George Nicholas 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 ...

, known for his work at Disney and

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 ...

Biography

Nicholas was born in Vermilion, Ohio, and moved to Los Angeles with his parents when he was 10. His earliest job as a professional animator was working for Walter Lantz in 1932. In 2016, the founder of the

Society for Animation Studies The Society for Animation Studies (SAS) is an international learned society dedicated to the study of animation history and theory. It was founded by Harvey Deneroff in 1987. As of 2022 its president is Chris Pallant.Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

and Pluto short films. Among his later Disney credits were '' Lady and the Tramp'', '' Cinderella'', and '' One Hundred and One Dalmatians''. For Hanna-Barbera, he worked on '' The Flintstones'' TV series and the feature film ''

The Man Called Flintstone ''The Man Called Flintstone'' is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The second film by Hanna-Barbera following ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' (1964), it was dir ...

'', as well as The Jetsons TV series. He worked with

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

on cartoon adaptations of stories from

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

by Rudyard Kipling, including '' Rikki Tikki Tavi'' and '' The White Seal''. He also worked on ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' for director and fellow animator Richard Williams, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1972. He also worked on an animated TV special based on Johnny Hart's comic strip '' B.C.'', called ''B.C.: The First Thanksgiving'' and another TV special based on Hart's '' The Wizard of Id''. He died in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, on November 23, 1996, at the age of 85. When Nicholas died, he left an extensive collection of his own animation work, as well as that of other prominent animators such as Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery and Milt Kahl, which he bequeathed to

Edinboro University PennWest Edinboro is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University, a multi-campus public university in Pennsylvania. Located in the town of Edinboro, the campus has more than 4,600 enrolled students. History Edinboro University was founded ...

. Working with the Erie Art Museum, his daughter Donna Nicholas organized a traveling exhibition of the best these works, called ''From Mickey to the Grinch: Art of the Animated Film''. Those works were then auctioned off to fund a memorial scholarship in his memory.

References

External links

* Walt Disney Animation Studios people Hanna-Barbera people 1910s births 1996 deaths Animators from Ohio People from Vermilion, Ohio {{US-animator-stub