Eric Bauza, Voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dies at 46

The three-time Emmy winner spent 15 years at Warner Bros. Animation, voicing characters Mel Blanc made famous.

On Sunday afternoon, Eric Bauza was due at a Warner Bros. premiere. He'd been scheduled to show up for “The Cat in the Hat” to support “Daffy Season,” the short that runs before it, according to press documents cited by The Hollywood Reporter.

That same day, his family wrote on his Instagram that Bauza, the Emmy-winning voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, had “passed away suddenly.” He was 46. Deadline reported his death Sunday night along with tributes from Warner Bros. Variety, citing Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records, said he died at his home.

Most people who loved his work never saw his face. By the studio's count, Bauza spent 15 years at Warner Bros. Animation, and in that time he became the voice it gave its rabbit and its duck.

He came to the job from the drawing side. His first animation work was designing characters for Hollywood production studios, THR reported, drawing on the bio his agency, SBV Talent, keeps for him. He was born in Toronto's Scarborough district on Dec. 7, 1979, and had lately been living in Los Angeles.

Channing Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and U.S. Networks, placed him in a line that starts with one name. “He followed in the footsteps of giants like Mel Blanc,” the Warner Bros. statement said. It also recalled Bauza saying that keeping the Looney Tunes going ranked as one of the biggest honors he'd ever had.

The outlets didn't agree on whose statement it was. Deadline called it a joint statement from Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. TVLine put two names on it: Dungey's, and that of Bill Damaschke, who runs Warner Bros. Pictures Animation as its chief creative officer and president.

That line of succession is literal. In this year's “Coyote vs. Acme,” Bauza voiced Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn and Road Runner. THR pointed out that most of those roles began with Blanc.

Chris DeFaria, who produced the film, told Variety that Bauza embodied the movie's big theme, “that a little guy can make a difference in this world.” In remarks THR published, Bauza said that seeing audiences around the globe celebrate the film “has really made the wait worth it.”

He won Emmys three years running. In 2022, his work on “Looney Tunes Cartoons” won the first-ever Children's & Family Emmy for voice performance in an animated program, Deadline noted. “Bugs Bunny Builders” brought a preschool voice Emmy in 2023, and “Teen Titans Go!” another win in 2024. Variety counted five Daytime Emmy nominations on top of that, for “Looney Tunes Cartoons,” “Muppet Babies” and “The Adventures of Puss in Boots.”

Deadline's list of his roles outside Looney Tunes ran from Stimpy to Bam-Bam Rubble to Aquaman. The other trades kept adding to it. Variety put him at more than 400 credits, starting with “The Ripping Friends” in 2001.

TVLine added Splinter on “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Toad General in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” THR found cereal commercials too: Lucky the Leprechaun for Lucky Charms and the Trix Rabbit.

At 46, he was still adding to that list. Variety's rundown of his 2026 work includes “Rick and Morty,” “Minions & Monsters” and “Avatar: Seven Havens.” It also said he was in pre-production on two more projects when he died: “The Dragon Masters,” as the Shogun King, and “Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical,” as Daffy Duck.

Source: Deadline, retrieved October 26, 2026. Other sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, tvline.com.