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Biography

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

7.5

Various Voices

Woody Woodpecker and Friends

1982

6.6

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Wild and Woody!

1948

6.9

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Wet Blanket Policy

1948

6.8

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Woody the Giant Killer

1947

7.8

Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

The Coo Coo Bird

1947

7.0

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Smoked Hams

1947

7.3

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

Fair Weather Fiends

1946

7.3

Woody Woodpecker (voice)

The Reckless Driver

1946

7.3

Woody Woodpecker / Starvation (voice)

Who's Cookin Who?

1946

6.5

Woody Woodpecker / Bull Dozer (voice)

The Loose Nut

1945

Credits

Woody Woodpecker and Friends

as Various Voices

1982

7.5

Wild and Woody!

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1948

6.6

Wet Blanket Policy

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1948

6.9

Woody the Giant Killer

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1947

6.8

The Coo Coo Bird

as Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

1947

7.8

Smoked Hams

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1947

7.0

Fair Weather Fiends

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1946

7.3

The Reckless Driver

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1946

7.3

Who's Cookin Who?

as Woody Woodpecker / Starvation (voice)

1946

7.3

The Loose Nut

as Woody Woodpecker / Bull Dozer (voice)

1945

6.5

The Dippy Diplomat

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1945

6.1

Woody Dines Out

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1945

6.1

Chew-Chew Baby

as Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

1945

6.5

Ski for Two

as Woody Woodpecker

1944

6.2

The Beach Nut

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1944

6.8

The Barber of Seville

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1944

6.4

Ace in the Hole

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1942

5.9

The Hollywood Matador

as Woody Woodpecker

1942

6.4

Pantry Panic

as Woody Woodpecker (voice)

1941

6.1

It's an Ill Wind

as Dizzy Duck

1939

6.2