Daws Butler

Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916 – May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera characters, including: Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Augie Doggie, Loopy De Loop, Wally Gator, Snooper and Blabber, Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Lippy the Lion, Elroy Jetson, Lambsy, Peter Potamus, The Funky Phantom and Hair Bear. While at Walter Lantz, he did the voices of: Chilly Willy, Smedley, Maxie the Polar Bear, Gooney and Sam in the Maggie and Sam series.

Butler was born on November 16, 1916, in Toledo, Ohio, the only child of Charles Allen Butler (1890–1972) and Ruth Butler (1899–1960). The family later moved from Ohio to Oak Park, Illinois, where Butler became interested in impersonating people.

In 1935, Butler began performing as an impressionist, entering multiple amateur contests and winning most of them—not with the intention of showing his talent, but as a personal challenge to overcome his shyness. He subsequently won professional engagements at vaudeville theaters.

He then teamed up with fellow performers Jack Lavin and Willard Ovitz, forming the comedy trio The Three Short Waves. They played in theaters, on radio, and in nightclubs, with positive reviews from regional critics and audiences. They dissolved the act in 1941 when Butler joined the United States Navy as America entered World War II. He subsequently met his wife-to-be Myrtis at a wartime function near Washington, D.C.

His first voice work for an animated character was in the animated short Short Snorts on Sports (1948), produced by Screen Gems. At the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, Tex Avery hired Butler to provide the voice of a British wolf on Little Rural Riding Hood (1949) and also to narrate several of his cartoons.

Throughout the late 1940s and mid-1950s, Butler had roles in many Avery-directed cartoons: the Fox in Out-Foxed, the narrator/cat in The Cuckoo Clock, the Cobbler in The Peachy Cobbler, Mr. Theeves and Spike (one line) in Droopy's Double Trouble, Mysto the Magician in Magical Maestro, John the Cab and John the B-29 Bomber in One Cab's Family and Little Johnny Jet, and Charlie in The Legend of Rockabye Point.

Beginning with The Three Little Pups, Butler provided the voice for a nameless wolf that spoke in a Southern accent and whistled all the time (the tune was Henry C. Work's "Kingdom Coming"). The character also appeared in Sheep Wrecked, Billy Boy, and many other cartoons. At MGM, Avery wanted Butler to take on the voice of Droopy, at a time when Bill Thompson was unavailable due to radio engagements. Butler did a few lines, then recommended Don Messick, another actor and Butler's lifelong friend, who was better at imitating Thompson. Messick voiced Droopy in several shorts.

In 1949, Butler landed a role in a televised puppet show created by former Warner Bros. Cartoons animation director Bob Clampett called Time for Beany. He was teamed with Stan Freberg, with whom he did all the puppets' voices: Butler voiced Beany Boy and Captain Huffenpuff, and Freberg voiced Cecil and Dishonest John. An entire stable of recurring characters were also seen. The show's writers were Charles Shows and Lloyd Turner, whose dependably funny dialog was still always at the mercy of Butler's and Freberg's ad libs. Time for Beany ran from 1949 to 1954, and won several Emmy Awards.