The 40 best Looney Tunes characters, ranked

After a couple of test runs (as Rover), Charlie Dog officially em-barked on his Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies days with 1947’s Little Orphan Airedale (a pun on Little Orphan Annie from the popular comic strip). Street-wise Charlie hustles to connect with a master and initially sets his sights on Porky Pig, who rejects him despite the dog’s sympathy-seeking melodramatics. Charlie Dog returned in four subsequent shorts and was voiced by Mel Blanc, who spoke in a tough Brooklyn-ese with shades of Bugs Bunny.

Porky Pig and Petunia Pig kicked off their romance in Porky’s Romance. Only, it’s dark stuff. He tries to kill himself after she rejects his marriage proposal, resulting in a dream/nightmare in which he glimpses married life with Petunia. This, dear friends, was 1937! The animators gave her a makeover (as they’d done with Porky, by the way), and she appeared in several more shorts. Petunia has since popped up in numerous Looney Tunes media, including the current Looney Tunes Cartoons.

Looney Tunes all-star Mel Blanc performed double duty six times as Ralph and Sam, beginning in 1953 with Don’t Give Up The Sheep. Ralph, a wolf, and Sam, a sheepdog, are co-workers and friends. The minute they clock in, however, Ralph attempts (and fails) to steal the sheep under Sam’s less-than-stellar protection. Picture, if you will, Wile and Roadrunner, hanging out as pals before and after their violent confrontations, and you’ve got the gist.

starred in a dozen diverting shorts between 1939 (Naughty But Mice) and 1946 (Hush My Mouse). The rodent with the runny nose marked some early Chuck Jones work, and he took real risks. Sniffles befriends an electric razor in that initial short, and later contends with inanimate items (books, for example) springing to life. But, seriously, can anyone look at Sniffles and not see Fievel from ?

Looney Tunes frequently liked to present mismatched characters, mismatched physically and in terms of wits. In 1946, audiences met Rocky, the diminutive but sharp gangster who gave Bugs Bunny a rare run for his money. Why Rocky sports a hat so big it covers his eyes, we’ll never understand. Mugsy came along in 1954, as Rocky’s oversized, doltish partner, in Bugs And Thugs. Their handful of classic shorts are terrific, and they went on to appear in other Warner Bros. shows, movies, and even games.

Mel Blanc goes hysterically French Canadian to voice this irate character, a villain in the Yosemite Sam mold who initially goes head to head with Bugs Bunny in 1959’s Bonanza Bunny. Set in the Old West, we get Bugs thinking carrots rather than carats (as in gold), moseying into a saloon, and playing blackjack against the exasperated Shellacque. The two went to war one more time during the initial Looney Tunes era, in 1962’s Wet Hare.

What’s with Looney Tunes and top hats? Playboy Penguin ranks up there among the franchise’s most lovable creations. We’re talking about a baby penguin with oversized eyes, a propensity for crying (his tears turn to ice cubes in cold weather), and a thing for top hats and bow ties. Audiences first met Playboy in Frigid Hare (1949), when Bugs Bunny saved him from an Eskimo hunter. They reunited a year later in the even better, globe-hopping short, 8 Ball Bunny.

The 1948 short Haredevil Hare gave Looney Tunes fans their first look at Marvin the Martian’s green alien dog, K-9. Bugs Bunny, who quite reluctantly finds himself on the moon, confronts Marvin and K-9 upon discovering Marvin’s plan to destroy Earth. One can’t help but wonder why K-9 seems to have borrowed Gossamer’s sneakers. Four years later, K-9 reunited with Marvin and Bugs for The Hasty Hare. Chuck Jones directed both shorts.

Nasty is really pretty nasty, but the three-time villain doesn’t seem to faze Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny in the slightest. Chuck Jones directed the character’s three funny shorts: Drip-Along Daffy, My Little Duckaroo, and Barbary Coast Bunny. Interestingly, however, a trio of different actors voiced the character, namely John T. Smith, then Mel Blanc, and then Daws Butler, a Hanna-Barbera legend who voiced Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, among other characters.

Chuck Jones introduced his scheming mice Hubie and Bertie in 1943, in The Aristo-cat, but fans didn’t learn their names until 1949, when Mouse Wreckers christened them Hubie and Bertie. The rodents seem to relish antagonizing anyone for any reason. Hubie devises their nefarious little plots while Bertie handles the heavy lifting, and much like Abbott abuses Costello, Hubie tends to smack around Bertie. Though Jones left the characters behind after just seven shorts, they popped up in and can be seen in the current show, .

