After he finished his service in the Navy (in World War II) and decided to take his family to Hollywood (rather than New York), they made the trek from Illinios with bad brakes all the way.
Close friend and mentor of Nancy Cartwright, best known as the voice of Bart on "The Simpsons" (1989).
Following his five-year run on puppet show "Time for Beany" (1949), Daws did struggle for a while. Many producers and directors refused to believe that he could still do cartoon voices. They told him, "We're not doing anything with puppets anymore!" So Daws sent out letters to 100-200 Hollywood producers, telling them that he had talent to do voices and he could also write comic material. The remarkable thing was that he did not use a mimeograph or photocopier (the latter technology being unavailable at the time). Daws actually wrote out each and every one of those 100+ letters individually.
Friend and mentor of Lee Harris, who did voices for Men in Black (1997), among other recorded and live performances.
His attempts to overcome shyness actually predated the amateur contests that he entered. When he was a junior in high school, he took Public Speaking. That was his first step. He claimed that he made a gag routine out of every speech that he gave (and in the process, antagonized his Public Speaking teacher).
His very first cartoon character was a kind of "smug" British character, as he termed it. He recorded that voice sometime in the 1940s. This came about after he tried to break into cartoon voices at Warner Brothers. Everyone asked, "Why do you bother? Mel Blanc does everything." Warners did not use him initially, although it later would use him (without on-screen credit) in several of its cartoons in the late 1950s -- most notably as the voices of Ralph Krumden and Ned Morton in "The Honeymousers". Warner also referred him to Johnny Burton and Tex Avery, who helped him get that very first voice credit.
Sons Paul (in music), David (advertising), Don (mailman in Beverley Hills) and Charles/Chaz (doing odd jobs). Their mother Myrtis is 90.
Substituted for Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble on "The Flintstones" (1960) (while the former recovered from a serious car accident) in 5 episodes from 1961: "Droop Along Flintstone", "Fred Flintstone Woos Again", "The Hit Song Writers", "The Rock Quarry Story" and "The Little White Lie".
The story of where Butler's Cap'n Crunch voice came from is more interesting than simply that he was imitating late actor Charles Butterworth. Daws originally used that voice as a king in countless "Fractured Fairy Tale" cartoons (from the "Rocky and His Friends" (1959)). After Jay Ward told Butler that he felt that this would be a good voice for Cap'n Crunch, never again did he use that voice for cartoons outside of these commercials.
Voice of cartoon characters like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound.
Voiced the characters of Fred and Barney in "The Flagstones" - the 42-second pilot for the show that eventually became "The Flintstones" (1960).