Gene Deitch

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Gene Deitch
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Born (1924-08-08) August 8, 1924 (age 99)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation Illustrator, animator, director
Years active 1945–2006
Spouse(s) Marie Deitch (m. 1943–?)
Zdenka Deitchova (née Najmanová; m. 1964–present)
Children 3 including Kim Deitch
Website http://www.genedeitch.com/

Eugene Merril "Gene" Deitch (born August 8, 1924)[1] is an American illustrator, animator and film director. Based in Prague since 1959, Deitch is known for creating animated cartoons such as Munro, Tom Terrific, and Nudnik, as well as his work on the Popeye and Tom and Jerry series.

Early life and career

Deitch was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of salesman Joseph Deitch and Ruth Delson Deitch.[2] In 1929, the family moved to California, and Deitch attended school in Hollywood. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1942, and began working for North American Aviation, drawing aircraft blueprints. In 1943, Deitch was drafted and underwent pilot training before catching pneumonia and being honorably discharged in May of the following year.[2]

Beginning his cartooning and animation career, Deitch contributed covers and interior art to the jazz magazine The Record Changer.[2]

Animation career

Deitch took a position at the animation studio United Productions of America (UPA) and later became the creative director of Terrytoons,[2] creating such characters as Sidney the Elephant,[3] Gaston Le Crayon,[4] John Doormat,[citation needed] and Clint Clobber.[5] In 1959 he founded Gene Deitch Associates, Inc., which primarily produced television. commercials.[2]

When client Rembrandt Films[6] promised to fund Munro, an animated theatrical short Deitch wanted to create, Deitch relocated to the company's base in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in October 1959.[2] During the following decade, he collaborated with Rembrandt produce Popeye cartoons for television with King Features, as well as 13 new Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM,[6][7] despite Deitch's misgiving about the latter character, whom he has cited as the "primary bad example of senseless violence — humor based on pain — attack and revenge — to say nothing of the tasteless use of a headless black woman stereotype house servant."[8] Despite the criticism, some fans wrote positive letters to Deitch, stating that his Tom and Jerry shorts were their personal favorites.[9] Deitch's short film Munro won an Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1961,[10] the first short composed outside of the United States to be so honored.[11]

With producer William L. Snyder, Deitch co-produced directed a series of TV shorts of Krazy Kat for King Features from 1962 to 1964. The Bluffers, which was based on one of Deitch's ideas, was also co-produced by him. He directed the 1966 film Alice of Wonderland in Paris, and a one-reel animation film of The Hobbit in 1966, the first film ever made of a Tolkien story.[12]

From 1968 until his retirement in 2006, Deitch was the leading animation director for the Connecticut organization Weston Woods/Scholastic, adapting children's picture books. His studio is located in Prague near the Barrandov Studios, where many major films were recorded. Deitch's memoir, For the Love of Prague, is based on his experience of being what he called "the only free American living and working in Prague during 30 years of the Communist Party dictatorship."[13]

In 2003, Deitch was awarded the Annie Awards' Windsor McCay Award by ASIFA-Hollywood for a lifetime contribution to the art of animation.[14]

Personal life

Deitch met his first wife, Marie, when they both worked at North American Aviation, and they married in 1943.[2] Their three sons,[2] Kim, Simon, and Seth Deitch, are artists and writers for underground comix and alternative comics.[15]

Some time after arriving in Prague in October 1959, Deitch met Zdenka Najmanová, the production manager at the studio where he worked. They married in 1964.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Sidney the Elephant at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on January 20, 2015.
  4. ↑ Gaston Le Crayon at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012.
  5. ↑ Clint Clobber at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ "Anatomy of an Oscar" Occasional Deitch 2007, page 3, retrieved [2007-11-04].
  12. ↑ "William L. Snyder". GeneDeitchCredits.com. Gene Deitch. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  13. ↑ Deitch, G., For the Love of Prague, 6th edition (Prague: John Caullkins, 2015).
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Kim Deitch at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved on November 12, 2013. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013.

External links

  • Official website Archived from the original on August 1, 2015,
  • Gene Deitch Credits (additional official site) Archived from the original on September 22, 2015.
  • Gene Deitch at the Internet Movie Database
  • Gene Deitch at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved on November 6, 2013. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Includes biographical sidebary by Deitch.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Online instructional course)
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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