Eli Noyes (born October 18, 1942 in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

) is 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 ...

most noted for his

stop animation Stop motion is an animation, 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 ...

work using clay and sand.

Early life

Eliot Fette Noyes, Jr. was born the son of noted " Harvard Five" architect

Eliot Noyes Eliot Fette Noyes (August 12, 1910 – July 18, 1977) was an American architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most notably the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California ...

and his wife, interior designer Molly Duncan Weed Noyes. He is the brother of Fred Noyes. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1964.

Career

In 1964, Noyes created the animated film ''Clay'' or ''Origin of the Species'' which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

. The film is considered one of the earliest examples of clay stop-animation and is cited by

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...

creators, Peter Lord and David Sproxton as a large influence on their work. Noyes is also noted for his creation of the Sand Alphabet 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) a ...

'' and the Nickelodeon children's television series, ''

Eureeka's Castle ''Eureeka's Castle'' is an American children's television series created by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. It originally aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block from September 4, 1989 to November 10, 1991. The program featured various puppet char ...

''. In 2003, Noyes cofounded the animation production studio Alligator Planet with

Ralph Guggenheim Ralph Guggenheim (born June 6, 1951) is an American video graphics designer and film producer. He won a Producers Guild of America Award in 1995 for his contributions to the film ''Toy Story''. Biography He was born in New Rochelle, New York to ...

and Alan Buder. Noyes directed animation sequences for two films which were shortlisted for the 2009

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

, ''

Under Our Skin ''Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease'' is a 2008 film advocating for the existence of "chronic Lyme disease", a controversial and unrecognized diagnosis. The film was directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson, who became interested in the s ...

'' and ''

The Most Dangerous Man in America ''The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'' is a 2009 documentary film directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. The film follows Daniel Ellsberg and explores the events leading up to the 1971 publication o ...

'', a final nominee.

Filmography

*
Clay (or the Origin of Species)
' (1964) ''Clay (or the Origin of Species)'' on Internet Archive
/ref> * ''Alphabet'' (1966) * ''The Hat'' (1969) * ''He-Man and She-Bar'' (1972) * ''Worm Dances'' (1973) * ''

'' ("Sand Letters" shorts) (1974–1991) (TV series) *
Sandman
' (1975) (TV special) * ''Bad Dog'' (1976) * ''Peanut Butter & Jelly'' (1976) * '' Special Delivery'' (show open) (1980) (TV series) * MTV (network ID's) (1981–1983) (TV series) * ''

Braingames ''Braingames'' is an American educational program shown on HBO in the mid-1980s. It was a half-hour program consisting of brain-teasing animated skits (either stop-motion or cartoon) designed to make the viewers think. It was HBO's first attempt ...

'' (1983–1985) (TV series) *

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

(network ID's) (1985–1989) (TV series) *

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

(launch ID's) (1986) (TV series) * ''The Fable of He and She'' (1988) * ''

'' (1989–1994) (TV series) * ''

Liquid Television ''Liquid Television'' was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and '' Æon Flux''. The bulk of ''Liquid ...

'' (1991–1994) (TV series) *

Cheerios Cheerios is a brand of cereal manufactured by General Mills in the United States, consisting of pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Cheerios is marketed by Cereal Partners under the ...

(commercial) (1991) (TV) * ''

Adventures in Wonderland ''Adventures in Wonderland'' is a 1992–1995 American live-action/ puppet musical television series based on the novels ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871) by Lewis Carroll as well as the 1951 ani ...

'' (main title) (1991) (TV series) *

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

(commercial) (1992) (TV) * CIGNA (commercial) (1992) (TV) *

Bubble Yum Bubble Yum is a brand of bubble gum marketed by The Hershey Company. Introduced in 1975 by Life Savers, the bubble gum was the first soft bubble gum created. It was created by a homemaker in Fisk, Missouri, who named it "rubber bubblegum". She ga ...

(commercial) (1994) (TV)

References

External links

Alligator Planet
* * *
Clay or The Origin of Species
' on filmmaker's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel *
Sandman
' on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noyes, Eli 1942 births Living people American animators American animated film directors American animated film producers Stop motion animators Clay animators American film producers American film directors English-language film directors Place of birth missing (living people) Harvard University alumni