RIP Iwao Takamoto

I'd not intended to turn my blog in to an obiturary column but it's been a bad few weeks for animation grand masters.

Iwao Takamoto was born in Los Angeles in 1925 and spend some of his early years in the Manzanar internment camp. He went on to become an award winning animator working for big names such as Warner Brothers, Disney and Hanna-Barbera.

He is famous for inventing Scooby Doo and Astro (the Jetson's dog) but also worked on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, The Addams Family and one of my favourites Hong Kong Phooey.

More recently he received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild and talked to Animation World Magazine about Flash.

Iwao Takamoto died 8th Jan 2007 from a heart attack but his work will live on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6243717.stm