animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
character who appeared in several ''
Woody Woodpecker
Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...
'' films produced by
Walter Lantz Productions
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures.
The studio was originally formed as Universal Carto ...
.
History
Buzz is an
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...
and scammer who targets
Woody Woodpecker
Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...
with
scam
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their Trust (emotion), trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence ...
s meant to deprive him of money or food. In other appearances, Buzz has been a
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
soda jerk
Soda jerk (or soda jerker) is an American term used to refer to a person—typically a young man—who would operate the soda fountain in a restaurant, preparing and serving carbonated drink, soda drinks and ice cream sodas. The drinks were made ...
yet he still remained a royal pain to Woody. For most of Woody's career, Buzz was the primary foil for Woody, bearing roughly the same relationship to that character as
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam ( ) is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park in California. His real name is ''Aloysius Bartholamew Sam''. ...
had to
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
in
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
' ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Fleischer and
Famous Studios
Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...
''
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Wet Blanket Policy'', the first and only animated short subject to be nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...
, at which time he was more or less replacing Wally Walrus as Woody Woodpecker's primary foil. Character actor
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor, activist, and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. He had an extensive career in theatre, film, radio, and television that spanned nearly 70 years, ...
provided his voice in the 1940s with
Dallas McKennon
Dallas Raymond McKennon (July 19, 1919 – July 14, 2009), sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American actor. With a career lasting over 50 years, McKennon's best known roles include Gumby for Art Clokey, Archie Andrews in several diffe ...
taking over the role in the 1950s. Buzz would continue to appear in Woody Woodpecker shorts until the mid 1950s, and was eventually replaced as the woodpecker's rival himself by Dapper Denver Dooley (also voiced by McKennon) and later Gabby Gator. '' Bunco Busters'' would be Buzz Buzzard's final appearance in a Woody theatrical cartoon until '' Tumble Weed Greed'' in 1969, though Buzz continued to make appearances in Lantz
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
s and on other licensed merchandise. During the 14-year theatrical hiatus, Buzz made an appearance in the 1964 television special ''Spook-a-Nanny'', but was voiced by
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera ...
.
The character's appearance changed dramatically throughout the years with a vest and five o'clock shadow that disappears, different feather colors, and head feathers that disappeared entirely and reappeared sporadically.
Indian Corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans ...
* Buzz was referenced in the 1987 film '' La Bamba'', starring Esai Morales as Bob Valenzuela.
* Buzz was going to have a cameo in ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...
'', but was later dropped for unknown reasons.
* Buzz appears as a regular character on '' The New Woody Woodpecker Show'', voiced by
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
.
* Buzz appears in the 2018 ''
Woody Woodpecker
Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...
'' animated series, voiced by
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...
. He has a love interest named Veronica.
* Buzz appears in the film '' Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp'' as the main antagonist, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
* A few video games from Woody Woodpecker also featured Buzz Buzzard:
** '' Woody Woodpecker Racing'' (2000) for
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
,
Dreamcast
The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...