The Looney Tunes Animators from G to L

The effects animator at Warner Bros. in the 1930’s and the 1940’s.

In the mid to late 1940’s, Gould was an animator for Bob Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Robert McKimson. Style: Did some very wild animation that is slightly tamer than fellow animator Rod Scribner.

George Grandpre was one of McKimson’s principal animators in his late 1950’s to early 1960’s unit and also animated on a few DePatie-Freleng produced Looney Tunes released in 1966. Style: makes some good use out of limited animation.

Was an animator for Friz Freleng in the early 1960’s. Since he wasn’t a prolific animator, not much is known about his style. However, when I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” my freshman year in high school, I immediately thought of Halpern due to his name being similar to Harper Lee.

One of the first animators on the Looney Tunes, Hamilton animated on the majority of the Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising cartoons from the early days. He briefly returned at the end of the 1930’s and was given credit on two of Tex Avery’s cartoons, “A Day at the Zoo” and “Detouring America”.

One of the few animators to be a woman, Harding animated on all of the cartoons from the Seven Arts era. She was previously one of the principal animators at Walter Lantz (the studio that created Woody Woodpecker).

One of the all-time greatest animators at Warner Bros, Harris was the top animator in Chuck Jones’ unit throughout his entire stint. He was also an auto buff, as he owned a total of 120 cars in his lifetime, albeit not all at once. Style: Very elegant, most of the best scenes in the Jones cartoons were often done by him.

One of the absolute best animators from the entire Golden Age, Emery Hawkins was a show-stealer with his animation, especially when he animated for Arthur Davis. He also animated for McKimson, and occasionally for Jones and Freleng. Style: Very fluid in movement, and excellent at facial expressions.

Everyone’s favorite director first started out as an animator, mostly for Avery and Clampett. Style: His animation had a lot of personality put into it.

Formerly a Disney animator, Volus Jones animated on all of the Warner cartoons directed by Alex Lovy in the late 1960’s. Style: very on-model and the best of the animators from the Seven Arts era.

Before his brief directorial stint at Warner Bros, King was an animator. As with several animators who only animated at Warner Bros. in the late 1930’s, it’s hard to determine his style.

The Russian-born Anatolle Kirsanoff animated on Frank Tashlin’s last three cartoons and for McKimson on his first cartoons up until 1948’s “Hot Cross Bunny”. Like Fred Abranz, Kirsanoff was always inexplicably uncredited, with his scenes being identified through animator drafts. Style: Slight cross between Manny Gould and Abranz

Larriva (seen here animating a scene from 1939’s “The Good Egg”) animated for Jones in his early days up until 1943. Style: Very Disney-like, supporting the fact that Jones’ early period was considered “Disney-esque”.

Leonardi was an assistant animator in the late 1950’s and a full-fledged animator in Freleng’s unit in the early 1960’s. After the original studio closed, Leonardi became a central employee at DePatie-Freleng, often doing designs of opening titles for their original characters and drawing characters’ model sheets. Like Lee Halpern, though, not much is known about his style of animation.

One of Jones’ principal animators in the 1950’s. Style: characters are scragglier than the other animators and is particularly good at drawing feet.

The effects animator for Warner Bros. in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Next week: animators from M to R.