| “ | Guess who?! | „ |
| ~ Woody introducing himself. |
| “ | Uh, when you wanna make the plane go up, you gotta push the stick backwards, and when you wanna... | „ |
| ~ Woody Woodpecker. |
Woodrow Joseph Woodpecker (better known simply as Woody Woodpecker) is the titular protagonist in the animated series of the same name.
He was voiced by late Mel Blanc (1940-1941), late Danny Webb (1941), late Kent Rogers (1942-1943), late Dick Nelson (1943) late Ben Hardaway (1944-1949), late Grace Stafford (1950-1972), Cherry Davis (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Billy West (1999-2002), and currently, Eric Bauza.
Woody Woodpecker's appearance takes inspiration from the famous british actress Vivien Leigh.
History[]
Woody was created in 1940 by the late cartoonist Walter Lantz and developed by the late storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design would evolve over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later the late Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by the late prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, who was succeeded by the late Ben Hardaway and later by the late Grace Stafford, wife of Walter Lantz.
In the 2017 live-action/CGI film and the 2018 YouTube series, Woody is the main protagonist.
Personality[]
Woody was by no means a paragon of virtue in his loonier days and was more often than not a nuisance on his best days. He was often a selfish, self-serving troublemaker who wasn't above harassing or (comically) hurting others to get what he wants. However, whether Woody is an Anti-Hero, a trickster or a villain really depends on the short and the time period in the character's history. However, while many shorts portrayed him as causing trouble for others around him, be it knowingly (stealing gas, heckling Papa Panda by pecking holes in his roof, breaking into a hotel owned by Wally Walrus, etc.) or just out of carelessness or thoughtlessness, he is seldom portrayed as doing it out of maliciousness; its clear he's more mischievous and playful or just irritated by his hapless foes, and its surprisingly uncommon for Woody to instigate the conflicts in the first place. In the 1950's shorts and onward, as well as in The New Woody Woodpecker Show, he was given more overtly sympathetic qualities, though he never completely shedded his manic prankster qualities.
Gallery[]
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