RIP Eric Bauza, Voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and More

We acutely feel the loss of certain performers because their faces, physicality, and mannerisms become a constant in our lives over decades of performing. But a performer doesn’t actually need to throw their entire body into our field of vision for that loss to hit hard; such was the case with Mel Blanc, who originated the voices of most of the Looney Tunes characters in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, and continued to play them until his death in 1989. And now such is the case with Eric Bauza, the voiceover artist who currently performed many of those characters, among others, and passed away at the age of 46 over the weekend.

Bauza wasn’t the first performer to capably take over Looney Tunes vocalizing; voice actors including Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, and Billy West have all done multiple Bugs Bunny projects, for example, and could often tackle multiple characters. But Bauza’s participation in the series of Looney Tunes cartoons produced for HBO Max — over 200 were produced in total — meant that he had some of the most sustained voiceover work in that world since Blanc’s days. He also performed in the accompanying film The Day the Earth Blew Up and this year’s Coyote vs. Acme, two of the very best attempts to bring the Looney Tunes to the big screen (and both of which were nearly scotched by parent company Warner Bros.).

Here’s a sign of Bauza’s enormous versatility: On the weekend of August 28 earlier this year, he had two movies debuting in theaters, for which he voiced more than 15 characters: the aforementioned Coyote as well as the decidedly more adult-oriented horror film Buddy, where he reproduced the sounds of ’90s kids TV voiceover performances. That gave him a better 2026 box office track record than plenty of bigger on-camera stars. And those weren’t his only 2026 projects; he also did multiple voices for the DreamWorks cartoon Forgotten Island.

Indeed, the breadth of Bauza’s work over the past decade-plus was stunning, going from “additional voices” credits on Sony projects like The Emoji Movie and a Smurfs sequel to a series of DC Comics characters for various animation projects (he was Aquaman in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) to a whole bunch of Looney Tunes (starting with just Marvin the Martian; later, almost always Daffy and Porky; sometimes Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd; occasionally Foghorn Leghorn; somehow Tweety, too) to Luke Skywalker in various Lego Star Wars specials — no small feat, given that original Skywalker Mark Hamill is an accomplished voice actor himself.

This is just a fraction of his filmography. It feels especially important that he was able to help create new Looney Tunes adventures, not just because their parent company hasn’t always been the most supportive and caring of that label, but because they are all-time cartoon characters who cannot easily be reconfigured for a celebrity. Not that it would necessarily stop anyone from trying to get Chris Pratt to play Bugs Bunny — which makes it all the more important that someone as energetic, versatile, and engaging as Bauza could be there to make the implicit case for not pursuing a pointless big-name celeb. Colleagues and friends and even casual acquaintances have been quick to point out Bauza was a welcoming, friendly guy with plenty of other talents including stand-up comedy and cartooning (he got his start on an ill-fated Ren & Stimpy revival!). His worth wasn’t limited to his vocal ability. But with his voice alone, he brought so many characters to life, and made so many people happy, whether or not they knew his name.

Here are some of Bauza’s best works and where to stream them:

1. Made with the express purpose of recreating the bursts of short-subject energy that introduced Bugs, Daffy, and all the rest to audiences decades ago, Looney Tunes Cartoons is nominally a six-season show of 80 episodes, but it’s really a compendium of 240 contemporary shorts made in a classic Looney Tunes style. This allows for a virtuoso showing from Bauza, playing multiple characters multiple times across a variety of premises and combinations.

   Stream Looney Tunes Cartoons on HBO Max

2. A feature film spun off from the Looney Tunes Cartoons series, this is the most focused of the characters’ other features because it’s really just about Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (and zero basketball players), giving Bauza a feature-length showcase for one of his strongest achievements: His riled up, pitch-perfect take on Daffy. (His Porky work is tops, too.)

   Stream The Day the Earth Blew Up on HBO Max

3. Of course, Wile E. Coyote doesn’t talk, at least not in this iteration. (Mel Blanc did give him a smoothly “supah-genius” voice in one sub-series of 1950s cartoons.) But Bauza is still on hand to provide vocals for other Looney Tunes mainstays, including the Coyote’s nemesis, the Roadrunner (yes, he got to do the “meepmeep!”). Incredibly, this movie was nearly vaulted for a tax write-off by Warner Bros.; there was a sense of sweet revenge when it came out this summer through another distributor and promptly made more money at the box office than almost anything else Warner put out this year. It’s currently only available on VOD but should be on a streaming service within a few more months.

4. There are a number of Lego Star Wars specials that feature Bauza as Luke Skywalker, and they’re all pretty fun, doing whimsically time-warped riffs on the original trilogy, sequels, and prequels all at once. Bauza’s performance confirms his talent for voicework that sounds consistent with an established character but never settling for simply a poor man’s imitation.

   Stream Lego Star Wars: Summer Vacation on Disney Plus

5. Sadly, this Lego Movie spinoff series is currently only available to buy, not stream from a subscription service. But the show is a lot of fun, and probably worth owning if you have any Lego Movie superfans in your household. It’s one of Bauza’s best “various voices” gigs, because while he does indeed do various miscellaneous characters, he also gets to do recurring ones like Unikitty’s enemy Master Frown, as well as Crankybeard and Old Timey Mustache Man.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.