Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning animated rabbit/hare who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1944. Today, he is the corporate mascot for Warner Brothers, especially its animated productions.

According to his biography Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare, he was "born" in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York and the product of many creators: Ben "Bugs" Hardaway (who created a prototypical version of Bugs Bunny known around Termite Terrace as Bugs' Bunny) Bob Clampett, Tex Avery (who directed A Wild Hare, considered Bugs' formal film debut), Robert McKimson (who created the definitive Bugs Bunny character design), Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng.

According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs Bunny's accent is a Flatbush accent, an equal blend of the Bronx and Brooklyn dialects. Bugs Bunny remains one of the most popular and recognizable cartoon characters in the world. In 2002, he was named by TV Guide as the greatest cartoon character of all time. His catchphrase is a casual "What's up, Doc?" usually said through a mouthful of carrot.

Early influences

A number of animation historians believe Bugs Bunny to have been influenced by an earlier Walt Disney character called Max Hare because he had similar big teeth. Max, designed by Charlie Thorson, first appeared in the Silly Symphony The Tortoise and the Hare, directed by Wilfred Jackson. Tex Avery, one of Bugs' creators, did admit to having copied Bugs' design from Max, although Avery's design of Bugs was less cute and innocent looking than Thorson's design of Max, so that Bugs' appearance would fit better with his sarcastic demeanor. Avery has been quoted as saying: "I practically stole it. It's a wonder I wasn't sued. The construction was almost identical." In fact, it was the drawing by Bugs Hardaway in 1938 that was chosen from among others as the direction for the character's personality. This drawing came to be known around the "Termite Terrace" as Bugs' Bunny, when the possessive apostrophe was eventually dropped, the name stuck.Bugs Bunny in the Encyclopedia Brittanica Bugs himself would eventually appear in three variations on The Tortoise and the Hare.