Film & TV / Visual art
Bob Clampett
1913–1984 · animator, director, puppeteer
Looney Tunes director and creator of Beany and Cecil, who died in Detroit in 1984 while touring to promote his cartoons on home video.
- Born
San Diego, California- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 70- Birth name
- Robert Emerson Clampett
- Detroit years
- 1984
- Field
- Film & TV, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Bob Clampett was born in San Diego in 1913 and grew up near Hollywood, fascinated by animation and puppets from childhood. He left high school in 1931 to join the studio making Warner Bros.' new Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts and was promoted to director in 1937. In fifteen years at the studio he directed 84 cartoons, many now considered classics for their wild energy, and he helped shape Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and the first Tweety. On television he created the puppet show Time for Beany and its animated successor Beany and Cecil. His link to Detroit is the end of his story: in the spring of 1984, while traveling the country to promote the home-video release of the Beany and Cecil cartoons, he suffered a heart attack and died in Detroit on May 2, six days before his 71st birthday.
Highlights
- Directed 84 Warner Bros. cartoons (1937–1946)
- Early shaper of Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Tweety
- Created Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil
- Died in Detroit on a 1984 promotional tour