Editing Mel Blanc (section)

===Car accident and aftermath===
On January 24, 1961, Blanc was driving alone when his sports car was involved in a [[head-on collision]] on [[Sunset Boulevard]]; his legs and his pelvis were fractured as a result.<ref>{{cite news|date=January 25, 1961|title=Mel Blanc, Man of Many Voices, Badly Injured|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7806040/mel_blanc/|newspaper=The Terre Haute Tribune|page=5|agency=[[United Press International]]|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=February 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217051645/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7806040/mel_blanc/|archive-date=February 17, 2019|url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="bio">{{cite book|title=That's Not All, Folks!|year=1988|first1=Mel|last1=Blanc|author2=Philip Bashe|publisher=Warner Books|isbn=978-0-446-51244-2}}</ref> He was in a coma and completely non-responsive. About two weeks later, one of Blanc's neurologists at the [[UCLA Medical Center]] tried a different approach than just trying to address the unconscious Blanc—address his characters instead. Blanc was asked, "How are you feeling today, Bugs Bunny?" After a slight pause, Blanc answered, in a weak voice, "Eh&nbsp;... just fine, Doc. How are you?"<ref name="Blanc" /> The doctor then asked [[Tweety]] if he was there, too. "I tawt I taw a puddy tat", was the reply.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiolab.org/story/248590-blanc/|title=What's Up, Doc?|date=November 6, 2012|access-date=October 27, 2014|series=[[Radiolab]]|last=Horowitz|first=Daniel}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_strange_day_when_bugs_bunny_saved_the_life_of_mel_blanc.html|title=The Strange Day When Bugs Bunny Saved the Life of Mel Blanc|date=May 6, 2013|publisher=OpenCulture.com|last=Rix|first=Kate}}</ref> Blanc returned home on March 17. Four days later, Blanc filed a [[United States dollar|US$]]500,000 lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. His accident, one of 26 in the preceding two years at the intersection known as [[Dead Man's Curve#Other sharp curves|Dead Man's Curve]], resulted in the city funding the restructuring of curves at the location.
[[File:Mel Blanc 1976 2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Blanc in 1975]]
Years later, Blanc's son [[Noel Blanc|Noel]] revealed that he performed some of his father's Warner Bros. characters for some cartoons during his recovery.<ref name="Gadgets Interview">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJeySvo5HVA&t=761s|title=Mel Blanc visits Gadgets in the Eastwood Mall (Home of The Looney Tunes Revue and Sammy Sands) (1982)|date=January 15, 2025|publisher=YouTube|access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Loop Lines">{{cite book|title=Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices|isbn=9781593932596|last1=Ohmart|first1=Ben|date=November 15, 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8KCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT182|access-date=April 22, 2025|quote=According to one report, Noel, by then a fair imitator of his father's characters, was asked by Warner Bros. to loop a series of cartoons, ones which needed an extra phrase or word redone. He would still pinch-hit for Mel later on occasion too, but "about 99% of what the public hears is my dad. My voice is basically used in public service announcements and on Armed Forces broadcasts."}}</ref><ref name="FilmGen">{{cite book|title=Creating The Filmation Generation|isbn=9781605490441|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Lou_Scheimer/sVB5zwEACAAJ&pg=PT93|quote=We used a lot of the main Warner characters, except Bugs Bunny and the little mouse guy, Speedy Gonzales. And I think it's one of the few times we used that wonderful voice actor, Mel Blanc, although he may have been ill then. He had a terrible accident, and that may be the time his son (Noel Blanc) did some stuff for us, imitating his dad.|access-date=April 22, 2025|last1=Scheimer|first1=Lou|last2=Mangels|first2=Andy|date=December 15, 2012|publisher=TwoMorrows}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cm8nlBAie0&t=1361s|title=Noel Blanc interview (son of Mel Blanc - the man of a thousand voices) 2022|date=May 1, 2022|publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=April 22, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> Warner Bros. had also asked [[Stan Freberg]] to provide the voices for Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, but Freberg declined, out of respect for Blanc.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGvzwCP2VWM&t=650s|title=Stan Freberg - The Complete "Pioneers of Television" Interview|date=January 29, 2022|publisher=YouTube|access-date=February 1, 2025}}</ref> [[Jerry Hausner]] briefly filled in for Blanc as Bugs and Yosemite Sam for some commercials and spots for ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' and additional lines in ''[[Devil's Feud Cake]]''.<ref name="On Record">{{cite web|title=Bugs Bunny on Record|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2004/11/09/bugs-bunny-on-record/|publisher=News From ME|access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref><ref name="CartoonVoices">{{cite book|last1=Scott|first1=Keith|title=Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2|date=October 3, 2022|publisher=BearManor Media|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Collectors Choice">{{cite web|title=The Thad Review: "Looney Tunes Collector's Choice" Vol. 4|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-thad-review-looney-tunes-collectors-choice-vol-4/|first=Thad|last=Komorowski|work=Cartoon Research|date=November 18, 2024|access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref> At the time of the accident, Blanc was also serving as the voice of [[Barney Rubble]] in ''[[The Flintstones]]''. His absence from the show was relatively brief; [[Daws Butler]] provided the voice of Barney for a few episodes, after which the show's producers set up recording equipment in Blanc's hospital room and later at his home to allow him to work from there. Some of the recordings were made while he was in full-body cast as he lay flat on his back with the other ''Flintstones'' co-stars gathered around him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19880904&id=EsMnAAAAIBAJ&pg=1214,1135635|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712201936/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19880904&id=EsMnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cL4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1214,1135635|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 12, 2012|title=Blanc laments lack of cartoon quality|newspaper=[[Anchorage Daily News]]|last=Craig|first=Paul|agency=Mcclatchy News Service|date=September 4, 1988|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> He returned to ''The Jack Benny Program'' to film the program's 1961 Christmas show, moving around by crutches and a wheelchair.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 24, 1961|title=Mel Blanc Is Back at Work|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7812606//|newspaper=The Vernon Daily Record|agency=[[Associated Press]]|page=3|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 11, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>