It's Oscar time again, which means it's time for us to follow suit with our own final tribute to those we lost in the past year that helped make Saturday mornings a special day for us all. Because many of these people aren't household names, their passing may have gone unnoticed during the year and thus this is our chance to pay tribute to them. Notice any we might have missed? Let us know.
Earl Boen (January 5) – Actor. Played Chef Pierre
Goulash/Mr. Gordon in an episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, as well as
provided additional voices to other episodes; Magneto in Pryde of the X-Men;
Lugg Brother #1 in three episodes of The Pirates of Dark Water; General
Massey in “Liberty and the Littles” and Monostatos in “The Magic Flute”
episodes of ABC Weekend Specials; Rhino in three episodes of Batman:
The Animated Series; Zeus in an episode of Animaniacs; Kilrathi
Commander in an episode of Wing Commander Academy; Principal Blumford on
California Dreams; the President in an episode of The Mask: The
Animated Series; Santa Claus and Earth in episodes of Pinky and the
Brain; the Red Skull (2nd voice) and the Beyonder in Spider-Man:
The Animated Series; Vice President Obsequious in an episode of The
Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries; Nick (aka Santa) in an episode of Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command; and Event Judge in an episode of The Zeta
Project. He also provided voices for The Addams Family (1992), Skeleton
Warriors and What-A-Mess.
Adam Rich (January 8) – Actor. Played Presto the
Magician in the animated adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons.
Lin Larsen (January 10) – Animator and writer. He did
storyboards for The Super 6, Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series, The Smurfs
(1981), Denver the Last Dinosaur, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,
Bobby’s World, and Garfield and Friends (where he also did models);
layouts for The Super 6, The Atom Ant Show, The Secret Squirrel Show, Mighty
Heroes, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Doctor Dolittle (1970),
The Pink Panther Show, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, “The Banana
Splits in Hocus Pocus Park” episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, The
Roman Holidays, Inch High Private Eye, Hong Kong Phooey, Devlin, The New Tom
& Jerry Show, The Mumbly Cartoon Show, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show,
Fangface, Plastic Man, 2 episodes of ABC Weekend Specials, Heathcliff
(1980), The Biskitts, Snorks, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Mother Goose and
Grimm, Garfield and Friends and supervised The Loud House; and did
models for The Little Wizards.
Susan Burke (January 11) – Animation checker. She
worked on the “P.J. Funnybunny” episode of ABC Weekend Specials, Static
Shock, Ozzy & Drix, Xiaolin Showdown, ¡Mucha Lucha!, Duck Dodgers, The
Batman and its film, Loonatics Unleashed, What’s New Scooby-Doo?, Shaggy
and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, Tom and Jerry Tales, and the 2017 My Little
Pony theatrical movie.
Charles Kimbrough (January 11) – Actor. He played
Sandy Dreckman in an episode of Pinky and the Brain; Mort Chalk in an
episode of Recess and the Taking the Fifth Grade film; Brain Pod
#29 in an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command; Gordon actor in an
episode of Batman Beyond; and Pat Jensen in an episode of The Zeta
Project. He also provided voices for Hercules: The Animated Series.
Lee Moder (January 15) – Comic book artist.
Co-creator of the Courtney Whitmore version of Stargirl who has appeared in Young
Justice and Justice League Action.
Lloyd Morrisett Jr. (January 15) – Co-creator of Sesame
Street, for which he also wrote, and Sesame Workshop.
Jeff Riche (January 20) – Background designer and
artist. He worked on Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Buford and the Galloping
Ghost, Yogi’s Space Race, Galaxy Goof-Ups, Jana of the Jungle, Godzilla
(1978), Super Friends, The New Fred and Barney Show, Scooby-Doo and
Scrappy-Doo (1979), Casper and the Angels, The Super Globetrotters, The
Flintstone Comedy Show, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, The Kwicky Koala
Show, The Smurfs (1981), The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, Space Stars,
Trollkins, Shirt Tales, The Gary Coleman Show, Pac-Man, The 13 Ghosts of
Scooby-Doo, Wildfire (1986), The Flintstone Kids, and A Pup Named
Scooby-Doo.
Bill Dennis Sr. (January 22) – Animation executive
responsible for helping India establish a place in the animation industry.
After a stint working for Disney through the Disney Renaissance, he headed up
Hanna-Barbera’s Fil-Cartoons studio before going to India and founding Toonz
studio with G.A. Menon, which produced Wolverine and the X-Men.
