Legendary Animator of “Tom and Jerry” and “Popeye”, Gene Deitch Died

Oscar-Winning Illustrator, Animator, Film Director, and Producer was 95 on his death. Gene Deitch was known worldwide for the part for his work in Tom and Jerry and Popeye cartoons an later his film Munro won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1960.

Among his credits was creating the Tom Terrific short, which was presented as part of the Captain Kangaroo children’s television show. Created under the Terrytoons studio and adapted from an earlier Deitch comic strip, Tom Terrific was a black and white, five-minute short that was modeled on children’s drawings.

Deitch was also nominated for the same award twice in 1964 for Here’s Nudnik and How to Avoid Friendship. According to his Czech publisher, Petr Himmel, Deitch died unexpectedly on Thursday night at his home in Prague. No additional details or cause of death were added.

Gene Deitch, full name, Eugene Merril Deitch, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 8, 1924, the son of salesman Joseph Deitch and Ruth Delson Deitch. In 1929, the family moved to California, and Deitch attended school in Hollywood. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1942.

After graduating, Deitch began working for North American Aviation, drawing aircraft blueprints. In 1943, he was drafted and underwent pilot training before catching pneumonia and being honorably discharged in May of the following year. From 1945 to 1951, Deitch contributed covers and interior art to the jazz magazine The Record Changer. In the 1950s, Deitch was an early supporter and audio engineer for Connie Converse, one of the first American singer-songwriters. Converse appeared once on CBS television due in part to Deitch's connections with the network, but otherwise found little success and eventually abandoned music only to be rediscovered decades later, through recordings Deitch had made of her music in 1954.

Working behind the Iron Curtain of the then time, this genius animator also directed 13 episodes of the animated Tom and Jerry and also some of the Popeye the Sailor series. He later invested his time to depict life in communist Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution in his memoirs, For the Love of Prague.

In 2004, he received the Winsor McCay Award for his lifelong contribution to animation. The animation world as well as people around the whole world mourns his death.

Article Written by- Ashraful B. Ribat Source: Internet

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