The Looney Tunes Animators from A to F

Fred Abranz animated on most of Bob Clampett’s cartoons from his final year at the studio, 1946. He then animated for Robert McKimson from 1947 to 1949. For some unknown reason, he was always uncredited so his scenes are always either confirmed by animator drafts or through educated guesswork. Style: Long eyes and pursed lips.

Formerly an assistant to fellow animator Virgil Ross, Batchelder became a full-fledged animator by 1957 and from that point up until the original studio’s closure in 1964, was the best animator in McKimson’s late 1950’s-early 1960’s unit. Batchelder also animated on most of the cartoons from the DePatie-Freleng era. His scenes are easy to spot, judging by how he draws characters like Daffy and Foghorn. Style: Specializes in emphasizing character weight, and squash and stretch. Was also a go-to animator for action scenes.

Bentley was an animator in Frank Tashlin’s unit in the late 1930’s. Style: Often draws characters with rounded eyes and large pupils.

Animated for Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, Friz Freleng from 1940 to 1945, Frank Tashlin on his final three cartoons, and Robert McKimson on most of his first cartoons. Bickenbach then became the layout artist for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at MGM, and continued this position when they opened their own studio at the end of the 1950’s. Style: Particularly easy to spot when he animated for Freleng due to the way he draws the characters’ eyes and head shapes.

No photos found of him, but Norm Blackburn (April 28, 1903-February 21, 1990) was an animator during the early days in the Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising period. The Harman-Ising animators are very difficult to identify (although Jerry Beck was able to identify their scenes in his commentary for 1933’s “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 DVD set).

Ted Bonnicksen was briefly an animator for Freleng in 1955. In 1956, he joined McKimson’s unit and became one of the principal animators in his unit up until the original studio’s closure in 1964, along with Warren Batchelder and George Grandpre. Bonnicksen also animated on the final six cartoons from the DePatie-Freleng era and all of the cartoons from the Seven Arts era. Style: Skilled at dialogue scenes, a good way to identify Bonnicksen’s animation is mostly in character interactions (which are mostly confirmed by the animator drafts).

Bradbury was only at the studio for less than two years (1943-1945) and served as an animator in Freleng’s unit. Style: Quite different from the other Freleng animators, his style is a cross between Richard Bickenbach and Ken Champin.

No photos of him have been found, which is odd, as he was very prolific in the 1960’s. Anyways, Bob Bransford (June 9, 1925-December 8, 2001) was an animator for Chuck Jones’ cartoons in the 1960’s. He was also an animator on all of Rudy Larriva’s cartoons, barring “Run Run Sweet Roadrunner” (1965). Style: Ears on Bugs and Wile E. are long and stiff while mouths are stylized.

Burness’s stint at Warner Bros. was brief, but he was clearly a standout. He frequently animated for both Freleng and McKimson, often rotating. He would gain much greater fame at the UPA studio when he became the main director of the Mr. Magoo cartoons. Style: Very, very loose animation.

Having worked at several other studios such as Max Fleischer and Terrytoons, Cannata was only at Warner Bros. in 1944, animating for Frank Tashlin. Not much is really known about his style, since his tenure was so brief.

Cannon started out as an animator in Clampett’s unit in the late 1930’s. In the early to mid-1940’s, he animated for Jones, and his style made him very clearly stand out. Style: Very rubbery animation. Particularly easy to spot in Jones’ cartoons.

Carey spent two stints at the studio. His first was in Clampett’s unit throughout the entirety of Clampett’s early period, and then for Norm McCabe when he took over the unit. Later returning in the late 1940’s, Carey mostly animated for McKimson, and occasionally for Jones and Freleng, before leaving in 1951. Style: In his Clampett/McCabe days, the way he drew the characters was a dead giveaway to his animation. In McKimson’s cartoons, Carey’s animation was mostly on-model, while on the occasions he animated for Jones and Freleng, his animation was different from the usual animators in their units, as his was more McKimson-styled.

Carr animated on a few cartoons from 1935 and 1936, and also voiced the studio’s second star character, Buddy, on occasion.

One of Freleng’s principal animators in the 1940’s up until the mid-1950’s. Style: He has the characters move their heads a certain way, making him another easy animator to identify.

