Ed Benedict: Difference between revisions

| years_active = 1930–early 1970s1930–2001

| employer = [[Hanna-Barbera]]

'''Ed Benedict''' (August 23, 1912 – August 28, 2006) was an [[United States|American]] [[animator]] and layout artist. He is best known for his work with [[Hanna-Barbera|Hanna-Barbera Productions]], where he helped design [[Fred Flintstone]], [[Yogi Bear]], and Reddy on [[Ruff andHuckleberry ReddyHound]].

Benedict began his animation career at at [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Studios]] in 1930, and ultimately left three years later to work at [[Universal Studios]] as an animator on [[Walter Lantz Productions]]' [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]] shorts. (Coincidentally, Oswald was created by [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Studios]] for Universal). Benedict briefly returned to Disney in the 1940s, receiving his only Disney credit on the animated film ''[[Make Mine Music]]''. He then spent several years creating animation for television commercials for Paul Fennell's Cartoon Films (The Former [[Ub Iwerks]] Studio), which is the first notable example of Benedict using the modernized sleek character designs he would later use.<ref name=awn>{{Cite news|title=Animation Legend Ed Benedict Dies|url=https://www.awn.com/news/animation-legend-ed-benedict-dies|last=DeMott|first=Rick|access-date=December 20, 2021}}</ref><ref name=cb>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/old-brew/ed-benedict-1912-2006-rip-2113.html|title=Ed Benedict (1912-2006), RIP|access-date=December 20, 2021|last=Amidi|first=Amid|date=August 31, 2006}}</ref>

In 1952, Benedict was contacted by [[Tex Avery]], who had worked with him at Universal. Avery invited Benedict to work on Avery's animation unit at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio|MGM]]. Benedict performed lead animation and layout duties for Avery, and later for [[Michael Lah]] after Avery's departure from the studio. His work can be seen in ''[[Dixieland Droopy]]'', ''[[The First Bad Man]]'', and ''Deputy Droopy''.<ref name=awn/><ref name=cb/>

In the late 1950s, Benedict was recruited by former MGM animators [[William Hanna]] and [[Joseph Barbera]] to provide character designs for their new animated television series, ''[[The Ruff & Reddy Show]]'', at [[Hanna-Barbera]]. He eventually became the primary character designer at Hanna-Barbera, designing [[Yogi Bear]], [[Huckleberry Hound]], [[Quick Draw McGraw]], the various characters on ''[[The Flintstones]]'', [[Magilla Gorilla]], and many others.<ref name=awn/>

Benedict left Hanna-Barbera in the late 1960s, but continued providing freelance work until his retirement in the early 1970s.<ref name=awn/> Despite this, he later served as a character designer on the [[What a Cartoon!]] short ''[[Dino: Stay Out!]]'' and as one of the advisors on [[Cartoon Network]]'s original series ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' in 1997, specifically a background consultant upon request by creator Van Partible whom was a huge fan of his work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vanpartible.com/blog/2016/12/2/ed-benedict|title = Memories of ed Benedict| date=December 2, 2016 }}</ref> He is cited as a major inspiration by animator [[John Kricfalusi]] (whom Ed worked for on [[A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith]]), among others.

Benedict died in his sleep at his home in [[Auburn, California]] on August 28, 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.avclub.com/hanna-barbera-animator-ed-benedict-dead-1798209945|title = Hanna-Barbera animator ed Benedict dead| date=October 11, 2006 }}</ref>

*[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2006/08/ed-benedict-1912-2006.html Overview of Ed Benedict's career by animator [[John Kricfalusi]]]

[[Category:People from AuburnEast Cleveland, CaliforniaOhio]]