Beaky Buzzard

Beaky Buzzard is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series.

Description[]

Beaky is a lanky buzzard (although he more closely resembles a vulture or condor) with black body feathers and a white tuft around his throat. His neck is long and thin, bending halfway at an enormous adam's apple. His neck and head are featherless, and his beak is large and yellow or orange, depending on the cartoon. Beaky bears a perpetual goofy grin, and his eyes look eternally half-asleep.

Production[]

Beaky was based on Mortimer Snerd, the popular dimwitted dummy of famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, with Beaky's original voice actor Kent Rogers even managing to mimic Snerd's voice.^[2]

History[]

The character first appeared in the 1942 cartoon "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon's plot revolves around the hapless attempts of the brainless buzzard, here called "Killer", to catch Bugs Bunny for his domineering mother back at the nest. Beaky's voice, modeled after ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's character Mortimer Snerd (and similar to that of Cecil Turtle), is provided by voice actor Kent Rogers. Clampett brought the character back in the 1945 film "The Bashful Buzzard", a cartoon that closely mirrors its predecessor, only this time featuring Beaky's hapless hunting without Bugs as an opponent. Rogers reprised his role as the character's voice for the film, but he died in World War II after finishing all his dialogue.

Warner Bros. featured Beaky in much of the Looney Tunes merchandising of the time. He also appeared in several issues of Dell Comics' Looney Tunes series of comic books, usually paired with another minor player, Henery Hawk.

Clampett left the studio in 1945, ending Beaky's career for a time. The character was eventually brought back in the 1950 Friz Freleng short "The Lion's Busy", now voiced by Mel Blanc. Freleng made the buzzard smarter, pitting him against a dim-witted lion named Leo. Bob McKimson also featured the character in a film that year, "Strife with Father". McKimson's Beaky is again back to his idiotic self, this time under the tutelage of his adoptive father, a sparrow who is trying to teach Beaky how to survive in the wild. In Beaky's final two cartoons, his brothers and Eastern European-accented mother however do not appear.

More recently, Beaky Buzzard has had minor roles in various Warner Bros. projects, such as Tiny Toon Adventures, where he plays the mentor of the minor character Concord Condor, and the movies Space Jam and Looney Tunes Back in Action, where he has a short cameo and is voiced by Joe Alaskey. He also appeared in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries in the episode "3 Days and 2 Nights of the Condor", where he was voiced by Jeff Bennett. His mother, who appeared in many of his original shorts, also appeared in the episode alongside him (voiced by Tress MacNeille). He made a brief cameo in one episode of Duck Dodgers, and he appears in The Looney Tunes Show in the episode "Ridiculous Journey".

Beaky also has a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit as one of the silhouettes in the train during the end fight with Judge Doom.

Appearances[]

Cartoons[]

In other media[]

The films:

A Political Cartoon (cameo)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (silhouette cameo)
Space Jam
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (cameo)

The Tiny Toon Adventures episode:

"High Toon" (cameo)

The Taz-Mania episode:

"Enter the Devil" (cameo)

The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode:

"3 Days & 2 Nights of the Condor"

Webtoons cartoons:

The Duck Dodgers episode:

"M.M.O.R.P.D." (cameo)

The Looney Tunes Show episode:

"Ridiculous Journey"

Looney Tunes Cartoons shorts:

The Bugs Bunny Builders episode:

"Buzz In" (As Bizzy Buzzard)

The video games:

Gallery[]

References[]

External links[]