Anne Luiting (January 22) – Production manager. She worked
on Muppet Babies (1984), The Little Wizards, the “P.J.
Funnybunny” episode of ABC Weekend Specials, Batman: The Animated
Series, Garfield and Friends, Bobby’s World, The Twisted Tales of Felix the
Cat, and C-Bear and Jamal. She also directed 20 episodes of Cro.
Brooke Tucker (January 22) – Actor. Played Belle Star
in an episode of The Ghost Busters.
George McDaniel (January 26) – Actor. Played Jessie
Spano’s father David on Saved by the Bell (1989).
George R. Robertson (January 29) – Actor. Played Mr.
Fitch in the “Horatio Alger Updated: Frank and Fearless” episode of ABC
Weekend Specials.
Cindy Williams (January 29) – Actor. Best known for
playing Shirley in Laverne & Shirley, which she reprised for the
first season of the animated spin-off, Laverne & Shirley in the Army, she
also played Gerri Poveri in an episode of The Magic School Bus.
William Ruzicka (February 1) – Director and artist.
He directed 12 episodes of Bunnicula and storyboarded for Transformers:
Rescue Bots, Ben 10: Omniverse, Justice League Action, DuckTales (2017),
and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
James Flynn (February 12) – Producer. He served as
the co-producer on Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.
Osamu Tezuka (February 14) – President and CEO of
Toei Company Ltd., who joined the company in 1983 and worked his way up to his
current position in 2020. Toei produces the programs that served as the basis
for Power Rangers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and Masked Rider and
anime such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, and Digimon. They’ve also
provided animation to American shows throughout the 1980s.
Richard Belzer (February 19) – Comedian, actor and
author best known for playing Detective John Munch for over 20 years between
two franchises. He appeared on two episodes of Sesame Street season 10 as
a man in a rowboat, cameoed as himself in the special Elmopalooza, and presented
the Word of the Day from the set of Law & Order: SVU in season 38.
William “Bike” Kinzle (March 6) – Artist. Worked as a
color designer on All Grown Up!
Erik Daarstad (March 13) – Cinematographer. Worked on
“The Dog Days of Arthur Crane” episode of ABC Weekend Specials.
Lance Reddick (March 17) – Actor. Voiced Lunaris in
several episodes of DuckTales (2017).
Michael Reaves (March 20) – Writer. Wrote for The
Secrets of Isis, Shazam!, The New Archie/Sabrina Hour, Space Sentinels, Tarzan
and the Super 7, Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, The New Shmoo, Space Stars,
Blackstar, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, The Smurfs (1981), The
Incredible Hulk (1982), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The
Biskitts, Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince, Pole Position (which he also
developed), The Mighty Orbots (also story editor), CBS Storybreak,
Dungeons & Dragons, The Littles, Challenge of the GoBots, Star Wars:
Droids, Star Wars: Ewoks, The Real Ghostbusters, Teen Wolf: The Animated
Series, Jem, Superman (1988), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), Dink
the Little Dinosaur, Tiny Toon Adventures, Peter Pan and the Pirates (also
story editor), Batman: The Animated Series and two of its movies (also story editor), Cadillacs and
Dinosaurs, Conan and the Young Warriors (also
story editor), Gargoyles (also
story editor), Young Hercules, Godzilla: The Series, Spider-Man
Unlimited (also developer and story
editor), Beast Machines: Transformers and Max Steel (2000). He
also wrote an issue of Batman Adventures and three issues of Superman
Adventures.
Charles E. “Ted” Bastien (March 21) – Director,
artist and designer. He was a esigner on Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars:
Ewoks, My Pet Monster, and Cadillacs & Dinosaurs; production
designer on Beetlejuice (1989); did storyboards for Little Rosey
and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir; director on Gargoyles,
The Magic School Bus (also did storyboards), Anatole, and Rescue
Heroes; assistant director on Tales from the Cryptkeeper; and
supervising director on SpongeBob SquarePants.
Coslough Johnson (March 23) – Writer, producer and
artist. Wrote for The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, The New Adventures
of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, Hero
High, The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! and The Flintstone Kids.
