Bernard "Berny" Wolf (July 18, 1911 – September 7, 2006) was an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

. Wolf was born in New York City. His career in animation started in 1927, when he began work as an inker on

Charles Mintz Charles Bear Mintz (November 5, 1889 – December 30, 1939)''Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American film producer and distributor who assumed control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pict ...

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Evening Journal'', whose owne ...

silent shorts as an Inker along with

Dave Tendlar David Benjamin Tendlar (August 8, 1909 – September 9, 1993) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Tendlar was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 8, 1909. He joined Fleische ...

. The shorts were being distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

at the time. He moved to Inkwell Studios shortly afterwards (a predecessor to

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of ...

, where he was hired by

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he becam ...

as an Inbetweener on

Koko the Clown Koko the Clown is an animated character created by Max Fleischer. He first appeared as the main protagonist in '' Out of the Inkwell'' (1918-1929), a major animated series of the silent era. Throughout the series, he goes on many adventures with ...

in the silent The Inkwell Imps series. In 1931 he was promoted to the position of Animator and worked with Seymour Kneitel on the

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleisc ...

cartoons. While much credit has been given to Grim Natwick for her creation, her transformation into the cute cartoon girl was due to the work of Berny Wolf,

Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel (March 16, 1908 – July 30, 1964) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Early years Kneitel was born in New York City where he graduated from P.S. 10 in Ma ...

Roland Crandall Roland Dimon "Doc" Crandall (August 29, 1892 - August 14, 1972) was an American animator. He is best known for his work at Fleischer Studio, especially on the Betty Boop version of ''Snow White'' and as lead animator with Seymour Kneitel on the f ...

, and Willard Bowsky, who continued working with her after Natwick left in early February 1931 to direct for Ub Iwerks on the west coast.Pointer, Ray(2016). "The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer", McFarland & Co. Publischers. Pg 116 It was at Fleischer Studios that he met

Shamus Culhane James H. "Shamus" Culhane (November 12, 1908 – February 2, 1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation. Career Shamus Culhane worked for a number of ...

and

Al Eugster Alfred Julius Eugster (February 11, 1909 – January 1, 1997) was an American animator, writer, and film director. He worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Iwerks Studio, Walt Disney Productions, a ...

, with whom he would maintain a long personal and professional relationship. The three would leave Fleischer to work briefly for

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...

, where they worked alongside

Grim Natwick Myron "Grim" Natwick (' Nordveig; August 16, 1890 – October 7, 1990) was an American artist, animator, and film director. Natwick is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studios' most popular character, Betty Boop. Background Born in Wis ...

. In 1938, Wolf, Eugster and Culhane moved to Walt Disney Studios. After working briefly in the Shorts Department, Wolf moved on to features. He was one of the animators of ''Pinocchio'' and ''Fantasia''. His final work at Disney was on ''Dumbo''. Wolf left Disney after the 1941 strike. He briefly provided uncredited work for

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...

at MGM before being drafted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Wolf was assigned to the

First Motion Picture Unit The 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit), originally known as the First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, was the primary film production unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, and was the first military unit mad ...

, a group of former Hollywood personnel who created short educational films for the American military. After the war, Wolf worked briefly for animator Rudolph Ising before forming his own company, Animedia Inc. Animedia produced animation for advertising and commercial films. The company also designed some of the costumes used at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

, as well as animating segments for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

.'' Wolf folded Animedia in the 1970s in order to return to animation full-time. He produced several animated features for

Hanna Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

, including 1987's ''The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones''. He was Producer of ''Bobby's World'' for Film Roman, and was an uncredited Animator on ''Tom and Jerry: The Movie''. He retired from animation in the 1990s, but continued to provide freelance animation pre-production for Fred Wolf Films, commercial design, including developing mascots for the MGM Grand Hotel in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. Wolf died in 2006 at the age of 95.

Filmography

References

Obituary from the LA Times

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Bernard 1911 births 2006 deaths Animators from New York (state) Hanna-Barbera people Fleischer Studios people Walt Disney Animation Studios people Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people First Motion Picture Unit personnel