Page "Sylvester (Looney Tunes)" Paragraph 2

Sylvester's trademark is his sloppy and yet stridulating lisp.

In his autobiography, That's Not All Folks !, voice actor Mel Blanc stated that Sylvester's voice is based on that of Daffy Duck, plus the even more slobbery lisp, and minus the post-production speed-up that was done with Daffy's.

Conventional wisdom is that Daffy's lisp, and hence also Sylvester's, were based on the lisp of producer Leon Schlesinger.

However, Blanc made no such claim.

He said that Daffy's lisp was based on him having a long beak, and that he borrowed the voice for Sylvester.

He also pointed out that, minus the lisp, Sylvester's voice was fairly close to his own ( a claim that his son Noel Blanc has confirmed ).

In addition, director Bob Clampett, in a 1970 Funnyworld interview, agreed with Blanc's account concerning Schlesinger.