Eric Bauza, Voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dies at 46

Emmy-winning voice actor Eric Bauza has died suddenly at age 46 from hypertensive heart disease. His death was announced on the evening of Oct. 25. A notice on his Instagram account read:

From the Family of Eric Bauza:

Eric Bauza, Emmy Award-winning voice actor and the modern voice of iconic Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with dozens of other beloved cartoon characters, has passed away suddenly. More details to come.

Besides Bugs and Daffy, Bauza voiced other Looney Tunes characters in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Coyote vs. ACME. He was a major advocate for Coyote vs. ACME during the years Warner Bros. kept the film shelved. While presenting at the 2024 Annie Awards, he went off script as Bugs and Daffy and demanded the movie’s release. Many people consider that moment instrumental in the film’s eventual release.

In January, Bauza spoke with Polygon about the Annie Awards moment:

“There was that moment at the Annie Awards where I was playing Bugs and Daffy and I shouted ‘Release Coyote vs. ACME! That was a joke that I had pitched and they were like, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ So, it was taken out of the prompter, but I did it anyway. I was waiting for that big hook to come out and yoink me off stage. I made a joke, once I got through the whole bit, I said, ‘Now that that’s over — and by that I mean my career,’ And it got a big, big laugh. I got a lot of respect from pretty much anyone who was anyone in the animation industry.”

It was one of many moves that earned him respect in the industry. Bauza began his career as an animator in the early 2000s and soon moved into voice work as well. Over the past 25 years, he piled up hundreds of credits, voicing both original and legacy characters.

A few of his roles:

• Toad General in the two recent Super Mario films
• Lego Luke Skywalker
• Hot Rod and Prowl in Transformers
• Tiger Claw, a fan-favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain
• The Sentinels in X-Men ’97
• Baby Fozzie in the recent Muppet Babies reboot
• Woody Woodpecker

I’ve had the honor of interviewing Bauza several times over the past few years. He was always friendly and a blast to talk to. Beyond his obvious talent, he loved talking in depth about animation history, especially the history of the Looney Tunes characters he played. He often spoke about how important their originator, voice legend Mel Blanc, was to him.

Bauza was so young that it seemed he would voice the Looney Tunes characters for decades to come. Even more devastating, he was a husband and the father of a young son. The Polygon staff extends its condolences to them and to the rest of Bauza’s loved ones.

Source: Polygon