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Robert "Bob" McKimson, Sr. (October 13, 1910—September 29, 1977) was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros.

[edit] Biography

McKimson was born in Denver, Colorado.

After ten years of art education, he went to work for the Romer Grey Studio located in Alta Dena California, a would-be animation shop started by the son of Western author Zane Grey, and financed by Zane Grey's wife. Several cartoons were animated at the Romer Grey Studio, but none were ever released. Most never made it to camera. From there he went to work for Walt Disney. He stayed with Disney's studio for two years before moving to that of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. At that time, he had an accident that gave him a concussion. As a result, he was able to visualise better, thus increasing his production and animation. In 1945, McKimson was promoted to director, replacing Frank Tashlin. In 1946 when Bob Clampett left, McKimson (along with Warren Foster) moved to Clampett's unit and Art Davis was given McKimson's old unit. He shared this position with Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones from 1949 until 1962, when several other animators had brief directorial stints just before the studio closed over a period from 1963-65. During this period, McKimson created the characters Foghorn Leghorn and Tasmanian Devil, and directed every Hippety Hopper/Sylvester pairing. He also created Speedy Gonzales for the 1953 short Cat-Tails For Two. McKimson drew the definitive design for Bugs Bunny in 1943, and had a unique version of it from 1946 through 1950. Art Davis borrowed it for the rabbit's cameo in The Goofy Gophers and his own Bugs' cartoon. McKimson also had his own design of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.

A still from the 1951 Hippety Hopper/Sylvester short Pop 'Im Pop.

His first directorial work, Daffy Doodles (at least his first released directorial work; he cut his directorial teeth on a Seaman Hook wartime cartoon for military audiences in 1944), wherein Daffy draws moustaches on all the pre-drawn (and even some natural) faces in his sight, was released in early April 1946.

In 1953, the Warner Bros. cartoon studio laid off most of its staff for six months. After the studio reopened, Freleng and Jones were able to quickly re-assemble their respective units, but McKimson lost every member of his previous team, apart from Pierce and background painter Dick Thomas. At the start of this period, McKimson animated several of his shorts himself. By the end of the '50s, he maintained a solid unit of animators, consisting of Warren Batchelder, Ted Bonnicksen, and George Grandpre, as well as help from Tom Ray, Russ Dyson, and Keith Darling at various points.

McKimson soldiered on at Warner's cartoon studio as it began to lose people, including Jones, in 1962. Over this time, he directed his share of shorts and worked on the feature The Incredible Mr. Limpet. After the studio closed, he joined DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, co-owned by his old associate Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie, who had been a producer at the Warners studio. At DePatie-Freleng, McKimson directed several The Inspector shorts and worked on some of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies contracted out to DePatie-Freleng by Warner Bros. In 1967, Warners opened its studio again; McKimson went back to Warners in 1968 and stayed until the studio finally shut down for absolute good in 1969. His last Warner Bros. cartoon was Injun Trouble with Cool Cat. Injun Trouble was also the last of the original Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon to be produced before the Warner Bros. cartoon studio was closed. McKimson was the one person to be at the studio from the start of the Looney Tunes series through its finish in 1969...first as an animator and then as a director.

In 1972, he went back to DePatie-Freleng to direct The Pink Panther Show shorts, among their other series.

In his personal life, McKimson was a skilled horseman and polo player, a dedicated bowler, and a master Mason.

McKimson died in 1977 from a massive heart attack while eating lunch with Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie.

He had two brothers — Charles McKimson and Tom McKimson — who also worked as animators.

[edit] External links

• Robert McKimson at the Internet Movie Database