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Ben Hardaway

Ben Hardaway

Birthday: 1895-05-21 | Place of Birth: Belton, Missouri, USA

Joseph Benson 'Ben' (a.k.a. 'Bugs') Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. While at the Leon Schlesinger / Warner Bros. studio during the late 1930s, Hardaway, in 1938, co-directed Porky's Hare Hunt, the first film to feature a rabbit. When this unnamed, embryonic rabbit was given a new model sheet for a later short, since, according to Chuck Jones, Hardaway "didn't draw it very well", designer Charlie Thorson inadvertently offered a permanent name by titling the model sheet "Bugs' Bunny" since it was meant for Hardaway's unit. By the time the rabbit was redesigned and refined for the film A Wild Hare, the name was already being used in relation to the character in studio publicity materials. In 1940, Hardaway joined the staff of Walter Lantz Productions, where he helped Walter Lantz in creating the studio's most famous character, Woody Woodpecker. Hardaway wrote or co-wrote most of the stories for the 1940–1950 Woody Woodpecker shorts, as well as supplying Woody's voice between 1944 and 1949. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1982
Woody Woodpecker and Friends

as    Various Voices

1948
Wet Blanket Policy

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1948
Wild and Woody!

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1948
Wacky-Bye Baby

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

1947
Woody the Giant Killer

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1947
Smoked Hams

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1947
The Coo Coo Bird

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

1946
The Reckless Driver

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1946
Fair Weather Fiends

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1946
Who's Cookin Who?

as    Woody Woodpecker / Starvation (voice)

1945
The Dippy Diplomat

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1945
Woody Dines Out

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1945
Chew-Chew Baby

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

1945
The Loose Nut

as    Woody Woodpecker / Bull Dozer (voice)

1944
Ski for Two

as    Woody Woodpecker

1944
The Beach Nut

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1944
The Barber of Seville

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1942
The Hollywood Matador

as    Woody Woodpecker

1942
Ace in the Hole

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1941
Pantry Panic

as    Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1939
It's an Ill Wind

as    Dizzy Duck