Ed Benedict

Ed Benedict (August 23, 1912 – August 28, 2006) was an American animator and layout artist. He is best known for his work with Hanna-Barbera Studios, where he helped design Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, and Ruff and Reddy.

Benedict began his animation career in 1930 at Walt Disney Studios. He left in 1933 to work at Universal Studios as an animator on Walter Lantz's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts. (Coincidentally, Oswald was created by Walt Disney Studios for Universal). He 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.

In 1952, Benedict was contacted by Tex Avery, who'd worked with him at Universal Studios. Avery invited Benedict to work on Avery's animation unit at MGM. Benedict performed lead animation and layout duties for Avery, and later for Michael Lah after Avery's departure from the studio. Benedict's work can be seen in Dixieland Droopy, The First Bad Man, and Deputy Droopy.