| Robert Mckimson |
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| 1910 births | |
| 1977 deaths | |
| animators | |
| american animators | |
| animated film directors | |
| films directed by robert mckimson | |
Robert "Bob" McKimson, Sr. ( October 13 , 1910 – September 29 , 1977 ) was an Animator , Illustrator , and Director best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes '' and '' Merrie Melodies '' series of Cartoon s from Warner Bros. . After ten years of art education, McKimson went to work for Walt Disney . He stayed with Disney's Studio for two years before moving to that of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising . In 1945 , McKimson was promoted to Director , replacing Frank Tashlin . He shared this position with Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones from 1949, when the number of animation units were reduced from four to three when the Arthur Davis unit was disbanded, until the closing of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in 1963 . During this period, McKimson created the characters Foghorn Leghorn and Tasmanian Devil , and directed every Hippety Hopper / Sylvester pairing. He also created Speedy Gonzales for the 1953 short '' Cat-Tails For Two ''. Critics, perhaps unfairly, routinely dismiss McKimson's work -- that is, when the critics deem to discuss McKimson's work at all. Much of this critical neglect likely stems from two factors: McKimson's early death, and his extreme shyness. He died well before animation became a respected art form, and when he was alive, he gave few interviews. Also, there have been no theatrically-released anthology films showcasing McKimson's directorial work at Warners (Jones had one, and Freleng had two), which have arguably contributed to his cartoons being less familiar than those of Freleng and Jones. McKimson is often cited as being a better animator than a director; his shorts are described as having a "squarer" style than his fellow directors, Freleng and Jones. Critics describe his style as somewhat prosaic, literal, and not as innovative, clever or impeccably crafted as the films of Jones or Freleng. In addition, McKimson favored an overstated, hammy style of "acting" for his characters, in contrast to the cool, studied, Method -like underplaying that Jones imbued in his versions of the same characters. In many ways, his cartoons, extremely violent and irreverent, are a continuation of the style of Bob Clampett , who had left the studio a few years before McKimson's promotion to director. But if McKimson's cartoons did not reach the intellectual heights of Jones or enjoy the musical freedom of Freleng, he is seen by animation scholars as being the most artistically talented of the Termite Terrace cartoon directors. In 1942 , McKimson drew a single portrait of Bugs Bunny , leaning against a tree and smiling as he was eating a carrot, that became known as the definitive portrait of the character; this picture has been imitated many times by later artists, including McKimson's peers. McKimson was, for many years, the studio's most prominent animator and character designer; he created the definitive Bugs Bunny model sheet in 1943 . His peers acknowledged McKimson's ability to draw images and figures without any construction lines. Even when Warner Bros. acknowledged the influence of UPA and abandoned extreme "realism" in cartoons during the early 1950s , the characters in McKimson's cartoons continued to reflect his craftsmanship, including two of the studio's most popular, Foghorn Leghorn and the Tasmanian Devil. In 1953 , however, the Warner Bros. cartoon studio laid off most of its staff for six months. McKimson had to rebuild his unit, which never regained the vivid animation of earlier years (the loss of writer Warren Foster to Friz Freleng 's unit was a significant blow). Most of McKimson's "earthbound" cartoons were released from 1955 on. During this period, McKimson animated several of his shorts himself. This later period had some merits, with several popular shorts and the consistent work of Robert Gribbroek . However, McKimson's spoofs of various television programs, while interesting as period pieces, are badly dated; in general, they have not held up very well against contemporary work by other directors. Within the studio structure, however, the McKimson unit was valued as the one in which new animators honed their craft, and those who excelled were often subsequently picked up by the Freleng or Jones units. Warner Bros. shut down its animation studio in 1963 , and after working on the feature The Incredible Mr. Limpet ,McKimson joined DePatie-Freleng Enterprises , co-owned by his old associates Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie , who had been a producer at the Warners studio. At DePatie-Freleng, McKimson directed several '' The Inspector '' shorts and worked on some of the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' contracted out to DePatie-Freleng by Warner Bros.. In 1967 , Warners opened its studio again; McKimson went back to Warners in 1968 and stayed until the studio finally shut down in 1969 . His last Warner Bros. cartoon was '' Injun Trouble '' with Cool Cat . ''Injun Trouble'' was also the last of the original ''Looney Tunes'' or ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon to be produced before the Warner Bros. cartoon studio was closed. In 1972 , he went back to DePatie-Freleng to direct '' The Pink Panther Show '' shorts, among their other series. McKimson died suddenly in 1977 . He suffered a massive Heart Attack while eating lunch with Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie. He had two brothers - Charles McKimson and Tom McKimson - who also worked as animators. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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