Kent Byron Rogers (July 31, 1923 – July 9, 1944) was an American actor who appeared in several live-action features and shorts, and a voice actor for Warner Bros. Cartoons and Walter Lantz Productions.

Career

For Warner Bros. Cartoons, Rogers portrayed several Hollywood stars in Hollywood Steps Out, and lent his voice to The Heckling Hare, Porky's Pastry Pirates, Horton Hatches the Egg, The Squawkin' Hawk and Super-Rabbit. Rogers also provided the original voice of Beaky Buzzard in Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid and The Bashful Buzzard. He also provided the voice of Junior Bear in Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears, the initial 1944 entry of Chuck Jones' The Three Bears series. He also appeared occasionally on radio sitcoms, generally doing one-off characters. In 1941, he had a rare on-camera role as Henry, a boy who had a talent for doing impressions, in the film All-American Co-Ed. For Walter Lantz Productions he voiced Woody Woodpecker in five theatrical cartoon shorts released from 1942 to 1943.

Death

Rogers enlisted as an Ensign in the United States Navy in late 1943. He was killed in the crash of a training flight at Pensacola, Florida on July 9, 1944. Stan Freberg, who arrived in Hollywood just as Rogers had died, would be hired to replace Rogers, including in the role of Junior Bear. Mel Blanc took over as the voice of Beaky Buzzard, though that character's appearances were limited after Rogers' death. Rogers is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Filmography