Chuck Jones
(1912-2002)

Director and creator resposible for many classic cartoons and characters: The Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe LePew, Michigan J. Frog, Marvin Martian and Charlie Dog are but a few of his creations. Jones contributed significantly to the personality development of Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. He won Oscars for "For Scentimental Reasons" (1949), "So Much For So Little" (1949), and "The Dot and the Line" (1965). Chuck worked with Dr Seuss to direct and animate one of the greatest holiday classics of all time, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", which was first aired in 1966, and has been aired every year since then. Among the many honors that Chuck received during his career, he received a Lifetime Acheivement Award at the Ocsars in 1996, which was presented by Robin Williams.

Virgil Ross
(1913 - 1996)

During Ross's 30 years with Warner Bros., he was responsible for animating 25-30 feet of film each week, on time and under budget! At his desk in the infamous Termite Terrace, Ross cavorted with many of the most respected American animators, including Bob Clampett , Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones. Although each animator has his own signature strength, Ross's contribution to the characters was expression. His animation is said to be among the finest personality animation in the world, evident in his characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Tweety and Sylvester and many more. In 1964, left Warner Bros. to work for Filmation Studios and later Hanna-Barbera.

Bob McKimson
(1910 - 1977)

Robert "Bob" McKimson, Sr. was an animator best known for his work on the Looney Tunes series of cartoons 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 1946, McKimson was promoted to director, a position he shared with Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones until the closing of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in 1964. During this period, McKimson created the character Foghorn Leghorn and directed every cartoon starring the character, every Hippety Hopper/Sylvester pairing, and every Tasmanian Devil short.

Friz Freleng
(1906-1995)

Animator and director of classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Freleng created many characters including Porky Pig, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and the Pink Panther. He was instrumental in developing Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Speedy Gonzoles, and the Goofy Gophers. He won Oscars for "Tweetie Pie" (1947), "Knighty Knight Bugs" (1958), "The Pink Panter" and more.

Walt Disney
(1900-1966)

Perhaps the most important figure in twentieth century animation. Creator of Oswald Rabit and Mickey Mouse in the late 1920's. He later made significant contributions to the development of sound cartoons, personality animation, color, the multi-plane camera, and feature length animation.

Marc Davis
(1913 - 2000)

Mr. Davis began working with Disney in 1935, during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He developed and animated many of the best-remembered characters, including Bambi, Thumper, and Cruella DeVil. He played a significant role in the development of the story and characters for many "E-Ticket" rides, including the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean. He formally retired in 1978, but remained active with the development at attractions at EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland. He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1989. He died on 12 January 2000, after a brief illness.

Milt Kahl
(1909 - 1987)

Like the other "nine old men," Mr. Kahl was an animator and started at Disney in 1934. He was a Directing Animator for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as is recalled as one of the finest animators ever to work with Disney. Mr. Kahl died two years before being recognized as a Disney Legend in 1989.

Eric Larson
(1905 - 1988)

Mr. Larson began at Disney in 1933, animating most of the Disney classics including Snow White..., and Cinderella. His good humor and expertise made him not only an executive in the training program for new animators in the 1970's, he was also a well-loved mentor. His death in 1988 was a tremendous loss to all, and he was recognized as a Disney Legend in 1989.

Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman
(1909 - 1985)

Mr. Reitherman joined Disney in 1935, as an animator and director. He is best remembered as a director for Sleeping Beauty, and as the director fully in charge of The Sword in the Stone. He directed and produced all of Disney's animated features after the death of Walt Disney, until Mr. Reitherman retired in 1980. He died in May 1985, and was recognized as a Disney Legend in 1989.

Jay Ward
(1920-1989)

Jay Ward was the head of Jay Ward Productions. Jay Ward was neither an animator nor a writer, though he did collaborate with Bill Scott in the writing of a few early episodes before the other writers were hired. Best known for • Bullwinkle • Cap'n Crunch • Crusader Rabbit • Dell Comics • Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties • Fractured Fairy Tales • George of the Jungle • Gold Key Comics • Hoppity Hooper • Peabody's Improbable History • Rocky & Bullwinkle • Super Chicken

William Hanna
(1911-2001)

Co-directing duo for seventeen years at MGM, where they produced the multi-Academy Award-winning Tom and Jerry series. Beginning in 1957, they revolutionized animation for television, forming their own company and creating Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Scooby Doo, and many many others.

Charles M. Schulz
(1922-2000)

The most widely syndicated cartoonist in history, with his work appearing in over 2,300 newspapers. He has published more than 1,400 books, won Peabody and Emmy awards for his animated specials, and is responsible for the most-produced musical in the American theatre, entitled "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown."

