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In Memoriam Remembering the Animation & VFX Greats We Lost in 2020
W
e had to bid farewell to an awfully large number of talented men and women who worked in the animation and visual effects business in 2020. We honor their memory on these pages and share our gratitude for the many artistic contributions they made to our world. A big thanks to animation veteran, author and educator Tom Sito, who is producing a virtual Afternoon of Remembrance on Saturday, January 30 at noon (PST) to honor these animation luminaries. At press time, Animation Magazine was still receiving reports of passsings; see our website for a more comprehensive remembrance.
Patricia Alice Albrecht. American actress, writer and poet, best known for her role as Phyllis “Pizzazz” Gabor in the series Jem, as well as her roles in The New Yogi Bear Show, The Snorks and New Kids on the Block. Died Dec. 25, 2019, age 66.
Alfred Budnick. Background artist who worked on shows such as Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Ghostbusters, She-Ra: Princess of Power, BraveStarr, The Critic, Garfield and Friends, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, Family Dog and Hey Arnold! Died Feb. 29, age 81.
Michael Angelis. British actor known for narrating the Thomas & Friends series, from 1991 to 2012. Died May 30, age 76.
Marge Champion. Actress and dancer who served as the model for Disney’s Snow White, the Blue Fairy (Pinocchio) and Hyacinth Hippo (Fantasia). Died Oct. 21, age 101.
Román Arámbula. Mexican artist who drew the Mickey Mouse comic strip. Died March 19, age 83.
Curtis Cim. Character designer and story artist on shows such as Godzilla, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Super Friends, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters, She-Ra, Dragon Tales, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Wild Thornberrys, Static Shock, Ozzy & Drix, King of the Hill and Curious George. Died March 10, age 65.
Kelly Asbury. Prolific animator and director of five features — Shrek 2 (co-directed with Conrad Vernon), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Gnomeo and Juliet, Smurfs: The Lost Village and UglyDolls. He also worked on The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, The Prince of Egypt, Chicken Run, Shrek, WreckIt-Ralph, Frozen, Sherlock Gnomes, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Died June 26, age 60. Julie Bennett. Actress who voiced Cindy Bear on The Yogi Bear Show and several Yogi Bear movies. Also recorded voices for UPA, Warner Bros, MGM, Format Films and Hanna-Barbera. Died March 31, age 88. Dorris Bergstrom. Assistant animator at Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. and Disney. Died Oct. 24, age 97. Chadwick Boseman. Hugely popular actor best known for playing Black Panther in four MCU films. He also portrayed Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get on Up and Justice Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. His final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was released in December. Died Aug. 20, age 44. Kobe Bryant. Beloved sports icon, 18-time NBA All Star who helped the L.A. Lakers to five championship wins. Writer, producer and star of the Oscar-winning animated short Dear Basketball, directed by Glen Keane. Died Jan. 26, age 41.
Ron Cobb. American-Australian cartoonist, artist and film designer, who worked on numerous major films including Dark Star, Star Wars, Alien, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Conan the Barbarian, Back to the Future and Total Recall. Died Sept. 21, age 83. Doug Crane. Veteran New York-based animator who worked at Terrytoons, Hanna-Barbera, MTV, Filmation and Oriolo Films, among others, and was a professor of animation at School of Visual Arts. Among his many credits are Spider-Man, Godzilla, Beavis and Butt-Head, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Heavy Metal, Super Friends, The Smurfs, HeMan and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, BraveStarr, Downtown and feature documentary Chicago 10. Died Dec. 17, age 85. Bill Davis. Animator, illustrator and pottery artist, cofounder and president of The Davis Artworks and Artbear Pigmation. Created animation for Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Free to Be You and Me, Raggedy Anne and Andy, Winky Love and more. Author of Creating 2D Animation in a Small Studio with his wife, Colleen. Died Jan. 13, age 66. Jason Davis. Actor best known for voicing Mikey Blumberg on Disney’s Recess. Died Feb. 16, age 35.
Gene Deitch. American-born Czech illustrator, animator, comics artist and film director best known for creating toons such as Munro, Tom Terrific and Nudnik, his work on Popeye and Tom and Jerry shorts and directing the Oscarnominated short Sidney’s Family Tree. Winner of the Annie Awards’ Winsor McCay Award. Died April 16, age 95. William Dufris. Voice actor whose animation credits include Appleseed, Bob the Builder (U.S. dub), Lupin the 3rd, Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2. Died March 24, age 62. Tony Eastman. Emmy-nominated animator, storyboard artist and director. He was an animator on the feature A Soldier’s Tale, directed the pilot for Nickelodeon’s Doug and worked on shows such as Codename: Kids Next Door, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Daria, Beavis and Butt-head, Sheep in the Big City, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and KaBlam! He also directed numerous commercials at The Ink Tank and J. J. Sedelmaier Productions. Died Nov. 2, age 77. Rob Gibbs. Story artist for Pixar, who worked on features such as Toy Story 2, Monster, Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL·E, Up, Brave, Incredibles 2 and Onward. He directed two episodes of Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales and was one of the writers of Air Mater. He was the father of Mary Gibbs, who voices Boo in Monsters, Inc. Died April 24, age 55. Juan Giménez López. Argentine comic-book artist and writer of Metal Hurlant, L’Eternauta magazines, Time Paradox and the comic series Metabarons. Died April 2, age 76. Mark Glamack. Emmy-nominated animator, writer, director and producer who worked on shows such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, G.I. Joe, Godzilla, Spiderwoman, A Flintstone Christmas, Life with Louie, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Yogi’s Space Race and The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour. Died May 29, age 73. Danny Goldman. Character actor and casting director best known for providing the voice of Brainy Smurf (The Smurfs, Robot Chicken). Died April 12, age 80.
R.I.P., from left, Anatoly Prokhorov, Michael Angelis, Ann Sullivan, Blair Kitchen, David Wise, Doug Crane, William Dufris, Fred Willard and Gene Deitch,
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