Granny (Looney Tunes)
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Granny, a co-star of many Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird animated shorts throughout the 1950s and '60s, is a Looney Tunes character that was created by Friz Freleng. She is always depicted as an elderly and old-fashioned spinster who wears spectacles, a gray bun, and a late 19th century school marm outfit, always featuring a bustle. She is generally good natured but turns quite fierce whenever her beloved Tweety Bird is threatened (usually by Sylvester). She has used her umbrella as a weapon on many occasions. She may appear like "just an old lady", but she is actually quite clever.
[edit] Granny Throughout the Years
The idea of the cartoon Granny began with the Little Red Riding Hood character in spoofs of the story; first appearing as such in the 1937 animated short Little Red Walking Hood which featured Egghead, directed by Tex Avery. Subsequent appearances of a similar "granny" character included The Cagey Canary, directed by Bob Clampett; Hiss and Make Up, directed by Friz Freleng; Hare Force, featuring Bugs Bunny and Sylvester the Dog; and finally, the character was solidified into her current role in Canary Row. She would continue to appear in several more animated shorts from the 1950s on, as a foil for Sylvester the Cat, who was always attempting to eat her pet bird, Tweety, a pudgy-faced yellow canary.
Although she was almost always shown onscreen with her two animal companions, Granny could occasionally be seen in an animated short without them. For example, in the 1953 short, Hare Trimmed, she starred as a woman (named Emma which is probably her real name) who was being fought over by two suitors, Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny, (The latter out to thwart the former's evil plan). Another one was the 1965 short Corn on the Cop, where she appears alongside Daffy Duck and Porky Pig as two Keystone Cops who mistake her for a crook disguised like her. She is in this story addressed as "Mrs. Webster" by a passing policeman. Putting the two names together, her real full name becomes "Emma Webster".
More recently, she has appeared as a Professor at Acme Looniversity in Tiny Toon Adventures, a regular character in The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, a timekeeper in Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters, a cheerleader for the Toon Squad in the movie Space Jam, and the children's (probably adoptive if looked logically but not specified if so) grandmother and new character Floyd's aunt in Baby Looney Tunes. She made a cameo appearance in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, although this "Granny" was actually the Acme Chairman in disguise.
Granny's voice was first provided by Bea Benaderet from 1937 through 1953. June Foray later took the role and was still providing Granny's voice as of 2007. Foray also played Granny in Hiss and Make Up (1943).