Jim Davis
(1945 - )

Jim Davis was raised on a small farm in Indiana. As on most farms, the barnyard had its share of stray cats -- about 25 at one time, by Jim's estimation. Jim studied the comics pages very closely and noticed there were a lot of successful strips about dogs, but none about cats. He combined his wry wit with the art skills he had honed since childhood, and Garfield, a fat, lazy, lasagna-loving, cynical cat, was born. Jim says Garfield is a composite of all the cats he remembered from his childhood, rolled into one feisty orange fur ball. Garfield was named after Jim's cantankerous grandfather, James Garfield Davis. The strip debuted on June 19, 1978, in 41 U.S. newspapers. Today, Garfield is read in 2,600 newspapers by 263 million readers around the globe. Jim Davis has had many successes with Garfield, including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program and induction into the Licensing Hall of Fame (1998), but his most prized awards are from his peers in the National Cartoonists Society: Best Humor Strip (1981 and 1985), the Elzie Segar Award (1990) and the coveted Reuben Award (1990) for overall cartooning.

Gene Deitch
(1924 - )

Gene Deitch is an Oscar-winning animation film director and scenarist born in August 8th, 1924. In 1946 he started as an apprentice in the then cutting edge Hollywood animation studio, UPA, working as an assistant Production Designer on the first Mister Magoo cartoons for Columbia Pictures. Within five years he rose to be Creative Director of UPA's New York studio, where among his many gold-medal winning films were the famous Bert & Harry Piels beer commercials. His TV commercials were the first ever shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art. In 1956 CBS purchased the Terrytoons animation studio and named Gene Deitch as its Creative Director. Under his supervision and direction, the studio produced 18 CinemaScope cartoons per year for 20th Century-Fox, and won its very first Oscar nomination. He personally created and directed the TOM TERRIFIC series for the CBS nationwide Captain Kangaroo show which was the very first animated serial for network television. In 1958 he set up his own studio in New York, Gene Deitch Associates, Inc. Of special note was his adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Gene Deitch recently won the Winsor McCay Award in recognition for his lifetime of contributions towards animation.

Winsor McCay
(1867-1934)

Known as the Father of Animation, Windsor McCay pioneered the fundamental process of animation by using original drawings to create the illusion of motion. His rare Gertie The Dinosaur, (circa 1918) drawings were drawn with ink on rice paper, and still exist in special museum and private collections. This American cartoonist and illustrator was very popular in his day, and also introduced the milestone films Little Nemo and The Sinking of the Lusitania. Historically, McCay is in a league only with himself.

Otto Messmer
(1892-1983)

Creator and animator of Felix the Cat, the first animated cartoon personality to become a star. Messmer also made the first animated television commercial in 1941and pioneered the animated billboard for the Douglas Leigh Corporation.

Grim Natwick
(1890-1990)

He created the character of Betty Boop, probably the only female animated cartoon character to achieve world-wide popularity. When he came to Disney's for the sole purpose of helping to animate the lead character in the world's first feature cartoon, he was well over twice the age of most of his colleagues, and left the studio after Snow White, joining his former boss Max Fleischer for his first feature Gulliver's Travels. He later worked for UPA Studios. His work on the character of Snow White, however, will always remain the highlight of his long career and one of the cornerstones of that films's greatness and lasting power for more than sixty years.

Matt Groening
(1954-)

Best known as creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning series, THE SIMPSONS, Groening made television history by bringing animation back to prime time and creating an immortal nuclear family. Groening is also well known for his weekly "Life in Hell" cartoon strip, an irreverent portrayal of life's daily preoccupations that debuted in 1977 and currently appears in more than 200 newspapers around the world.

In addition to producing his weekly strip, maintaining the production demands of THE SIMPSONS, overseeing all aspects of Simpsons licensing and merchandising, as well as serving as publisher of Bongo Comics Group, Groening is the creator and executive producer of the FOX series FUTURAMA, an animated look into the 30th century. FUTURAMA debuted in March 1999.

John Kricfalusi has taken animated cartoons seriously all his life. Throughout elementary school he drew Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. characters and wrote stories about them. He attended Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, but really learned about animation by studying Warner Bros. cartoons, particularly the films of Bob Clampett. Kricfalusi created the hit cartoon series The Ren and Stimpy Show on Nickelodeon through his animation studio Spumco.

Stan Lee
(1922- )

Born Stanley Lieber in New York in 1922, Stan Lee entered the comic book scene at seventeen, as assistant editor for the Timely comics group. In 1942, he was promoted to editor. Stan Lee wrote numerous