Harry Babbitt

Harry Babbitt, the man who voiced the distinctive laugh of popular cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, died aged 90 in California. His son Michael said he died of old age on April 9 in a nursing home in Newport Beach.

Walter Lantz created the famed bird, Woody. An obnoxious mischief-maker, Woody would usually star in the shorts, occasionally taking a backseat to his friends Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, Gabby Gator, Buzzy Buzzard, Oswald the Rabbit, and Arctic penguin Chilly Willy. With arguably the most famous laugh of any cartoon character in history, Woody Woodpecker pecked his way into our lives through a 1940 Andy Panda theatrical short entitled Knock Knock. Woody continued to appear in short films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1957, the Kellogg's company packaged these theatrical works into the syndicated package The Woody Woodpecker Show.

Babbitt was also a member of the Kay Kyser Big Band from 1938 to about 1949, singing on hits such as The White Cliffs of Dover and The Umbrella Man.

He also appeared in seven movies alongside Kyser, who died in 1985. Babbitt teamed up with a new band in the 1980s but stopped performing in the mid-1990s. He leaves behind a wife and family.

He obtained the rights to the Kyser band name and back catalogue after Kay Kyser died.

The St Louis-born tenor also featured on Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, a popular comedy and musical radio quiz show in the US. The band were famed for their novelty records including Three Little Fishes and the 1948 hit, Woody Woodpecker, sung by Babbitt. He also made a solo recording of All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth with his trademark high-pitched voice.