Sometimes, dogs and cats can get along. Marc Antony, a huge, tough bulldog has the softest of soft spots for the charming kitten Pussyfoot. He’ll do anything to protect her—and does precisely that starting with Feed The Kitty, a 1952 short directed by Chuck Jones. They appeared in a few additional shorts (and not necessarily together), with Marc routinely saving Pussyfoot from Claude Cat. Blink, and you can glimpse them in and an episode of .

Henery is a hawk with a lot of pluck, cluck, and attitude. He’s as tough and determined as he is tiny, and he’s a pipsqueak of a bird. The little guy craves chicken, and Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dog basically take turns messing with him, with Foghorn saying Barnyard Dog is a chicken and Barnyard Dog insisting that Foghorn is. When the character debuted—in 1942’s The Squawkin’ Hawk—he was voiced by Kent Rogers.

Sleepy-eyed and clueless Beaky Buzzard wants to eat, but he doesn’t stand a chance against Bugs Bunny when they meet in Beaky’s debut, the 1942 short Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid. Beaky actually never seems to land a meal. He ranks as an amusing supporting character, but merits the mention of a sad behind-the-scenes anecdote. Kent Rogers voiced the character (and Henery Hawk, too) in Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid and 1945’s The Bashful Buzzard, but died in 1944, in an accident during World War II, shortly after recording his dialogue for the latter short. He was just 20 years old.

Chester reveres Spike, and we get it. Chester’s a tiny terrified terrier and Spike is a big brooding bulldog. But appearances can be deceiving and hero worship is a slippery slope (which might—and does—lead to role reversal). Such is the premise of two Friz Freleng-directed shorts, Tree For Two (1952) and Dr. Jerkyl’s Hide (1954). In the first one, Chester and Spike plan to beat up a cat (Sylvester), only for an escaped black panther to do a number on Spike. If Spike looks familiar, that’s because he’s the same dog as Hector.

Canon states that Hector the Bulldog made his first appearance in 1945’s Peck Up Your Troubles, though Hector-like dogs turned up well before and long after in other shorts. Hector is best known as Granny’s big pooch, who routinely beats up Sylvester when the cat tries to eat up Tweety. Hector factored into nearly 30 episodes, a surprising number, and they often paired him up just with Sylvester rather than Granny and Tweety.

There’s no not falling in love with Penelope Pussycat. Anyone can understand why Pepe Le Pew pined so badly for her—and the attraction between this black and white cat and black and white skunk was mutual … occasionally. Penelope made the first of her dozen classic short appearances in For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) and finally gained a speaking voice in 1995’s Carrotblanca. Tress MacNeille, who voices Dot on and Chip and Daisy Duck in various Disney shows and films, did the honors.

Bob Clampett created the Goofy Gophers—Mac (Mel Blanc) and Tosh (Stan Freberg)—but Arthur Davis took over after Warner Bros. fired Clampett from 1947’s The Goofy Gophers. While you might think, “Hmmm, Disney had Chip and Dale,” Chip and Dale were chipmunks that differed significantly from Mac and Tosh. The Gophers, who spoke in British accents, initially harassed a dog, but later encountered Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck. We love 1955’s Pests For Guests. In it, Mac and Tosh make Fudd’s life hell after he buys a dresser in which they intend to store their nuts.

An early version of Claude first scratched his way into the Hubie and Bertie short The Aristo-cat in 1943 and earned his name (a riff on “clawed cat”) with the Oscar-nominated Mouse Wreckers in 1949. Initially introduced as self-doubting, neurotic, perpetually scared, and borderline paranoid, Claude morphed into a (still-neurotic) villain in most of his nine follow-up appearances. Mel Blanc voiced the character, but when Claude returned decades later in several Warner Bros.’ animated projects made after Blanc’s death, the Crypt Keeper himself, John Kassir, took on voiceover duties.

Barnyard Dog started it all, but Foghorn Leghorn usually finished it. It all is never-ending pranks. Barnyard Dog dropped a watermelon on Foghorn’s head in their first encounter, in 1946’s Walky Talky Hawky, prompting Foghorn to retaliate. Later, the two-by-four-toting rooster usually tormented the pooch after rousing him from his sleep in his doghouse. Barnyard Dawg and Foghorn Leghorn are up there with Bugs/Fudd, Wile/Roadrunner, and Sylvester/Tweety in the pantheon of Abbott & Costello-esque pairings and hijinks.

Bosko and Honey helped kickstart the Warner Bros. animation legacy, as the characters appeared in nearly 40 musical shorts together, beginning in 1930 with the aforementioned Sinkin’ In The Bathtub. Bosko took center stage (and his name appears in most of the shorts’ titles), with Honey as the supportive girlfriend. Modern audiences understandably would question the shorts’ African American stereotypes. Decades later, in 1990, Honey popped up in “Fields of Honey,” an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures.

