Animated
Photo: Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. 1994 · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons Yosemite Sam nose art on a USAF C-130 (1991)
Yosemite Sam
The rootin'-tootin'est, shootin'est varmint in animation is roughly 60 percent mustache — a giant red walrus that hides everything below his nose.
- Actor
- Mel Blanc
- Film
- Looney Tunes
- Year
- 1945
- Medium
- Animated
- Style
- Walrus
- Fan Votes
- 0 legendary · 0 meh
Why Yosemite Sam's Mustache Matters
Yosemite Sam first rode into Looney Tunes in the 1945 short "Hare Trigger," created by director Friz Freleng as a tougher foil for Bugs Bunny than the mild-mannered Elmer Fudd. What Freleng delivered was a tiny, furious outlaw whose enormous orange-red mustache hangs down to his belt and does most of the emoting.
The mustache is an engineering marvel of cartoon design. It is so large that Sam has essentially no visible mouth, so the animators convey his rage through the bristling, flapping and occasional scorching of the lip. It makes him instantly readable at any size and in any disguise — pirate, Roman legionnaire, Arabian sheikh, or prospector.
Voiced originally by the legendary Mel Blanc, Yosemite Sam remains the reference image for "cartoon mustache," and a huge influence on every oversized walrus worn for laughs since.
- Yosemite Sam debuted in the 1945 short "Hare Trigger," directed by Friz Freleng.
- Mel Blanc (1908–1989), the "Man of a Thousand Voices," voiced Sam along with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.
- Sam has appeared as a pirate, a knight, a Confederate officer and a Roman in various shorts, always with the same mustache.
- Freleng reportedly modeled Sam's temper in part on himself.
How to Grow the Walrus
Big, bushy, and draped over the mouth like a velvet curtain. The mustache of wise men and Sam Elliott.
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