One of the brightest lights in voice acting, and the man behind some of the most iconic animated characters of all time, has died. Eric Bauza, the beloved Canadian voice actor who brought some of animation’s most famous characters to life, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Over a career that spanned more than 20 years, Bauza’s talents made him one of the most recognizable voices in Hollywood, following in the footsteps of the legendary Mel Blanc, while introducing the Looney Tunes characters to a whole new generation of fans.
Bauza died on October 25 at his home in Los Angeles County, with the local medical examiner listing the cause of death as hypertensive cardiovascular disease. His family announced the news in a statement via his official Instagram account, confirming that his passing was sudden:
“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.”
Bauza’s career extended far beyond Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, too. He also voiced Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn and Road Runner, and starred in projects like Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Muppet Babies, Teen Titans Go! and Rick and Morty. Throughout his career, he was also the recipient of three Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, while he also received five Daytime Emmy nominations throughout his career. Bauza most recently returned to the franchise in Coyote vs. Acme, and at the time of his death, he had been preparing to reprise Daffy Duck in Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical.
Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
🪜Parasite
🌀Everything Everywhere
☢️Oppenheimer
🐦Birdman
🪙No Country for Old Men
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.
02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?
03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
05
What do you want from a film’s ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.
07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.
Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
Tributes Paid to Eric Bauza
Some of the biggest names behind the scenes in Hollywood have paid tribute to Bauza following his passing, with his importance to the world of animation being highlighted.
“Eric Bauza was a unique voice talent who brought joy and laughter to millions around the world. During his 15 years at Warner Bros. Animation, he was the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck among countless other characters,” said Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks Chairman Channing Dungey in a statement. “He followed in the footsteps of giants like Mel Blanc. Eric said that carrying on the legendary legacy of the Looney Tunes was among the greatest honors of his life. In addition to his incredible talent, Eric was a treasured part of our animation family. Our hearts go out to his loved ones.”
Chris DeFaria, a producer on Coyote vs. Acme, released a statement to Variety echoing the words of Dungey and Warner Bros.
“He embodied everything we wanted from this film, including the major theme of the movie that a little guy can make a difference in this world,” said DeFaria. “He’s a voiceover artist for animated characters that have historic precedents and roles, and somehow out of that, he carved out a place in this business. And this past year, he had such an incredible impact, both on our movie, of course, but also on bringing attention to this amazing art form.”
