Daws Butler

Charles Dawson Daws Butler was a voice actor who lent his voice to various animated movies and TV shows. He was born on 16 November 1916 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. His parents were Ruth and Charles Allen Butler. They later moved to Oak Park in Illinois where he started enjoying mimicking people.

Initially, he wanted to be a cartoonist. He was married to Myrtis Martin whom he met in Albemarle, North Carolina during World War II World War II is a Malayalam information TV show on >> Read More... . The couple had four sons. He died of heart attack on 18 May 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is famous for lending his voice to character 'Huckleberry Hound' (the neighbour of his wife inspired the character) in Huckleberry Hound Show.

Once he began to get over his shyness, he went on to participate and win various impersonation contests. He used to mimic an automobile (Ford T Model famous during the 1990s) starting on a winter morning, Rudy Vallee and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He performed professionally at Vaudeville Theatres.

He began a critically acclaimed comedy show in association with Jack Lavin and Willard Ovitz called “The Three Short Waves.” The trio named themselves so because they were all short in height. The show ran in theatres, nightclubs, and radios. In 1941, he left the trio after he joined US Navy for two years during World War II.

In 1948, he did his first project as a voice actor for the animated character in “Short Snorts on Sports,” produced by Screen Gems. Tex Avery Tex Avery was born on 26th February, 1908, In Tayl >> Read More... hired him the same year for giving voice to a British Wolf in “Little Rural Riding Hood.” In 1949, he and Stan Freberg did a TV puppet show named “Time for Beany” which was formerly created by Warner Bros.

He provided his voice to a propeller-capped child called Beany and Captain Huffenpuff. He did the show with his partner for five years with five shows a week. During this time he won two Emmy Awards. In the 1950s, he and Freberg together wrote and voiced a comedy take named “St. George and the Drago-Net” on the show “Dragnet.” It went on to become the first comedy show to have sold one million copies.

In 1957, he also became a part of a comedy group on radio show named “The Stan Freberg Radio Show.” Later he did a famous comedy show dubbed 'Christmas Dragnet'. In late the 1940s and mid-1950s, he ran a long collaboration with Cartoon shows directed by 'Avery'. He gave voice to Fox in 'Out-Foxed', the cobbler in Peachy Cobbler', Theeves in Droopy’s ' Double Trouble Click to look into! >> Read More... ', and was the narrator in "The Cuckoo Clock”, etc.

He also collaborated with 'Walter Lantz', ' Joseph Barbera Joseph Ronald “Joe” Barbera was an American animat >> Read More... ' and ' William Hanna William Denby “Bill” Hanna was an American animato >> Read More... ' (Hanna-Barbera Productions). He lends his voice to characters like the nameless wolf in “The Three Little Pups”, Yogi Bio coming soon... >> Read More... Bear, 'Snagglepuss', 'Quick Draw McGraw' and 'Huckleberry Hound', etc. He worked as a voice actor for Jay Ward and did two animated shows, 'Aesop and Son' and 'Fractured Fairy Tales' and a character named Cap’n Crunch.

In an animated theatrical short film, “Mr. Magoo” (for Colombia Pictures), he played the nephew of Magoo named Waldo. He voiced many nameless characters for Walter Lantz which later featured in “Woody Woodpecker” program. He substituted Mel Blanc Born on 30th May 1908, Melvin Jerome Blank known a >> Read More... on “Flinstones” as Barney after the latter met an accident.

He voiced the Penguin character in “Chilly Willy and Smedley” (a southern speaking dog). Soon after Metro Goldwyn Mayer cartoon studio got closed, he was recruited by the Hanna-Barbera company along with Don Messick. He provided his voice to their cartoon characters such as Reddy in “The Ruff and Reddy Show” and the main character in “Huckleberry Hound Show”. He gave voice to different characters during 1957 to 1978.

He dubbed characters like Fibber Fox and Alfy Gator, Barney Rubble, Bingo, Captain Skyhook, Brutus the Lion, Dixie Mouse, Hustle, Louie and Pug, and Scooby Dum in Yakky Doodle, 'The Flintstones', 'Banana Splits', 'The Space Kidettes', 'The Roman Holidays', 'Pixie and Dixie', 'The CB Bears', 'The Dogfather', 'The Scooby Doo' Show respectively. He got inspiration for doing voices from various celebrities such as he started Yogi Bear voice as of Art Carney but later made it more deep and melodious.

