Eric Bauza, the voice actor who brought Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and a whole lineup of familiar cartoon characters to life, died Oct. 25 at 46 from hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
“He’s a voiceover artist for animated characters that have historic precedents and roles, and somehow out of that, he carved out a place in this business,” said COYOTE VS. ACME producer Chris DeFaria following Bauza’s death.
“Eric Bauza was a unique voice talent who brought joy and laughter to millions around the world. During his 15 years at Warner Bros. Animation, he was the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck among countless other characters,” said Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks Chairman Channing Dungey and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation President and Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke in a statement.
The medical examiner’s public case record lists his place of death as a residence and his manner of death as natural. It identifies sleep apnea and class 2 obesity as other significant conditions, separate from the listed cause of death.
Bauza’s family announced his death Sunday on his Instagram account, identifying him as the modern voice of Bugs and Daffy and saying he had died suddenly.
For viewers, his name might not have been as instantly recognizable as the characters he played. But his work reached well beyond one rabbit and one duck, from Fozzie in MUPPET BABIES to the title character in THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS.
His talent agency’s biography traces his start in animation to work as a character designer before his extensive voice credits. Originally from Toronto, he went on to give fresh performances to characters whose voices already carried decades of audience expectations.
In SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY, those assignments included Daffy, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd and Marvin the Martian. His work on LOONEY TUNES CARTOONS brought Bugs and Daffy to another generation, while COYOTE VS. ACME added still more familiar names to his roster. He also took on the title role in WOODY WOODPECKER and voiced characters in THE BOOK OF LIFE.
There was a family connection to that work, too. During a 2025 interview with Extra about THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE, Bauza talked about sharing the characters he had loved as a child with his own son.
“I have a 9-year-old son who I like to call my little manager,” Bauza said in the 2025 interview while discussing the movie, in which he voiced both Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
That small detail offers a more personal view of a career often described through a long list of credits. Behind the familiar voices was a father who could watch his own child discover the same jokes he had enjoyed growing up.
His colleagues also remembered the work that went into those performances. DeFaria described Bauza’s dedication to animation, while the range of characters in his recent projects showed how many different personalities he could carry into a single production.
Bauza’s death leaves a loss for his loved ones and the collaborators who knew him away from the microphone. For families who knew him through cartoons, his performances remain a place where parents and children can share a laugh — even when they first met those characters decades apart.
Read Next: SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
