Eric Bauza, the voice actor who carried Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck into a new generation, has died at 46. His family announced his death on his Instagram account on Sunday, October 25, saying he “passed away suddenly” and that more details would follow.
Variety reports that Bauza died at his home in Los Angeles on Sunday, and that Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records list hypertensive cardiovascular disease as the cause.
Most people know Bauza from Looney Tunes. He joined the franchise in 2011 as Marvin the Martian and went on to voice Bugs, Daffy, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Tweety and plenty more, winning three Children’s and Family Emmy Awards along the way. Warner Bros. Television Group chairman Channing Dungey said he “followed in the footsteps of giants like Mel Blanc.” His Bugs was in theaters as recently as August, when Coyote vs. Acme finally came out after Warner Bros. Discovery shelved it in 2023.
Eric Bauza’s video game roles
Players heard him a lot more often than they probably realized. Bauza had more than 400 acting credits, and a good number of them were games. Some of the biggest:
- MultiVersus (2022): Bugs Bunny, Tom, Jerry, Marvin the Martian and Foghorn Leghorn in Warner Bros. Games’ platform fighter.
- Ratchet & Clank (2016): Chairman Drek, the villain of Insomniac’s PS4 remake.
- Battletoads (2020): Rash, in Rare’s revival on Xbox and PC.
- DuckTales: Remastered (2013): Fenton Crackshell, better known as Gizmoduck.
- Batman: Arkham City (2011): Dr. Adam Hamasaki.
- Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem (2018): nearly the whole cast, from Bugs and Daffy to Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil.
He also did additional voices in Marvel’s Spider-Man, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, played Tiger Claw in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Wrath of the Mutants, and had a part in High on Life 2. The Game Awards posted its own tribute on Sunday night, singling out Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man, Arkham City and MultiVersus.
Why this one hurts
Voice actors rarely become household names, but Bauza came close. He stepped into roles that Mel Blanc defined and made them sound current instead of like an impression, which is a lot harder than it looks. Fellow actors including Robbie Daymond, Josh Keaton and Jim Cummings shared tributes overnight, and most of them talked about his kindness as much as his range.
He was still busy right up to the end. Variety notes he was in pre-production on Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, as Daffy Duck, and on The Dragon Masters. In 2026 alone he voiced characters in Avatar: Seven Havens, Rick and Morty and Minions & Monsters.
For a lot of players, the Bugs Bunny they heard in a game, or the Drek they heard scheming in Ratchet & Clank, was Bauza. Game Beacon sends its condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Sources: the Bauza family statement on Instagram, Variety, IGN, Kotaku and The Game Awards. Featured photo: Eric Bauza at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, placed on a blurred background.
