Melvin Jerome Blanc was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of: Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova and his own short-lived sitcom.
Blanc was born on May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, California, to Eva (née Katz), a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, and Frederick Blank (born in New York to German Jewish parents), the younger of two children. He grew up in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood, and later in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Lincoln High School. He had an early fondness for voices and dialect, which he began practicing at the age of 10. He claimed that he changed the spelling of his name when he was 16, from Blank to Blanc, because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be like his name, a "blank". He joined the Order of DeMolay as a young man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame. After graduating from high school in 1927, he divided his time between leading an orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in the country at the age of 19; and performing shtick in vaudeville shows around Washington, Oregon and northern California.
| Date of Birth | 30th May 1908 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death | 10th July 1989 |
| Age at Death | 81 Years |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Country | United States of America |
| Current City | San Francisco |
| Birth Place | San Francisco |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Children | Noel Blanc |
|---|
| Occupation | actor, dub actor, television actor, voice actor, radio drama actor, comedian |
|---|
| Awards |
|---|
|
