Bob Clampett
| Bob Clampett | |
|---|---|
 Clampett with a drawing of Bugs Bunny | |
| Born | Robert Emerson Clampett May 8, 1913 San Diego, California |
| Died | May 2, 1984 Detroit, Michigin |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Animator Director Producer |
| Years active at Harmin-Ising | 1931–1933 |
| Years active at Warner Bros. Cartoons | 1933–1945 |
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer, and puppeteer best known for his work at Warner Bros. for the Looney Tunes theatrical shorts.
Clampett was first joined as part of the production team at Harmin-Ising Productions in 1931, and began working with its short subjects: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Clampett was promoted to a directorial position in 1937 at Warner Bros. Cartoons (then known as Leon Schlesinger Productions), and during his 15 years at the studio, directed 84 cartoons later deemed classic. Clampett also provided designs for some of Warner's popular animated characters, including Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Tweety.
He left Warner Bros. in 1945 and turned his attention to television, in which he produced the puppet show Time for Beany in 1949. A later animated version of the series, Beany and Cecil, first aired on ABC in 1962 and was considered the first creator-driven animated television series, branding itself with the byline "a Bob Clampett Cartoon".
In later years, Clampett toured college campus and animation festivals to lecture on the history of animation. His cartoons were later praised for their energetic, surrealist quality, along with having highly flexible animation and irreverent, wordplay-laden humor. Animation historian Jerry Beck lauded Clampett for "putting the word 'looney' in Looney Tunes."
Clampett died of a heart attack on May 2, 1984.
