Eli Noyes (born October 18, 1942 in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a 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 (although the county seat ...

) 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 games ...

most noted for his stop animation 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 highe ...

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 ce ...

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 ...

'' 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 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'' and '' The Most Dangerous Man in America'', 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'' (1983–1985) (TV series) *

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

(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. ET/ PT, Friday nights fr ...

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

'' (1989–1994) (TV series) * '' Liquid Television'' (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 a ...

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

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational 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 restaurant ch ...

(commercial) (1992) (TV) *

CIGNA Cigna is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Its insurance subsidiaries are major providers of medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and se ...

(commercial) (1992) (TV) * Bubble Yum (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 sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

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