Leo D. Sullivan (March 25) – Animator. He was a
pioneer for Black animation that formed Vignette Films with Floyd Norman in the
1960s, which produced educational films about Black historical figures, and
started a multimedia foundation to train underserved youth in new media
technology. During his 60+-year career, he worked on Fat Albert and the
Cosby Kids, the “Nanny and the Professor” episode of ABC Weekend
Specials, Jabberjaw, Laff-A-Lympics, I am the Greatest!: The Adventures of
Muhammad Ali, CB Bears, Challenge of the Superfriends, The New Adventures of
Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979), Casper
and the Angels, The New Shmoo, The World’s Greatest SuperFriends, The New
Adventures of Flash Gordon, Richie Rich, The Flintstones Comedy Show, The
Little Rascals (1982), Pac-Man, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures,
Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs (1993), Taz-Mania and Dumb and
Dumber: The Animated Series. He also wrote two Slimer! segments of Slimer!
and the Real Ghostbusters and directed 3 episodes of C-Bear and Jamal.
Philip Balsam (March 31) – Musician. Composed music
for Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series and Dog City.
Duane Poole (April 1) – Writer and producer. He wrote
and served as the story editor for Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Wonderbug (which
he also developed), Jana of the Jungle, Godzilla (1978) (which he also
developed), Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979), The Flintstone Comedy
Show, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (which he also produced), Laverne
& Shirly in the Army (which he also produced), Mork &
Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour, and The Biskitts. He wrote
for The Great Grape Ape Show, Far Out Space Nuts, Clue Club, The Krofft
Supershow, Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Posse Impossible, CB Bears, Super Friends,
The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, The Smurfs (1981), Alvin & The
Chipmunks (1983), Saturday Supercade, and Cartoon All-Stars to
the Rescue. He also served as story editor for Captain Caveman and the
Teen Angels.
Ken Mundie (April 3) – Producer and animator. He was
the line producer for Peter Pan and the Pirates; director of the song
sequences of Yogi’s Space Race and Galaxy Goof-Ups; worked on
storyboards for Linus the Lionhearted, Life with Louie and Pinky
and the Brain; and directed storyboards for The Little Wizards.
Donald W. Ernst (April 9) – Producer and sound editor.
Served as the supervising sound editor for the spin-off film The Chipmunk
Adventure and provided sound for Dino-Riders.
Elena Shulman (April 9) – Actor. Provided the Russian
dub for Anne Boonchuy and other characters in Amphibia.
Darwin Vickers (April 14) – Writer. Worked on Ned’s
Newt.
Sylvain Lemarie (April 20) – Actor. Provided the
French voices for Java in Martin Mystery and Master Fung in Xiaolin
Chronicles.
Jerry Loveland (April 21) – Artist. Served as a
background color stylist for The Karate Kid: The Animated Series; worked
on backgrounds for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Defenders of
Dynatron City, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and Droopy: Master
Detective.
Harry Belefonte (April 25) – Singer, actor and
activist crediting with popularizing calypso music with international
audiences. He made several appearances on Sesame Street.
Vahe Haytaian (April 27) – Technical Director for
Walt Disney Television Animation. Worked on Jake and the Never Land Pirates,
Mickey Mouse (2013), Pickle and Peanut, Star vs. the Forces of Evil,
Elena of Avalor, DuckTales (2017), Milo Murphy’s Law, Tangled: The
Series, The Lion Guard, Big Hero 6: The Series, Amphibia, The Owl House and
The Ghost and Molly McGee.
Gerald Castillo (May 4) – Actor. Played A.C. Slater’s
father on Saved by the Bell (1989).
Pauline Newstone (May 5) – Actor. Voiced Mum Mew and
a secretary in Monster Rancher, Agatha Harkness in X-Men: Evolution,
and Aspheera in Ninjago.
Mark Bourdeaux (May 14) – Toy designer for Kenner and
Hasbro. Worked on the original The Real Ghostbusters toyline.
Ray Stevenson (May 21) – Actor. Played Gar Saxon in Star
Wars: The Clone Wars.
Nellie B. Rodriguez (May 26) – Artist. Worked as a
painter on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), and did ink and pain on Batman:
The Animated Series and Taz-Mania.
Alexx Van Dyne (May 27) – Writer. Worked on Ace
Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask: The Animated Series, Buzz Lightyear of Star
Command, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Men in Black: The Series, Jackie Chan
Adventures, Loonatics Unleashed, and The Batman (2005).
Khosrow Vaziri (June 7) – Professional wrestler known
as The Iron Shiek and actor. He wrestled for the WWF (now the WWE) which led to
his being one of the featured characters in Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling.
