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Daws Butler on why Huckleberry Hound sounds like Andy Griffith
It's all in the drawl!
Cartoon history is full of myths and legends, and we have another tall tale for you. The rumor was that the voice of Huckleberry Hound, the lovable Southern blue tick coonhound host of The Huckleberry Hound Show, was an impression of Andy Griffith. Like most rumors, this began with a kernel of truth - they do sound similar. But when the rumor took off, Hanna-Barbera confirmed it and said yes, Huckleberry Hound's voice is based on Andy Griffith.
Hanna-Barbera was known for character voices being impersonations of celebrities, like Snagglepuss's voice was inspired by Bert Lahr and Yogi Bear's voice was inspired by Art Carney. It wasn't a huge reach for fans to think Huckleberry Hound's voice was an impression of Andy Griffith. Except that couldn't be true: The Huckleberry Hound Show premiered in 1958, and The Andy Griffith Show didn't premiere until 1960. How could voice actor Daws Butler do an impression of an unknown actor for two years?
In the book The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors, Daws Butler denied the rumors and told the authors who the real inspiration for Huckleberry Hound was. It all started in Albemarle, North Carolina, with Butler's wife, Myrtis, and her neighbor, William Harwood. According to Butler, "When I was in the navy, I'd hitchhike home on the weekend and this fella would be sitting on the front porch next door. He'd see me come panting just to see Myrtis, and he'd say (in a drawl), 'Hi Daws! Come on up and sit down. We'll talk a bit.'...Anyway, he kind of stuck in my head...Then when Huckleberry Hound came along, there he was!" Butler had also used his Harwood impression for ten years, playing characters like Reddy in Ruff and Reddy and also minor characters in Tex Avery's Droopy series.
Like Butler's wife, Andy Griffith was also from a small town in North Carolina - Mayberry! Just kidding, his hometown was Mount Airy.
In conclusion, they're both from North Carolina, that's why they sound the same.