He began doing the voice of Phil Silvers for 'Hokey Wolf' and Bert Lahr for Snagglepuss. Though Lahr threatened to sue him for using his voice for commercial purposes, it got settled on the condition that he has to appear in each commercial.

In 1975, he established a workshop in his home for talented youngsters to train them for physical acting along with the voice-over techniques which he believed were essential for bringing character to life and making it believable. He coached artists like ' Nancy Cartwright Nancy Jean Cartwright is a voice actress as well a >> Read More... ', 'Bill Farmer', 'Corey Burton', 'Pat Parris', 'Joe Bevilacqua', 'Mona Marshal'l, 'Linda Garry', 'Joey Camen', 'Sherry Lynn', 'Tony Pope' and 'Earl Kress'.

In 1985, he provided the voice in the revival of  'The Jetsons' and 'Yogi’s Treasure Hunt'. After his death, Greg Burson Gregory Lewis Burson was born on 29 June 1949 in A >> Read More... , whom Butler trained, had to take over most of his roles. Bevilacqua wrote his biography which Bear Manor Media published.

Another Version Of This Bio:

Daws Butler was a legendary voice artist in American television industry. With the impeccable voice, he worked on many animated films and TV series. He amused the audiences with all the characters he worked upon. His characteristic witty and humorous tone added a funny ambiance to the scenes. He has voiced for some of the classic cartoons namely ‘Yogi Bear’, ‘Huckleberry Hound’, ‘Snagglepuss’, ‘Augie Doggy’ and ‘Quickdraw McGraw.’ The unmatchable way in which he puts life into cartoons is commendable. He is fondly called the ‘voice magician’ in the animation domain. He was also a dynamic writer. Born as Charles Dawson Daws Butler, Ruth, and Charles Allen Butler were his parents. Since childhood, he had this hobby of copying people and miming them.

At the age of 19, he started to work as a mime performer at various contests. Originally his aim was to be a cartoonist, but then he landed doing impressions and impersonating. In the meanwhile, he met performers Jack Levin and Willard Ovitz and the trio teamed up to form ‘The three short waves.’ They worked for radio and clubs. After this Butler had joined Navy and America headed for World War II. He had his first assignment for Screen Gems on ‘Short snorts on Sports’. Then he had MGM theater’s ‘Little Rural Riding Hood.’ In the following year, he did Tom and Jerry Bio coming soon... >> Read More... ’s short ‘Love that pup’ and Uncle Dudley in ‘Jerry’s Diary.’ In1950, he was the narrator for ‘The Cuckoo Clock’ and ‘Peachy Cobbler’. He voiced Mr.Thieves in the ‘Droopy’s Double Trouble.’

In 1943, he married Myrtis Matin Butler whom he had met in the Navy. In 1953, he did ‘Chilly Willy’ for Walter Lantz Theater. He was grumpy voice for wolf in ‘Billy Boy.’ He collaborated with Stan Freberg in many of his comic series and ‘Christmas Dragnet’ was one of them. Butler had done over hundreds of characters till now, and all of them were distinct in themselves. He worked for many Loony Tunes characters such as the counter man in ‘Go Fly a Kit’ and the dog in ‘Weasel Stop.’ Beyond 1956 he worked with Hanna-Barbera production unit. The cartoon ‘Ruff and Ready’ show was the first one. Some of the most notable voices for characters he dubbed were born here.

The prolific Baba Looey, Alfy Gator, Fibber Fox, Bingo, Big Gruesome, Captain Skyhook, Cogswell, Dixey Mouse, Elroy Jetson and Hair Bear were done. Huckleberry Hound, Snugglepuss, and Yogi Bear were the three dynamic characters that were the most loved by the viewers. With the birth of these cartoons, a new era in the animation industry was born. All this was possible due to Butler’s effort. He had thirty-year long collaboration with H-B, and this was the period that gave us many magnificent and adorable cartoons. His artistry in ‘Yogi’s First Christmas’, Yogi’s Great Escape’ and ‘Yogi and the Invasion of Space Bears’ were some of his splendid animated films. Butler is also the creator of the book ‘Uncle Dunkle and Donnie.’

This was a collection of some of his funniest caricatures and scripts. After this, he trained many young artists in this field. He used to give workshops on the style of each character. Corey Burton, Nancy Cartwright, William Simpson and Bob Bergen were among some of his famous students. In 984 he was honoured with the 'Winsor McCay' at the Annie Awards. He died in 1988 due to a heart attack. He is survived by four sons David, Don, Paul and Charles Butler. He is undoubtedly the finest voice artist of all times.