In the 1948 short My Bunny Lies Over The Sea, Bugs Bunny inadvertently tunnels his way to Scotland, where he mistakes a kilt-sporting, bagpipe-playing Angus MacRory for a monster. Chaos ensues and Bugs destroys MacRory’s bagpipes, which results in a tense face-off … on a golf course. Bugs wins and then also beats MacRory in a musical performance that finds our favorite hare transforming into a one-man band. Nearly 75 years on, My Bunny remains a visual and aural tour-de-farce.

It’s a brilliant premise: A construction worker thinks he’ll make a gazillion bucks after he discovers a singing, dancing, top hat-wearing frog. Only, said amphibian won’t sing or dance for anyone but this guy (or when he’s alone), which ruins the man’s life. That tale, One Froggy Evening (1955), started it all. Michigan exploded in popularity and turned up in other shows, as well as the movie , and in 1995 he kicked off a decade-long stint as The WB’s mascot.

The opposite of Bugs Bunny’s louder and more fiery enemies, Marvin the Martian plays everything extremely low-key. And though he dresses like a two-bit Roman soldier, he’s not to be overlooked, as Marvin tries again and again to wreak havoc on Earth. Marvin debuted in Haredevil Hare (1948) and then four more times in classic Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts, as well as numerous other Warner Bros. shows and movies.

Hugo graced exactly one original short, The Abominable Snow Rabbit, in 1961. It’s a fun one, with Bugs Bunny trying to dig his way to Palm Springs, but arriving in the Himalayan mountains instead, followed by Daffy. They then meet Hugo, the sweet but massive and massively dopey Abominable Snowman, who all but hugs them to death. Chuck Jones revived Hugo in 1980 in the equally entertaining Spaced Out Bunny, in which Marvin the Martian whisks Bugs off to Mars, where Hugo now resides, so that Hugo can “hug him and squeeze him and name him George.”

First things first: Cecil Turtle is a tortoise. Tex Avery created the easygoing, ever-leisurely character, who debuted in 1941’s Tortoise Beats Hare, a spin on The Tortoise and the Hare, and pulled off the unthinkable. He beats the supremely cocky Bugs Bunny in a race and wins their $10 bet (where do they get money?). And he again defeats Bugs in his only other appearances, Tortoise Wins By A Hare (1943) and Rabbit Transit (1947).

Did you know Granny has a name? It’s Emma Webster. Iterations of the character turned up as early as 1937, but Granny came into her own in 1950’s Canary Row. Granny is mom to Tweety, Sylvester the Cat, and Hector the Bulldog, but favors Tweety—and often must save him from Sylvester. Upbeat, protective, and spry for her age, Granny represented the rare Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies human character of any significance. Bea Benaderet voiced Granny from 1950-1955, but the great June Foray breathed life into the character for parts of seven decades (1955-2014).

Was there ever a monster cuter than Gossamer? We think not. The big, red/orange creature was created by Chuck Jones and debuted in the animator’s 1946 short Hair-Raising Hare as the sneaker-wearing muscle for a Peter Lorre-like mad scientist who wants to use Bugs Bunny in an experiment. The character went nameless in Hair-Raising Hare and was called Rudolph in 1952’s Water, Water Every Hare, also directed by Jones. A whopping 28 years later, Marvin the Martian called him Gossamer in the Jones-directed Duck Dodgers And The Return Of The 24½th Century.

Raise your hand if you love Witch Hazel? She may look mean and scary, and, sure, she eats children, but come on! She cackles and cracks jokes and serves as a great foil for Bugs Bunny. Chuck Jones conjured up Hazel in Bewitched Hazel (1954), followed by Broom-Stick Bunny in 1956, and A Witch’s Tangled Hair in 1959. The Halloween-themed Broom-Stick Bunny ranks as the best of the trio, and it’s the first with June Foray—who voiced a much nicer Witch Hazel for a Disney short in 1952—as the character.

Chuck Jones reimagines Goldilocks And The Three Bears as Bugs Bunny And The Three Bears, and the 1944 short is an utter classic. Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Junior conspire to tempt Goldilocks with porridge but shift to carrot soup when they realize they don’t have any porridge. The soup attracts Bugs Bunny, who flirts with Mama Bear and gets more than he bargained for when she falls hard for him. Jones delivers seven minutes of fast and funny comedy.

Taz! It’s the beauty of animation that a crazed, dangerous, ravenously hungry, and villainous character could morph into a fan favorite. But here we are. Taz chewed and chomped his way to fame in 1954’s Devil May Hare, eliciting lots of laughs as he chases Bugs, who stays one step ahead by distracting the creature with fake animals. Enter … the Tasmanian She-Devil, and it’s love at first bite. Not surprisingly, Taz has continued on in numerous movies, including both s, and shows, among them , a program for pre-schoolers!

