Kent Rogers

Kent Rogers
Kent Rogers
	Kent Rogers in All-American Co-Ed
Born	Kent Byron Rogers; July 31, 1923; Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.
Died	July 9, 1944 (aged 20); Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Cause of death	Killed in a training flight accident during World War II
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1937–1944

Kent Byron Rogers (July 31, 1923 – July 9, 1944) was an American actor and impressionist who appeared in several live-action shorts and features, 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.^[1]

Rogers' career ended upon his enlistment in the Navy in late 1943.

Death

Rogers was killed in the crash of a training flight at Pensacola, Florida, while he was an Ensign in the United States Navy during World War II, on July 9, 1944, 22 days before his 21st birthday. Stan Freberg then replaced Rogers as the voice of Junior Bear, while 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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	Make a Wish	Summer Camp Kid	Film debut, Uncredited
	Boy of the Streets	Gang Member 'Red'	Uncredited
	Headin' East	Boy in Gym	Uncredited
1938	Reformatory	Inmate	Uncredited
	Boys Town	Tailor	Uncredited
	The Storm	Boy in Gym	Uncredited
1939	Streets of New York	Gang Member	Uncredited
	Art Gallery	Ned Sparks character	Voice, Uncredited
	Fresh Fish	Old Crab	Voice, Uncredited
1940	Northwest Passage	Odiorne Towne	Uncredited
	Good Old Schooldays	Jimmy Skelton	Uncredited
	Military Academy	Billings	Uncredited
1941	The Fighting 69½th	Red Ant/Red Ant General	Voice, Uncredited
	Goofy Groceries	Gorilla	Voice, Uncredited
	Farm Frolics	Henry Ant^[2]	Voice, Uncredited
	Hollywood Steps Out	Various	Voice, Uncredited
	The Heckling Hare	Willoughby	Voice, Uncredited
	Life Begins for Andy Hardy	Tough Boy	Uncredited
	All-American Co-ed	Henry
1942	Porky's Pastry Pirates	James Cagney Bee	Voice, Uncredited
	The Hams That Couldn't Be Cured	Wolf/Pigs	Voice, Uncredited
	Horton Hatches the Egg	Horton/Peter Lorre Fish	Voice, Uncredited
	Ace in the Hole	Woody Woodpecker	Voice, Uncredited
	Wacky Blackout	Woodpecker	Voice, Uncredited
	Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid	Beaky Buzzard	Voice, Uncredited
	Pigeon Patrol	Homer Pigeon/Carrier Pigeon	Voice, Uncredited
	The Squawkin' Hawk	Henery Hawk	Voice, Uncredited
	The Hep Cat	Rosebud	Voice, Uncredited
	The Loan Stranger	Woody Woodpecker/Hudson C. Dann	Voice, Uncredited
	Road to Morocco	Male Camel	Voice, Uncredited
1943	The Screwball	Woody Woodpecker/Hudson C. Dann	Voice, Uncredited
	Super-Rabbit	Professor Canafrazz	Voice, Uncredited
	Swing Your Partner	Homer Pigeon/Hank/Square Dance Caller	Voice, Uncredited
	Red Hot Riding Hood	Wolf (some lines)	Voice, Uncredited
	The Dizzy Acrobat	Woody Woodpecker	Voice, Uncredited
	Who Killed Who?	Victim/Red Skeleton/Falling Body/Santa Claus	Voice, Uncredited
	Ration Bored	Woody Woodpecker/Gas Station Attendant/Police Officer	Voice, Uncredited
	One Ham's Family	Narrator/Junior/Wolf	Voice, Uncredited
	What's Buzzin' Buzzard	Joe Buzzard/Jimmy Durante Vulture's Stomach	Voice, Uncredited
1944	Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears	Junyer Bear	Voice, Uncredited
1945	The Bashful Buzzard	Beaky Buzzard	Final film, Voice, Uncredited

References

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2015-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Hartley, Steven (2014-04-20). "Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie: 327. Farm Frolics (1941)". Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved 2020-07-30.

External links

Kent Rogers at IMDb
Kent Rogers at Find a Grave

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[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2015-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] Hartley, Steven (2014-04-20). "Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie: 327. Farm Frolics (1941)". Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved 2020-07-30.

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