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Ben Hardaway

May 21, 1895 - Feb 05, 1957 (61 years old) in 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]

Known For

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Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Various Voices
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Woody the Giant Killer
Woody Woodpecker (voice)
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The Loose Nut
Woody Woodpecker / Bull Dozer (voice)
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Chew-Chew Baby
Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)
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The Reckless Driver
Woody Woodpecker (voice)
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The Beach Nut
Woody Woodpecker (voice)
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Wild and Woody!
Woody Woodpecker (voice)
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Who's Cookin Who?
Woody Woodpecker / Starvation (voice)
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The Coo Coo Bird
Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)
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Woody Dines Out
Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Credits