Eric Bauza, Voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dies at 46
Eric Bauza, the Emmy Award-winning voice actor known as the modern voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, has died at the age of 46. Variety reported that he died at his home. His family announced the news in a statement posted to his Instagram account on Sunday, 25 October.
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records list the cause of death as hypertensive cardiovascular disease, a heart condition linked to long-term high blood pressure.
Bauza was born on 7 December 1979 in Scarborough, Toronto. He worked as a voice actor, which means he created characters that audiences heard but never saw. His work sat at the centre of the Looney Tunes family of cartoons, where he took on the voices of several famous characters at once.
In the film Coyote vs. Acme, he voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner and Charlie the Dog. He also voiced characters in Space Jam: A New Legacy and in the series Looney Tunes Cartoons.
When he died, Bauza was in pre-production on two projects. Pre-production is the early planning stage, before recording and animation begin. He was set to voice Daffy Duck in Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, and The Shogun King in The Dragon Masters.
Bugs and Daffy have been around for close to a century, and for many fans the voices they know best are the ones Bauza gave them. Those voices now carry his name in the credits of the shows and films he worked on, and his family has asked for privacy in their statement.
