Thread by @NonsenseIsland

THREAD - Live-action footage of classic cartoon voice actors.

Side-by-side comparison of the wonderful Mae Questel - voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl - in both animated and live-action incarnations.

Mel Blanc was undoubtedly the king of cartoon voices, giving us Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and thousands of others. He even used to gladly call kids on their birthdays in their favorite cartoon characters’ voices. This footage of him is brilliant.

One of the few major Looney Tunes characters not voiced by Blanc was Elmer Fudd, voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan. That little cry in his voice made him a wonderfully sincere antagonist. Here he is in the 1940 horror movie THE DEVIL-BAT (you'll have to imagine the Ws).

Clarence Nash gave us one of the most unforgettable voices of all time in Donald Duck. He used to do the voice on vaudeville as a "nervous baby goat." Here he is explaining how the voice is done in 1941.

Pinto Colvig, now legendary as the voice of Goofy, was an artist/storyman at the Disney studio who eventually began providing voices and noises (like Pluto’s barks) in the cartoons. He also portrayed TV’s Bozo the Clown.

And Walt Disney himself provided the original voice of Mickey Mouse. Here's some incredible footage of Walt and the great Billy Bletcher (voice of Peg-Leg Pete) in the recording studio. Always a perfectionist, you can see Walt mouthing Bletcher's lines while he talks.

Jack Mercer voiced Popeye from 1935 to the ‘70s. Mercer was a writer at the Max Fleischer studio, and his off-the-cuff ad libs (recorded after the animation was completed) were often the funniest parts of the cartoons. As you can see, even in his old age, he was still Popeye.

June Foray was the queen of cartoon voices, doing everything from Rocky the Flying Squirrel to Grandmother Fa in MULAN. She had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was on Nixon’s enemies list! Here’s one of her very rare live-action appearances as a high priestess.

Lillian Randolph lent great frustration to her role as the long-suffering master in the Tom & Jerry cartoons. She also played Annie in the Christmas classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Now you can finally see her face:

Bill Thompson’s performance as Droopy in the Tex Avery cartoons is, for my money, one of the funniest voices ever concocted. Seeing him do the iconic voice in real life is fascinating to me:

Bea Benaderet was the go-to female voice in the Looney Tunes cartoons of the ‘40s, and later rose to fame on television. Here she is doing one of the greatest cartoon voices ever and stealing a scene in the Gene Kelly-Frank Sinatra musical ON THE TOWN.

Imogene Lynn’s seductive vocals often graced Tex Avery’s Wolf & Red cartoons, with Red going on to inspire Jessica Rabbit in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. This rare live-action clip of Lynn performing “Big Boy” is lovely as ever.

Kent Rogers was only a teenager when he voiced the unforgettable Beaky the Buzzard in the Looney Tunes cartoons. He tragically died serving in WWII at age 20. Here he is doing impressions in one of his only on-camera appearances:

Stan Freberg was a genius at voicing idiot characters like Junior Bear and Pete Puma, but he was a brilliant satirist whose comedy records of the ‘50s inspired Weird Al Yankovic. This cartoony live-action clip of him from THE MONKEES is great stuff. @alyankovic

Voice actor supreme Jim Backus told interviewers of a time when Marilyn Monroe seductively invited him into her dressing room and when he got there, she exclaimed like an excited kid, “Do Mr. Magoo!” (And he did.) Here he is in animated and live-action forms.

The great Daws Butler voiced most of the major Hanna-Barbera characters (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, etc.) and trained countless up-and-coming voice actors. You get to see him in action here, doing an unbelievable impression of an old car.

Alan Reed - the unmistakable voice of Fred Flintstone - appeared in several movies of the '60s, including the Audrey Hepburn classic BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. Strange to hear him call another character "Fred."

Bill Scott was the head writer on ROCKY & BULLWINKLE, as well as the voice of Bullwinkle J. Moose, Mr. Peabody, George of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right, etc. He was a true talent, and it's great to hear him talk about his work here (with June Foray):

Bespectacled Arnold Stang was a staple of radio, TV and movies, and he voiced loads of animated characters like Herman Mouse and Top Cat. As you can see from this hilarious commercial, he was born to be a cartoon character.

If you've ever watched anything from the '50s or '60s, you know Paul Frees' voice, although he may be best known as Boris Badenov from ROCKY & BULLWINKLE. He also appeared in the sci-fi classic THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, seen here:

You may know that revered voice actor Don Messick provided the original voice of Scooby-Doo, but did you know he was also a ventriloquist? He shows off his skills here:

I love this clip of Casey Kasem, famous radio personality and voice of Shaggy from SCOOBY-DOO, going into his Shaggy voice during a Jerry Lewis telethon for muscular dystrophy.

Frank Welker, voice of Fred from SCOOBY-DOO, is actually the fourth box-office star in terms of worldwide box-office due to his providing animal noises in every movie you've ever seen (he beat out Robert Downey Jr., Scarlet Johansson, and Dwayne Johnson). Here he is in the flesh:

Rounding out the SCOOBY-DOO cast, Nicole Jaffe - the voice of Velma Dinkley - is really funny in this clip from the Elvis Presley movie THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS... and she sounds just like Velma.

I had to do some digging to come up with a live-action clip of Stefanianna Christopherson, the Icelandic actress who originally voiced Daphne on SCOOBY-DOO, but she shows up here in a shower scene on M*A*S*H*.

I leave you with a special message from Elmer Fudd.