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Ed Benedict (August 23, 1912 – August 28, 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 gam ...
and layout artist. He is best known for his work with Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he helped design Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, and Reddy on
Ruff and Reddy ''The Ruff and Reddy Show'' (also known as ''Ruff and Reddy'') is an American NBC Saturday morning animated television series, is one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons, and the first series made by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series fo ...
.


Career

Benedict began his animation career at Walt Disney Studios in 1930, and ultimately left three years later to work at
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
as an animator on Walter Lantz Productions'
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 19 ...
shorts. (Coincidentally, Oswald was created by Walt Disney Studios for Universal). Benedict briefly returned to Disney in the 1940s, receiving his only Disney credit on the animated film '' Make Mine Music''. He then spent several years creating animation for television commercials for Paul Fennell's Cartoon Films (The Former Ub Iwerks Studio), which is the first notable example of Benedict using the modernized sleek character designs he would later use. In 1952, Benedict was contacted by Tex Avery, who had worked with him at Universal. Avery invited Benedict to work on Avery's animation unit at MGM. Benedict performed lead animation and layout duties for Avery, and later for Michael Lah after Avery's departure from the studio. His work can be seen in ''
Dixieland Droopy ''Dixieland Droopy'' is a 1954 animated short subject in the ''Droopy'' series, directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The soundtrack version of this cartoon without dialogue as part of '' Tom and Jerry and ...
'', ''
The First Bad Man ''The First Bad Man'' is an American animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery, and features narration by singing cowboy Tex Ritter. It was released by MGM on September 30, 1955. Plot An unnamed narrator tells a story about the history of Texas set o ...
'', and ''Deputy Droopy''. In the late 1950s, Benedict was recruited by former MGM animators William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...
to provide character designs for their new animated television series, '' The Ruff & Reddy Show'', at
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 ...
. He eventually became the primary character designer at Hanna-Barbera, designing Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, the various characters on '' The Flintstones'',
Magilla Gorilla Magilla Gorilla is a fictional gorilla and the star of ''The Magilla Gorilla Show'' by Hanna-Barbera that aired from 1963 to 1965. Character description Magilla Gorilla (voiced by Allan Melvin) is a fun-loving yet trouble-prone anthropomorphic go ...
, and many others. Benedict left Hanna-Barbera in the late 1960s, but continued providing freelance work until his retirement in the early 1970s. Despite this, he later served as a character designer on the What a Cartoon! short '' Dino: Stay Out!'' and as one of the advisors on
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
's original series '' Johnny Bravo'' in 1997, specifically a background consultant upon request by creator Van Partible whom was a huge fan of his work. He is cited as a major inspiration by animator John Kricfalusi, among others. Benedict died in his sleep at his home in Auburn, California on August 28, 2006.


Awards

* Winsor McCay Award, 1994


References


External links

*
Overview of Ed Benedict's career by animator John Kricfalusi
">John Kricfalusi">Overview of Ed Benedict's career by animator John Kricfalusi
1912 births 2006 deaths Animators from California Hanna-Barbera people People from East Cleveland, Ohio Walt Disney Animation Studios people Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people {{US-animator-stub