George Garnett Dunning (November 17, 1920 – February 15, 1979) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

filmmaker and animator. He is known for animating and directing the 1968 film inspired by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, '' Yellow Submarine''.

Biography

Dunning was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and studied in at the Ontario College of Art, and soon found freelance work as an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. Dunning joined the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

in 1943, where he worked with

Norman McLaren William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a caseb ...

Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a casebook in film making''. University of California Press, 1972. 267-8. Print. and contributed to several episodes of the ''Chants populaires'' series. From 1944 to 1947 Dunning created many original short films and developed his skills animating articulated, painted, metal cut-outs. In 1948, he spent a year working for

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under the mentorship of Czech-born animator

Berthold Bartosch Berthold Bartosch (29 December 1893 – 13 November 1968) was a film-maker, born in Polaun, in the Bohemia region of Austria-Hungary (now part of the Czech Republic). Work with Lotte Reiniger He moved to Berlin in 1920 and collaborated with Lo ...

. Then in 1949, he and fellow NFB grad Jim McKay created one of Toronto's first animation studios, Graphic Associates, where he produced commercials and gave

Michael Snow Michael Snow (born December 10, 1928) is a Canadian artist working in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Région Centrale'' (1971), with the f ...

his first job in film. Dunning later moved on to

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working on UPA's ''

The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...

'' and in 1956 he moved to England to manage UPA's new

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office. After the office went under, he hired many of the UPA staff to work for him and his newly established production company, T.V. Cartoons Ltd. (renamed TVC London). Among the animators working for TVC were Richard Williams and

Jimmy Murakami was a Japanese-American-Irish animator and film director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books '' When the Wind Blows'' and ''The Snowman''. He was ...

. By 1961, TVC was producing about one hundred commercials a year. During this time Dunning also managed to make many personal short films noted for their

surrealistic Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

atmosphere and

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themes. ''The Flying Man'' earned him the Annecy Cristal Grand Prix in 1962 while ''The Apple'' won the 1963 BAFTA Award (UK equivalent of an Oscar). Dunning also oversaw the cartoon series ''

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

'' for

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, and this led to his involvement with '' Yellow Submarine'' (1968). Dunning was also responsible for the opening credits of

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

' '' A Shot in the Dark'', along with a series of shorts and inserts including "the digger", for the BBC's ''

Vision On ''Vision On'' was a British children's television programme, shown on BBC1 from 1964 to 1976 and designed specifically for children with hearing impairment. Concept and production ''Vision On'' was conceived and developed by BBC producers Urs ...

'' series for children. About the time of his death he was working on an animated version of Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'', which was never completed. His company was briefly resurrected in the 1990s, before being merged with Varga Studio.

References

Sources

*Axelrod, Mitchell. ''Beatletoons: The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles''. Wynn, 1999. Lenburg, Jeff. ''Encyclopedia Of Animated Cartoons''. Checkmark Books, 1999. *Lehman, Christopher P. ''American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era: A Study of Social Commentary in Films and Television Programs, 1961-1973''. McFarland, 2007. *TV.com. *The Big Cartoon Database.

External links

Canadian Film Encyclopedia
A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunning, George 1920 births 1979 deaths Artists from Toronto British animated film directors Canadian animated film directors Canadian animated film producers Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Canadian animators Film directors from Toronto National Film Board of Canada people OCAD University alumni Psychedelic artists Canadian surrealist artists Surrealist filmmakers Canadian expatriates in France Canadian expatriates in the United States