Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation features such as ''

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

'', ''

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante. It was written after the success of A ...

'', ''

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

'' and the 1977 cartoon special of ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

''. He is credited on over 1,000 television programs.

Early life

Rankin was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of actors Arthur Rankin and Marian Mansfield. His paternal grandmother was actress

Phyllis Rankin Phyllis McKee Rankin''M'Kee Rankin's House On Fire'', New York Times, April 2, 1891, pg. 8. (August 31, 1874 – November 17, 1934) was a Broadway actress and singer from the 1880s to the 1920s. Early life Phyllis McKee Rankin was the second dau ...

, and his paternal step-grandfather, who adopted his father, was actor

Harry Davenport Harry Davenport may refer to: * Harry Davenport (actor) (1866–1949), American film and stage actor * Harry Davenport (footballer) (1900–1984), Australian footballer * Harry J. Davenport (1902–1977), Democratic Party member of the U.S. House ...

, who played Dr. Meade in the film ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

''.

Career

Rankin began his career as an art director for the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

in the 1940s. In 1955, he and Jules Bass formed the production company Videocraft International to produce television commercials. In 1960, they moved into the area of animation, and changed the name of their company to Rankin/Bass Productions. The two worked closely together for many years, co-directing and producing a wide array of

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated features and cartoons, which Rankin had referred to as "Animagic". In addition to directing, Rankin primarily created the script and sketched the character concepts, which would be made into the wooden puppets by Japanese artists, including head supervisor and partner,

Tadahito Mochinaga was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion animator. Having done many stop motion films/shorts in Japan, he is best known as the animator for Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" productions at his MOM Studio in Tokyo throughout the 1960s. He did this work in asso ...

Maury Laws Maury Laws (December 6, 1923 – March 28, 2019) was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina. Biography In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home st ...

, a musical director for Rankin/Bass, stated that Rankin was inspired by the film ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'', and that Rankin "wanted every detail right" in creating these shorts. Some of the most famous features were the holiday-themed TV specials, such as ''

Willy McBean and his Magic Machine Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

'', ''

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

'', ''

Rudolph's Shiny New Year ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' is a 1976 American-Japanese Christmas and holiday season, Christmas and New Year's stop motion animation, animated television special and a standalone sequel to the 1964 special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV s ...

'', ''

The Year Without a Santa Claus ''The Year Without a Santa Claus'' is a 1974 stop motion animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name. It is narrated by Shirley Booth (her final ...

'', ''

'', '' 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'', and ''

Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, ...

''. Many of these holiday-themed works are now considered "perennial favorites", according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He is also credited with devising the story for many Rankin/Bass productions, including the feature films '' The Daydreamer'' and ''

Mad Monster Party? ''Mad Monster Party?'' is a 1967 American stop-motion animated musical comedy film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions for Embassy Pictures. The film stars the voices of Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett, and Phyllis Diller. It tells the ...

''. In 1977, Rankin and Bass produced a

version Version may refer to: Computing * Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program * VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS Music * Cover version * Dub version * Remix * ''Ve ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's ''

'', for which they were awarded the Peabody Award. The pair also teamed on a wide variety of animated TV series, including '' ThunderCats'' and ''

SilverHawks ''SilverHawks'' is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass Productions and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were ...

''. The pair last teamed on the 1987 TV special based on ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

''. Rankin's last producing credit was on the 1999 animated version of ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

''.

Later life

Rankin met his wife-to-be,

Olga Karlatos Olga Karlatos ( el, Όλγα Καρλάτου; born Olga Vlassopulos, April 20, 1945) is a retired Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer, known primarily for performing in Italian horror cinema. Career Between the end of the sixties and the e ...

, after he cast her in a 1983 television adaption of ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...

'' entitled ''The Sins of Dorian Gray''. They would welcome two sons: Arthur Gardner Rankin III, and his brother Todd Rankin. They settled in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, with Rankin looking to continue to produce stage shows. He noted:

"I could go up to Broadway and run up and down the street and scream, 'I want to write and direct a play!' They'd put me in the nuthouse. If I say that n Bermuda everyone springs into action, 'Oh, please, please.'"

In addition to this, Rankin also taught courses on film and entertainment at Bermuda College.

Death

Rankin died after a brief illness on January 30, 2014, aged 89, in his home at

Harrington Sound Harrington Sound is a large inland body of water in the northeast of the main island of Bermuda. It is surrounded by the main island on all sides, only appearing open to the ocean via a small channel called Flatt's Inlet in the southwest. Much o ...

. Referring to him as an "animation legend", ''The Hollywood Reporter'' noted that during his career, Rankin worked with actors such as

Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent ac ...

Mia Farrow Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...

, Danny Kaye,

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

, Christopher Lee, Walter Matthau,

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

, and

Flip Wilson Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998) was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series ''The F ...

. He was buried in Sunnyside, Bermuda's Holy Trinity Church Cemetery.

Filmography

Rankin was credited on over 1,000 TV shows and films. Some selected works include:

Animated feature films

* ''

Willy McBean and His Magic Machine Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

'' (1965) * ''

'' (1967) * ''

'' (1977) (TV movie) * ''

The Return of the King ''The Return of the King'' is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', following '' The Fellowship of the Ring'' and '' The Two Towers''. It was published in 1955. The story begins in the kingdom of Gondor, ...

