Gene Deitch
Born	Eugene Merril Deitch August 8, 1924 (1924-08-08) (age 85) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Illustrator, Animator, Film Director
Spouse(s)	Zdenka Deitch (m.1964)

Eugene Merril "Gene" Deitch (born August 8, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois)^[1] is an American Academy-Award winning illustrator, animator and film director. He has been based in Prague, capital of Czechoslovakia and the present-day Czech Republic, since 1959.

From 1945 to 1951 Deitch was primary graphics contributor, and eventually art director, for The Record Changer, a jazz magazine. He has produced animated cartoons for studios such as UPA/Columbia Pictures, Terrytoons/20th Century Fox (Tom Terrific^[2]), MGM (Tom and Jerry) and Paramount Pictures (Nudnik). He directed, with producer William L. Snyder, a series of made for TV shorts of Krazy Kat for King Features Television from 1962 to 1964. The Bluffers, which was based on one of Deitch's ideas, was also co-produced by him. He directed the 1966 film Alice of Wonderland in Paris.^[3]

Since 1968, Deitch has been the leading animation director for the Connecticut organization Weston Woods/Scholastic, adapting children's picture books. His studio is located in Prague near the Barrandov studios where many major films were recorded. In 2003, he was awarded the "Annie" by ASIFA Hollywood for a lifetime contribution to the art of animation.^[4] Deitch married his present wife Zdenka in 1964

Deitch married his wife Zdenka in 1960. His sons Kim Deitch and Simon Deitch were prominent artists in the underground comix movement. Another son, Seth Deitch, writes fiction, mostly for underground publications.

Deitch lives with his wife in Prague, where he works as an independent animation scenarist/director. He wrote a memoir, For the Love of Prague, based on the experience of being "the only free American in Prague during 30 years of Communism."

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• Gene Deitch official site
• "How to succeed in animation" - a long article by Gene Deitch
• Gene Deitch at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography of Gene Deitch from the Cartoon Hall of Fame of ASIFA-Hollywood

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