Tweety was Adopted by Sylvester's Mistress  

Sylvester...the quintessential tomcat. All the cat food he can eat and still he insists on following his instincts and persistently pursues the most elusive of meals -- Tweety. Sylvester, however, has been a slave to his infincts since the beginning of his long film career.

Sylvester debuted in Friz Freleng's 1945 short, "Life With Feathers," uttering the line, "Sufferin'succotash!" which would become his classic trademark for the next six decades. Freleng tried several versions of the cat-chases-bird formula, beginning with this cartoon with a diabolical twist: Sylvester stumbles upon a suicidal lovebird who has had a fight with his wife and is now intent on finding his way into Sylvester's mouth! Puzzled by the bird's desire to be devoured, Sylvester immediately becomes suspicious and refuses to eat the bird. Sylvester eventually relents, but the bird receives a telegram from his wife asking him to return home. The tables turn and Sylvester chases the bird, until the end of the cartoon when the wife returns and the bird once again wants to be eaten.

Sylvester's fledgling career might have ended after his second cartoon, "Peck Up Your Troubles" (in which he unsuccessfully hunts a wily woodpecker), were it not for a fateful turn of events. Bob Clampett departed from Warner Bros. in 1947, leaving behind some preliminary work on a new short. The short would have been the third to feature a Clampett creation: a little canary named Tweety. Freleng liked the idea of teaming Sylvester with the sweetly volatile little bird. The resulting short, "Tweety Pie," won the Academy Award for Freleng that year, the first of several for both Freleng and Warner Bros. Animation. "Tweety Pie" established Sylvester and Tweety as a team, and they went on to appear together in 41 cartoons over the next 40 years.

In "Bird Anonymous" (1957), Sylvester (unsuccessfully) tried to give up chasing birds altogether, and joined a support group of cats with the same affliction. One of the members loses control and tries desperately to catch Tweety, who assesses the situation and decides, "Once a bad ol' puddy tat, always a bad ol' puddy tat." "Bird Anonymous" was the recipient of another Academy Award for the trio Sylvester, Tweety and Freleng.

Sylvester's career is not limited to acting as Tweety's foil: he co-starred with Porky Pig (under the direction of Chuck Jones) as Porky's loyal, but misunderstood, pet in "Scaredy Cat" (1948), "Claws for Alarm" (1954), and "Jumpin' Jupiter" (1955); and he played the embarrassingly incompetent father of Sylvester, Jr. in a series of cartoons directed by Robert McKimson.

Sylvester is currently working with Tweety in support Of "Tweety's Global Patrol," a national education program urging elementary school children to reduce, reuse and recycle. In addition, Sylvester may be seen Saturday mornings in "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show" on ABC; weekdays on Fix's "Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends" and daily On "Looney Tunes" on Nickelodeon.

Joe Alaskey now does the voice of Tweety. Alaskey is also a very talented "on-camera" actor, guest starring on numerous television series, including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Growing Pains," and "Night Court." He served as the voice of Richard Nixon in the Oscar-winning feature film "Forrest Gump,� as well as the voice of the oh-so-irreverent Daffy Duck, serving as presenter during the 67th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Alaskey can also he heard as the voice of Stinkie in Steven Spielberg's "Casper."

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