewer drawings to keep costs down. RUFF & REDDY premiered on NBC in 1957 and snowballed into dozens of shows that would dominate network television and ensure that Butler would never again be without work.

Of all the characters he did for Hanna-Barbera, Daws said that his two all-time favorites were Elroy Jetson and Mr. Jinks. His other credits include such unforgettable cartoon stars as: Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, Dixie, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looey, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie, Loopy De Loop, Snagglepuss, Fibber Fox, Wally Gator, Lippy the Lion, Peter Potamus,
Yahooey, Lambsy Divey, and scores of others.

About the same time Daws began working for H-B, he also began to work for another groundbreaking animator, Jay Ward. Daws said that one of the highlights of his career was doing the Fractured Fairy Tales.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Daws also continued doing commercial work as the voice of Cap'n Crunch for Quaker Oats. Jay Ward produced those, too. But the '70s found Butler branching out into yet another profession, that of teacher. He worked very hard with young actors, helping to nurture their craft. He had a nose for spotting potential in a person. One of those students was Nancy Cartwright. With his guidance, she gained the confidence she needed; and, for close to twenty years, she has been the voice of Bart Simpson.

In the 1980s, Daws' health began to deteriorate but, ever the professional, he still was intent on doing his best work. But, on May 19, 1988, Daws Butler died after suffering a stroke. It would be impossible to try to put into words all that he meant to his thousands of fans, his students, his friends, his contemporaries, and his family.

[THE MAGIC BEHIND THE VOICES, by Tim Lawson & Alisa Persons (2004)]

For more on Daws' life and career, I strongly recommend the book DAWS BUTLER: CHARACTERS ACTOR, by Ben Ohmart & Joe Bevilacqua.

Personal note: Daws has always been my favorite voice actor of all time. I, too, was an only child and listened intently to the H-B cartoons (esp. the ones released on Colpix Records) and learned to imitate most of Daws' voices. He was one of my childhood heroes, and I miss him.

[comedyfreak]

I liked Daws too and often immitated his HB characters, they were my favorite.