Kent Rogers

Kent Rogers
Born:	Kent Byron Rogers 31 July 1923 Houston, Texas
Died:	9 July 1944 (aged 20) Hawaii
Cause of death:	Killed in training flight accident in World War II
Occupation(s)	Actor
Years active	1937 to 1944

Kent Byron Rogers (31 July 1923 - 9 July 1944) was an American actor and impressionist.

Early life

Rogers was born on 31 July 1923 to Kelley Herron Rogers, a teletype operator and later a flight instructor during World War II, and La Rue Rogers in Houston, Texas. He was an only child and attended Mar-Ken High School in Hollywood, California.

Career

Kent did voice work for the 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon "Hollywood Steps Out", voicing every male celebrity excluding Jerry Colonna, who was voiced by Mel Blanc. His most notable voice role was Beaky Buzzard, who debuted in the 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid". He also did voice work for several of Tex Avery's cartoons at MGM, including "Who Killed Who" and "What's Buzzin' Buzzard". Rogers was also the voice of Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker, succeeding both Mel Blanc and Danny Webb. He was also the voice of Homer Pigeon, who starred in two cartoons. Rogers made an on-screen appearance in the 1941 movie All-American Co-ed, where he played a character named Henry who did impersonations of Gary Cooper and Charlie McCarthy.

Death

In December of 1942, during World War II, Rogers enlisted in the Naval Air Corps in Phoenix. He served as an Ensign and was the pilot of a Hellcat fighter plane. On 9 July 1944, he was killed in an airplane accident in Hawaii during a training mission. At the time of his death, he had just completed voice work for Bob Clampett's "The Bashful Buzzard", which was released a year after he died. Following his death, the characters that he voiced, Beaky Buzzard, Henery Hawk, and Junyer Bear were recast with Mel Blanc voicing the former two and Stan Freberg voicing the latter.

Looney Roles

• "The Squawkin' Hawk" - Henery Hawk
• "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", "The Bashful Buzzard" - Beaky Buzzard
• "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears" - Baby Bear
• "Horton Hatches the Egg" - Horton

also see Category:Characters voiced by Kent Rogers and Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Kent Rogers

Gallery

Kent in Boy of the Streets

Kent in Reformatory (1938)

Kent in Life Begins for Andy Hardy

Kent as an Ensign