Ray Abrams (April 19, 1906 — June 4, 1981) 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

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. Abrams worked on several major animations during the 1930s. He began his career as an animator at the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to a ...

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios. The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...

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 ...

. Abrams was born in 1906 and was raised on a property in Salt Lake City, Utah. Abrams began his career at Walt Disney Productions in the late 1920s where he worked as an animator for the Alice Comedies and Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, then migrating to Charles Mintz's studio along with most of Disney's former staff before he arrived at Walter Lantz Productions in 1930. After several years he subsequently moved to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1937 and mainly worked on shorts under the direction of Tex Avery. In 1950 he went back to Lantz and in 1965 he moved to Hanna-Barbera he remained there until his death in 1981 Between 1930 and 1955, he worked in the studio of Walter Lantz Productions, mainly for "

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lan ...

" and "

Chilly Willy Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character ...

Filmography

Abrams is considered to work on some of the greatest cartoons of the Golden Age of American Animation: *

The Woody Woodpecker Show ''The Woody Woodpecker Show'' is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspe ...

(Animator–1957) *

Blitz Wolf ''Blitz Wolf'' is a 1942 American animated propaganda short film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A parody of the Three Little Pigs told via a World War II perspective, the short was directed by Tex Avery (in his first cartoon fo ...

(animator–1942) *

King-Size Canary ''King-Size Canary'' is an animated cartoon short that debuted in movie theaters in 1947. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Tex Avery. The canary in this short was a primary inspiration for the design of Maurice, a character ...

(animator–1947) * The Stone Age (animator–1931)

Death

At the age of 75 he died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1981.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Ray Animators from Utah American animated film directors 1906 births 1981 deaths Walter Lantz Productions people Hanna-Barbera people Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people Walt Disney Animation Studios people