One of Freleng’s principal animators from the early 1940’s up until the original 1964 closure, barring a brief period from 1951-1954 when he left the studio for a while. He also appears as the movie director in “You Ought to Be in Pictures”. Style: The go-to animator for dancing scenes. He also draws the characters’ faces slightly different than the others.

Everybody knows he later became a director, but Clampett was previously an animator, most notably Daffy Duck’s very first “hoo-hoo”ing in his debut cartoon, “Porky’s Duck Hunt” (1937).

Clopton animated at the studio from 1934 to 1936. His style hasn’t been identified yet, so it’s hard to look at a scene and say it was Clopton’s animation.

Another Warner animator who had three stints, with the first being for Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton and then for Friz Freleng when he returned from MGM up until Cohen left in 1941. He briefly returned to animate on two cartoons for Arthur Davis. In the 1950’s, he animated for McKimson until leaving for the final time in 1955. Style: Cohen can be identified by the way he draws the characters’ muzzles or beaks.

Having worked at nearly every studio during the Golden Age, Culhane’s tenure at Warner Bros. was very brief as he was there for less than a year (1943-1944). Since he was at the studio for such a short time, I’ll instead point out two famous sequences from Disney that were animated by Culhane: the “Heigh-Ho” scene from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) and the characters of Honest John and Gideon from “Pinocchio” (1940).

While he was briefly a co-director with Ben Hardaway, Dalton was a key animator at the studio before and after. He was first an animator for Freleng, and then for McCabe, Tashlin, McKimson, and briefly Davis. Style: Dalton is by far one of the easiest animators to identify due to the way he draws characters’ facial features.

Like Pete Burness, Keith Darling can be accurately described as the “frequently rotating” animator as he constantly shifted between Jones and McKimson in the 1950’s and 1960’s. While Darling wasn’t credited until 1955, his animation on cartoons before that are confirmed via the animator drafts. He was also erroneously credited on 1961’s “What’s My Lion” and 1962’s “Good Noose” even though the drafts for both cartoons show that he actually did not provide animation in either cartoon. Style: To simply put it, the McKimson-like animator of the Jones cartoons, and vice-versa.

From 1944 to 1949, Basil Davidovich was an animator for Clampett, Jones, and Davis. After leaving Warner Bros., Davidovich later became a layout artist at Disney, providing work on films such as “101 Dalmatians” (1961), “The Jungle Book” (1967), and “Robin Hood” (1973). Style: in Jones’ cartoons, Davidovich draws Bugs’ ears shorter than the rest. In Davis’ cartoons, his style is the most Jones-like.

Davis was an animator before and after he was a director. In the early to mid 1940’s, he animated for Tashlin and on McKimson’s first five cartoons. After Davis’ unit was disbanded due to budget problems at the end of the 1940’s, he animated for Freleng until the early 1960’s. Style: usually did the funniest animation in Tashlin’s and Freleng’s cartoons.

No photos found of him, but Jim Davis (not to be confused with the creator of Garfield; August 7, 1901-August 2, 1982) animated on the final 7 Warner cartoons from the Golden Age (1968-1969).

Very underrated animator who animated for Jones in the early 1940’s and for McKimson in the late 1940’s up to 1955. Style: mostly the go-to animator for slapstick scenes.

D’Igalo animated at the studio in the late 1930’s. Like several animators who only animated at Warner Bros. in the 1930’s, not much is known about his style.

No photos of him have been found, but Russ Dyson (January 20, 1906-September 29, 1956) was briefly an animator in McKimson’s unit in 1956. Sadly, he was only there for a year as he was arrested when drunk and committed suicide by hanging himself with a belt in a jail cell. Style: since Dyson’s tenure was so brief, his style is not really defined, but his scenes have been confirmed via animator drafts.

Ellis was at the studio from 1937 to 1948. He first animated for Clampett in his early days (1937-1941), and then for McCabe, Tashlin, and McKimson. Style: very angular body movements.

Everyone also knows that Freleng later became a director, but before that he was the head animator on the cartoons in the Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising era (1930-1933).

Ed Friedman animated on all three of Rudy Larriva’s Daffy and Speedy cartoons.

Next Saturday: Animators whose last names began with G-L