Robert McKimson

Born: Robert Porter McKimson Sr.
Birthday: October 13, 1910
Location: Denver, CO, U.S.
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1929–1977
Died: September 29, 1977

Robert Porter McKimson Sr. was born in Denver, Colorado, but his family moved several times before settling in Los Angeles in 1926. Robert and his brother Tom were offered a jobs at Walt Disney Studio in 1929. Bob was assigned as an assistant animator to Dick Lundy.

In 1930, Bob & Tom left Disney for the Romer Grey Studio to develop and produce four Binko the Bear Cub cartoons. While working at Romer Grey, McKimson was also hired by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as an ink-and-painter for the early Looney Tunes cartoons. He advanced to in-betweener and then animator by the time the Romer Grey Studio shut down 1931.

By the late 1930s, he was the head animator working exclusively with Bob Clampett for Warner Bros. McKimson eventually accepted a promotion to director in 1944, replacing Frank Tashlin.

McKimson’s directorial debut at Warner Bros. was The Return of Mr. Hook was released for the U.S. Navy in 1945. His first theatrical short, Daffy Doodles, screened in 1946. He went on to make shorts like Acrobatty Bunny, Hillbilly Hare, A-Lad-In His Lamp, Stupor Duck, The Windblown Hare, Walky Talky Hawky, and Big Top Bunny. Bob created characters like Foghorn Leghorn, Tasmanian Devil, and Speedy Gonzales for the studio as well as directing every Hippety Hopper/Sylvester team-up. Besides directing shorts, he worked on the feature The Incredible Mr. Limpet alongside Hawley Pratt.

After Warner Bros. closed their animation unit in 1963, Robert went to DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. There, he worked for a time in Freleng’s unit directing several The Inspector shorts and working on some of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons contracted out by Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. reopened its animation studio in 1967. Bob re-joined the studio in 1968 until it closed down again in 1969, making McKimson the only person present at the studio’s Looney Tunes start as well as the series’ finish.

After a brief hiatus, he returned to DePatie–Freleng in 1972 to direct The Pink Panther Show shorts, and develop other series. In 1977, Robert McKimson completed directing Misterjaw and had begun work on Baggy Pants and the Nitwits when he passed away.

The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.