Beaky' toonopedia page

Characters
Main Characters
Bugs Bunny (Prototype Bugs Bunny) • Daffy Duck • Elmer Fudd • Foghorn Leghorn • Lola Bunny (Honey Bunny) • Marvin the Martian (K-9) • Pepé Le Pew (Penelope Pussycat) • Porky Pig • Road Runner • Speedy Gonzales • Sylvester (Sylvester Jr.) • Taz • Tweety • Wile E. Coyote • Yosemite Sam
Recurring Golden Age Characters
1930s debuts	Bosko • Honey • Bruno • Foxy • Roxy • Piggy • Fluffy • Wilber • Goopy Geer • Buddy • Cookie • Beans • Little Kitty • Oliver Owl • Ham and Ex • Petunia Pig • Piggie Hamhock • Gabby Goat • Egghead • Big Bad Wolf • Little Red Riding Hood • Yoyo Dodo • Mrs. Daffy Duck • The Two Curious Puppies • Sniffles • Inki • Minah Bird
1940s debuts	Three Little Pigs • Little Blabbermouse • Willoughby • Cecil Turtle • Beaky Buzzard • Mama Buzzard • Leo the Lion • Babbit and Catstello • Conrad the Cat • Hubie and Bertie • Claude Cat • A. Flea • Tom Turk • Three Bears • Schnooks • Hector the Bulldog • The Drunk Stork • Gossamer • Rocky • Barnyard Dawg • Henery Hawk • Charlie Dog • Bobo the Elephant • Goofy Gophers • The Dog • Wellington • Gruesome Gorilla • Hippety Hopper • The Talking Bulldog • The Crusher • The Supreme Cat • Playboy Penguin
1950s debuts	Melissa Duck • Frisky Puppy • Granny (Proto-Granny) • Miss Prissy (Emily the Chicken) • Sam Cat • Nasty Canasta • Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot • Spike and Chester • Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog • The Weasel • Witch Hazel • Tasmanian She-Devil • Ralph Phillips • Egghead Jr. • Mugsy • Jose and Manuel • The Honey-Mousers (Ralph Crumden, Ned Morton, Alice Crumden, Trixie Morton) • Instant Martians • Slowpoke Rodriguez • Pappy and Elvis • Blacque Jacque Shellacque
1960s debuts	Cool Cat • Colonel Rimfire • Merlin the Magic Mouse • Second Banana • Bunny and Claude
One-Off Golden Age Characters
1930s debuts	Owl Jolson
1940s debuts	The Gremlin • The Dover Boys (Tom Dover, Dick Dover, Larry Dover, Dora Standpipe, Dan Backslide) • Mr. Meek • Russian Dog • Hatta Mari • The Little Man from the Draft Board • Colonel Shuffle • Giovanni Jones
1950s debuts	The Martin Brothers • The Gambling Bug • Pete Puma • George and Benny • Toro the Bull • Babyface Finster • Michigan J. Frog • Shropshire Slasher • Mot • Pablo and Fernando • Charles M. Wolf • Señor Vulturo • Mighty Angelo
1960s debuts	Hugo the Abominable Snowman • Nelly the Giraffe • Count Bloodcount • Spooky • Rapid Rabbit and Quick Brown Fox
Post-Golden Age Characters
Tiny Toon Adventures	Buster Bunny • Babs Bunny • Plucky Duck • Hamton J. Pig • Fifi La Fume • Shirley the Loon • Sweetie Bird • Elmyra Duff • Montana Max
Taz-Mania	Jean • Hugh • Molly • Jake • Dog the Turtle • Drew
Pinky and the Brain	Pinky • The Brain
Baby Looney Tunes	Floyd Minton
Duck Dodgers	Dr. I.Q. Hi • Captain Star Johnson • Commander X2
Loonatics Unleashed	Ace Bunny • Lexi Bunny • Danger Duck • Slam Tasmanian • Tech E. Coyote • Rev Runner
The Looney Tunes Show	Tina Russo
New Looney Tunes	Squeaks the Squirrel • Bigfoot • Barbarian • Boyd • Cal • Carl the Grim Rabbit • Claudette Dupri • Dr. Clovenhoof • Eagle Scout • Elliot Sampson • Horace the Horse • Ivana • Jack • Thes • Leslie P. Lilylegs • Miss Cougar • Pampreen Perdy and Paul Perdy • Rhoda Roundhouse • Shameless O'Scanty • Sir Littlechin • Slugsworthy the First • Squint Eatswood • Tad Tucker • Trey Hugger • Viktor • Winter Stag

[1] ttps://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Looney-Tunes-Dash/Beaky-Buzzard/

[2] ttp://www.toonopedia.com/beaky.htm

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