Schlesinger, Harmon, Ising, Freleng, Jones, and Selzer typically merit mentions as Warner Bros. animation’s major players, but aficionados also revere Robert McKimson, who wrote and directed numerous shorts and created Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales, and Tasmanian Devil. Leghorn is a hoot, as the oversized rooster spends most of his time engaging in prank battles with Barnyard Dawg, speaking in a southern drawl, and humming or singing a variation of “Camptown Races.”

This adorable but devious yellow canary made his debut in 1942, in a Merrie Melodies short called A Tale Of Two Kitties. Notably, the bird did not connect with his familiar sparring partner, Sylvester the Cat, until 1947’s Oscar-winning Tweetie Pie. The ubiquitous Mel Blanc voiced Tweety, transforming such dialogue as “I tawt I taw a puddy tat. I did! I taw a puddy tat” and “Well, whaddya know? I got an admirer!” into classic catchphrases.

A cross between a cowboy and a pirate, rackin’, frackin’ Yosemite Sam serves as a tougher opponent for Bugs Bunny than Elmer Fudd. That’s because he’s nastier, smarter, and a far better shot than Fudd. Sam generates lots of laughs. We’re particularly fond of the sequence in 1948’s Bugs Bunny Rides Again in which Sam shoots bullets at Bugs’ feet, compelling him to dance. And we chuckle every time Bugs obliges Sam’s demand to “Open the door!” only to endure yet another indignity.

Anyone who appreciates watching a bully get his comeuppance loves (or maybe loves to hate) Sylvester because this lisping tuxedo cat regularly gets the crap beaten out of him—or is at least outsmarted—by the likes of Tweety, Granny, and Hector the Bulldog. Voiced by Mel Blanc (“Aaaah, shaddap”) and first introduced in 1947’s Life With Feathers, the putty tat holds an offbeat Looney Tunes record: he died 17 times, more than any other franchise character.

How ahead of its time was Looney Tunes? The bird-like Road Runner debuted in the 1949 short, “Fast and Furry-ous.” Road Runner lived to drive Wile E. Coyote crazy, and he succeeded dozens of times while smirking bemusedly and only ever saying two words, or one word twice: “Beep, beep!” Chuck Jones, who created Road Runner, often shared the secret to drawing the character: learn how to draw dust. Paul Julian, a background artist at Warner Bros., recorded the “Beep, beep,” but went uncredited.

Every good comedy requires a straight man, and Porky fit the bill perfectly, as Bugs, Sylvester, and Daffy spun high-energy circles around the portly, stuttering, likable pig. Though Porky started out as a leading man, the swell swine earned his keep as a supporting player. Mel Blanc voiced the character for 52 years, but he didn’t originate the voice—or the stutter. That distinction belonged to Joe Dougherty, an actor who stuttered. He voiced Porky from 1935 to 1937, when Blanc replaced him.

A rare human character in the Looney Tunes mosaic, Fudd is a dud who wants Bugs dead. And though he’s a millionaire who owns a mansion and a yacht, Fudd just can’t get the job done. He’s too slow, too useless with a shotgun, and too dopey. And speaking of dopey, he sure looks a lot like Disney’s Dopey from . If you need a chuckle, Google “Robin Williams sings Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Fire’ as Elmer Fudd.”

Wile E. Coyote was never quite as wily as he thought himself to be, particularly when it came to chasing his prey, usually Road Runner but sometimes Bugs Bunny. Time and time again, the fanciful ACME contraptions he deploys fail to work or, worse, work perfectly … against him in spasms of -esque violence. Still, try not to laugh when a boulder crushes Wile or the poor, pitiful self-proclaimed genius lingers in the air for a couple of beats before crashing to the ground. Beep, beep indeed!

Arguably the looniest of the Looney Tunes favorites, Daffy didn’t give a damn. Daffy started out as a smartass, contentious, argumentative, motor-mouth— and a foil to other characters (notably Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd), thanks to his ability to get under their skin. More than some characters, Daffy evolved, but the slobbering duck generally remained an antagonist. He and Bugs, for example, bounced from enemies to frenemies. While we’ll focus on golden age animation here, nothing made us happier than watching Daffy and Donald Duck play dueling pianos in

Bugs Bunny is to Warner Bros. what Mickey Mouse is to Disney: the studio’s biggest star and most beloved character. The sly, carrot-chomping, joke-cracking, and occasionally cruel rabbit didn’t arrive fully formed. Charles Thorson, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and others nudged Bugs along visually and personality-wise starting in 1938. Most fans agree that Bugs came into his own in A Wild Hare, a short released in 1940. In it, Bugs asked “What’s up, doc?” for the very first time, with Mel Blanc debuting as the rabbit’s iconic voice.