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[]
Tex Avery would get his start in animation by working on the 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 before retiring from directing theatrical cartoons for good, instead working on commercials. Michael Lah took over his MGM directing unit after his departure from the studio.
One of his last works was The Kwicky Koala Show for Hanna-Barbera.
Characters created for MGM[]
Works[]
As a director[]
See List of cartoons supervised by Tex Avery.
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)