
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 19, 1992                   TAG: 9203190262
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD                                LENGTH: Short

GRACIE LANTZ, VOICE OF `WOODY,' DIES

Gracie Lantz, who conceived of the irreverent woodpecker "Woody" while on her honeymoon with her animator husband and a decade later became the voice of that mocking bird, has died.

A spokeswoman for MCA Universal, which manages the Woody Woodpecker cartoons and properties, said she had died Tuesday of spinal cancer at age 88 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank. Her husband, Walter, and two brothers survive her.

While on their honeymoon at June Lake in California's High Sierra in 1940, a woodpecker on the roof of their cottage disturbed the tranquil environment. But what Lantz viewed as a nuisance his bride found a source of inspiration and suggested the defiant bird be added to Lantz's growing list of cartoon animals.

She became the voice of Woody after Mel Blanc left.

- Los Angeles Times

by CNB