Sylvester the Cat

Sylvester the Cat — full name Sylvester J. Pussycat — is the black-and-white tuxedo cat of Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes, who first fully appeared in the 1945 short 'Life with Feathers'. With his sloppy, spraying lisp — most famously the exasperated cry of 'Sufferin' succotash!' — and his boundless, doomed determination, he became one of the studio's most enduring comic villains-who-never-wins.

Sylvester's genius lies in his failure. Whether stalking the innocent-looking canary Tweety Bird (whose 'I tawt I taw a puddy tat!' is one of the most quoted lines in animation), being repeatedly foiled by the bulldog guarding Tweety, or unknowingly tangling with the escaped 'giant mouse' who is really a kangaroo, Sylvester throws himself into each scheme with total conviction and is punished for it every single time. His pride and persistence in the face of constant humiliation are what make him so beloved.

A softer, more sympathetic side emerged in the shorts pairing him with his son, Sylvester Junior, whose repeated cries of 'Oh, the shame of it all!' at his father's failures added a note of pathos to the slapstick. Voiced for decades by the legendary Mel Blanc, Sylvester appeared in dozens of cartoons, won recognition as part of Warner's golden-age roster, and remains, alongside Bugs Bunny and Tweety, one of the most recognisable animated cats ever drawn.