John Romita Sr. (June 13) – Legendary comic book
artist that was once the art director of Marvel Comics. He had co-created
numerous characters that would find themselves adapted to television and film,
including Mary Jane Watson, the Shocker, Wilson Fisk, the Punisher and
Wolverine, as well as original character Firestar who began on screen and ended
up in the comics. He served as an art consultant on Spider-Man (1967),
and was art director for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
Michael Miscio (June 14) – Editorial. Coordinated
post-production on Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Static Shock, Ozzy &
Drix, Xiaolin Showdown, Duck Dodgers, Loonatics Unleashed, The Batman vs.
Dracula, What’s New Scooby-Doo?, Legion of Super Heroes, Plastic Man in Puddle
Trouble, The Batman (2004), Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, and
Tom and Jerry Tales.
Jimmy Weldon (July 6) – Actor and ventriloquist. The
originator of Yakky Doodle’s voice, he voiced Solomon Grundy in Super
Friends and Stu in the “Robbut: A Tale of Tails” episode of CBS
Storybreak. He also provided additional voices for Scooby-Doo and
Scrappy-Doo (1979), Richie Rich, The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show,
Shirt Tales, Challenge of the GoBots, Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, and Tom and
Jerry Kids Show.
Daniel Goldberg (July 12) – Producer, writer and
director. Frequent collaborator of director Ivan Reitman that served as an
executive producer on Beethoven: The Animated Series and Alienators:
Evolution Continues.
Tony Bennett (July 21) – Legendary singer. Appeared
on two episodes of Sesame Street.
Billy “Pop” Atmore (July 30) – Actor. Voiced Robert
Farrell, aka the Rocket Racer, and provided additional voices for two episodes
of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
Paul Reubens (July 30) – Actor and comedian. Best
known as the creator of the Pee-wee Herman character, around which he built Pee-wee’s
Playhouse and portrayed him on three episodes of Sesame Street. He
also played Mr. Herodotus in Hercules: The Animated Series, Dennis in
the Teacher’s Pet film, Sir Malachi in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012),
and Couch Dracula in Pickle and Peanut.
Sukhdev Dail (August 7) – Animator. Worked on layouts
for Jeannie, Partridge Family 2200 AD, Jana of the Jungle and Super
Friends; served as the story director for Casper and the Angels;
animation director for Cave Kids, and animation timing director for The
New Batman Adventures.
Craig Armstrong (August 15) – Animator. Did
storyboards and background and character layouts for Tiny Toon Adventures;
worked on layouts for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Denver the Last Dinosaur;
was the background supervisor for Camp Candy; served as timing director
for Adventures of the Gummi Bears; and did character layouts for Batman:
The Animated Series.
Arleen Sorkin (August 24) – Actor, writer and
comedian. She was not only inspirated the creation of the character Harley
Quinn, but also voiced her beginning with Batman: The Animated Series
through various DC Comics-based shows and projects until 2012 when she retired
from the role. She also voiced Veronica in an episode of Taz-Mania and
wrote two episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures.
Bob Barker (August 26) – Game show host. Best known
as the long-time host of The Price is Right who reminded everyone daily
to have your pets spayed or neutered, he also appeared as himself on an episode
of Bailey Kipper’s P.O.V. and as Bob Barnacle in an episode of SpongeBob
SquarePants.
John Ewing (September 15) – Animator and producer.
Provided layouts for Spider-Man (1967); animated Around the World in
Eighty Days (1972); supervised the animation on Darkwing Duck, Goof
Troop, Tiny Toon Adventures (on which he also produced), and Taz-Mania;
and was an animation director on The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.
David McCallum (September 25) – Actor. Best known
from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and NCIS, he also played Professor
Paradox in the original Ben 10 franchise timeline.
Istvan Majoros (September 27) – Animator, director
and writer. Animated on The Smurfs (1981); and did layouts for It’s
Punky Brewster, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, and Tiny Toon
Adventures.
Rich Chidlaw (October 3) – Animator. He served as
story director on Rubik the Amazing Cube, Super Friends, Saturday Supercade,
Muppet Babies (1984), and Galtar and the Golden Lance, Challenge of the
GoBots; and did storyboards for The Berenstain Bears (1985), The
Real Ghostbusters, ALF: The Animated Series, ALF Tales, The New Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh, The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil, two episodes of CBS
Storybreak, Gravedale High, Darkwing Duck, Raw Toonage, Aladdin, Gargoyles,
Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Recess,
Hercules: The Animated Series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, ¡Mucha Lucha!,
Xiaolin Showdown, Loonatics Unleashed, Biker Mice from Mars (2006), and SpongeBob
SquarePants.
