Fredrick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American director, animator, and cartoonist. He is most notable for his work at Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he created characters such as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, George and Junior, and Chilly Willy.
Biography[]
He got his start working on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons with Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan from 1930 until 1935. After that, he left for Leon Schlesinger Productions, where he became the studio's third regular director. He stayed until 1941, when he was suspended over a dispute with Schlesinger over cutting the ending of the Bugs Bunny cartoon "The Heckling Hare". He left for Paramount, where he worked on the first three Speaking of Animals shorts. After that, he joined MGM's animation department as a director, taking over Hugh Harman's unit, where he stayed until 1953, when he left to return to Walter Lantz once again. There, he refined the design of Chilly Willy. He directed four shorts then retired from directing theatrical cartoons for good, instead working on commercials. Michael Lah took over his MGM directing unit after his departure from the studio.
His last work was The Kwicky Koala Show for Hanna-Barbera.
Characters created for MGM[]
MGM cartoons supervised by Tex Avery[]
- Blitz Wolf (1942)
- The Early Bird Dood It! (1942)
- Dumb-Hounded (1943)
- Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
- Who Killed Who? (1943)
- One Ham's Family (1943)
- What's Buzzin' Buzzard? (1943)
- Screwball Squirrel (1944)
- Batty Baseball (1944)
- Happy-Go-Nutty (1944)
- Big Heel-Watha (1944)
- The Screwy Truant (1945)
- The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945)
- Jerky Turkey (1945)
- Swing Shift Cinderella (1945)
- Wild and Woolfy (1945)
- Lonesome Lenny (1946)
- The Hick Chick (1946)
- Northwest Hounded Police (1946)
- Henpecked Hoboes (1946)
- Hound Hunters (1947)
- Red Hot Rangers (1947)
- Uncle Tom's Cabaña (1947)
- Slap Happy Lion (1947)
- King-Size Canary (1947)
- What Price Fleadom (1948)
- Little 'Tinker (1948)
- Half-Pint Pygmy (1948)
- Lucky Ducky (1948)
- The Cat That Hated People (1948)
- Bad Luck Blackie (1949)
- Señor Droopy (1949)
- The House of Tomorrow (1949)
- Doggone Tired (1949)
- Wags to Riches (1949)
- Little Rural Riding Hood (1949)
- Out-Foxed (1949)
- The Counterfeit Cat (1949)
- Ventriloquist Cat (1950)
- The Cuckoo Clock (1950)
- Garden Gopher (1950)
- The Chump Champ (1950)
- The Peachy Cobbler (1950)
- Cock-a-Doodle Dog (1951)
- Daredevil Droopy (1951)
- Droopy's Good Deed (1951)
- Symphony in Slang (1951)
- Car of Tomorrow (1951)
- Droopy's Double Trouble (1951)
- Magical Maestro (1952)
- One Cab's Family (1952)
- Rock-a-Bye Bear (1952)
- Little Johnny Jet (1953)
- T.V. of Tomorrow (1953)
- The Three Little Pups (1953)
- Drag-a-Long Droopy (1954)
- Billy Boy (1954)
- Homesteader Droopy (1954)
- The Farm of Tomorrow (1954)
- The Flea Circus (1954)
- Dixieland Droopy (1954)
- Field and Scream (1955)
- The First Bad Man (1955)
- Deputy Droopy (1955) (with Michael Lah)
- Cellbound (1955) (with Michael Lah)
- Millionaire Droopy (1956) (with Michael Lah (uncredited))
- Cat's Meow (1957) (with Michael Lah (uncredited))
MGM characters voiced by Tex Avery[]
- Cat (The Early Bird Dood It!)
- Junior Pilgrim (Jerky Turkey)
- Droopy (1945-1946)
- Meathead (Happy-Go-Nutty)
- Lenny (Lonesome Lenny)
- Junior (1946-1948)
- Speedy (Doggone Tired)
- Butch (1949-1952, 1956-1957)
- Blackie Cat (1949-1950, 1957)
- Southern Wolf (Drag-a-Long Droopy and Homesteader Droopy)
- Bull (Señor Droopy)
- Rooster (Cock-a-Doodle Dog)