'' (1980) (TV movie) * ''

The Last Unicorn ''The Last Unicorn'' is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the wor ...

'' (1982) * ''

The Flight of Dragons ''The Flight of Dragons'' is a 1982 animated fantasy film produced and directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name (1979) by Peter Dickinson with the novel '' The Dragon a ...

'' (1982) (TV movie) * ''

'' (1987) (TV movie) * ''

'' (1999)

Live-action

* ''

King Kong Escapes is a 1967 Kaiju, ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film was a Cinema of Japan, Japanese–Cinema of the United States, American co-production between Toho and Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment ...

'' (1968) * ''

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

'' (1973) * ''

The Last Dinosaur is a 1977 Japanese/American tokusatsu co-production, co-directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Tsununobu Kotani (the latter billed as Tom Kotani),Galbraith IV, Stuart (1994). ''Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films''. McFarland, p. 379 ...

'' (1977) * ''

The Bermuda Depths ''The Bermuda Depths'' is a Japanese / American co-production 1978 fantasy film originally broadcast as a made-for-TV movie written by Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass fame. Special effects and creature elements were handled by Tsuburaya Produc ...

'' (1977) (TV movie) * ''

The Ivory Ape ''The Ivory Ape'' is a 1980 Japanese-American action film co-produced by Rankin/Bass and Tsuburaya Productions. It was filmed in Bermuda, with a Japanese effects crew, and at Tsuburaya Studios in Tokyo. It was first broadcast on ABC on April 18 ...

'' (1980) * '' The Bushido Blade'' (1981)

Animated TV specials

* ''

Return to Oz ''Return to Oz'' is a 1985 dark fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures, co-written and directed by Walter Murch. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. The film is ...

'' (1964) (produced as Videocraft) * ''

'' (1964, Burl Ives) (produced as Videocraft) * ''The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show'' (1965) * ''The Ballad of Smokey the Bear'' (1966, James Cagney) * ''Cricket on the Hearth'' (1967, Danny Thomas) * '' Mouse on the Mayflower'' (1968, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Eddie Albert, Jack Cassidy, Joanie Sommers) * '' The Little Drummer Boy'' (1968, Jose Ferrer, Greer Garson) * ''

'' (1969, Jimmy Durante) * ''

'' (1970, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney) * ''

Here Comes Peter Cottontail ''Here Comes Peter Cottontail'' is a 1971 Easter stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, currently distributed by Universal Television and based on the 1957 novel ''The Easter Bunny That Overslept'' by Priscil ...

'' (1971, Danny Kaye) * '' The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes'' (1972, Danny Kaye) * ''

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

'' (1972 TV special) * ''

'' (1974, Shirley Booth) * '' 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'' (1974, Joey Grey, George Gobel) * ''

Frosty's Winter Wonderland ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' is a 1976 animated Christmas television special and a standalone sequel to the 1969 special '' Frosty the Snowman'', produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft. It is the second television special ...

'' (1976, Andy Griffith) * ''Rudolph’s Shiny New Year'' (1976, Red Skelton) * ''

'' (1979, Buddy Hackett) * ''The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold'' (1981)

Animated series

* '' The New Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1960) * ''

Tales of the Wizard of Oz ''Tales of the Wizard of Oz'' is a 1961 animated television series produced by Crawley Films for Videocraft (later known as Rankin/Bass Productions). This is the second animated series produced by the studio and the first by Rankin/Bass to feature ...

'' (1961) * ''

The King Kong Show , commonly referred to as ''The King Kong Show'', is an Anime-influenced animation, anime-influenced series produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, Videocraft International and Toei Animation. American Broadcasting Company, ABC ran the ser ...

'' (1966–69) * ''

The Tomfoolery Show ''The Tomfoolery Show'' is a 1970-1971 American animated comedy television series, based on the works of Edward Lear which aired on NBC. The animation was done at the Halas and Batchelor Studios in London and Stroud. Though the works of other wri ...

'' (1970–71) * '' The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show'' (1970) * '' The Jackson 5ive'' (1971) * ''

The Osmonds The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed as the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (as the Osmonds). The group ...

'' (1972) * ''

Festival of Family Classics ''Festival of Family Classics'' is a Rankin/Bass animated anthology series that originally aired between 1972 and 1973. The show originally aired in syndication. It was re-aired 1 November 2005 on the Boomerang channel and on 16 June 2011 via the ...

'' (1972–1973) * ''

Kid Power ''Wee Pals'' is an American syndicated comic strip about a diverse group of children, created and produced by Morrie Turner. It was the first comic strip syndicated in the United States to have a cast of diverse ethnicity, dubbed the "Rainbow Ga ...

'' (1972–1973) * '' ThunderCats'' (1985–87) * ''

'' (1986) * ''

TigerSharks ''TigerSharks'' is an American animated children's television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The series involved a team of heroes that could transform into amalgams of human and marine animals and ...

'' (1987)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin, Arthur Jr. 1924 births 2014 deaths American animators American animated film directors American animated film producers Animation screenwriters Rankin/Bass Productions Film producers from New York (state) Artists from New York City Businesspeople from New York City Film directors from New York City 20th-century American businesspeople