Keith Giffen (October 9) – Comic book artist and
writer. Best known for his humorous take on the Justice League for DC Comics, he
was the co-creator of characters such as Lobo, Catherine Cobert and one of the
Queen Bees which were featured in various DC-based shows such as Superman:
The Animated Series, Young Justice and Justice League Action.
Additionally, he wrote for The Real Ghostbusters and did storyboards for
Spider-Man Unlimited, Batman Beyond and Static Shock.
Edward Bleier (October 17) – Senior executive at ABC
and president at Warner Bros. Television who foresaw and helped create the
cable television industry. For ABC, he worked in daytime and children’s
programming and sales and established their first Saturday morning children’s
block built around repackaged Looney Tunes shorts. This would lead to
about 100 different variations of Looney Tunes programming across 10
different networks. At Warner Bros., he was responsible for the return of
Warner Bros. Animation to television by collaborating with Steve Spielberg on Tiny
Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. Heading up the
Domestic Pay-TV, Cable and Network Features division, he oversaw the
development of basic cable and pay-TV networks like Nickelodeon, MTV, and TMC.
Richard Moll (October 26) – Actor. Best known as
“Bull” Shannon from the original Night Court, he voiced Two-Face and the
Bat-Computer in Batman: The Animated Series; Emperor Spooj in an episode
of Superman: The Animated Series; Wolf Man and Vorn the Unspeakable in
an episode of Freakazoid!; was the second voice of Scorpion in Spider-Man:
The Animated Series; and Krick in an episode of The Zeta Project. He
also provided additional voices for The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
and The Legend of Calamity Jane.
Richard Machin (November ?) – Director and animator.
Was the overseas supervisor for Where’s Waldo? (1991), Batman: The
Animated Series and Mask of the Phantasm.
Jeniene Mapp (November 20) – Television host. She was
one of the original hosts for the first six years of Saturday Disney, an
Australian programming block that aired Disney programs on Saturday morning.
John Bush (November 23) – Producer. Worked on The
Oz Kids and X-Men: Evolution.
Russell Norman (November 23) – Chef. Appeared on two
episodes of the British cooking program Saturday Kitchen.
Marty Krofft (November 25) – Producer and puppeteer.
Along with his brother, Sid, Marty was half of Sid & Marty Krofft
Productions. They began as theatrical puppeteers before moving into television
by designing the characters and sets for The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
for Hanna-Barbera. That allowed them to branch out on their own to create H.R.
Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, both
versions of Land of the Lost, Far Out Space Nuts, The Lost Saucer, The
Krofft Supershow which included Dr. Shrinker, Electra Woman and Dyna
Girl, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, Wonderbug, Bigfoot and Wildboy and Magic
Mongo, and Pryor’s Place.
David McKnight (December 3) – Actor. Provided his
voice for the “C.L.U.T.Z.” episode of CBS Storybreak.
Norman Lear (December 5) – Legendary producer and
screenwriter with over 100 shows to his credit. One of those was Channel
Umptee-3, which was the first show to meet the then-new FCC educational
programming requirements.
Stan Rogow (December 7) – Producer and writer.
Created the series Flight 29 Down and was an executive producer on Darcy’s
Wild Life.
Andre Braugher (December 11) – Actor. Guest-starred
in Jackie Chan Adventures as Derge.
Ian Gibson (December 11) – Artist. Worked as a
production design consultant on ReBoot.
Phillip J. Felix (December 23) – Art director and
character designer. Served as assistant character designer on Kidd Video;
character designer on The Real Ghostbusters; did background designs for Kid
‘n’ Play; character layouts on Tiny Toon Adventures; model designs
for Muppet Babies (1984) and Biker Mice From Mars (1993), the
latter of which he also did visual development for; and storyboards for Hercules:
The Animated Series.
Tom Smothers (December 26) – Comedian, actor,
composer and musician best known as half of the Smothers Brothers comedy duo. He
served as one of the original hosts in the pilot episode of Hot Dog
before being replaced by Jonathan Winters for the resulting series.
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