Scooby-Doo Designer Takamoto Dead
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2007
(CBS) Renowned animator Iwao Takamoto, the artist who designed and named the beloved Great Dane Scooby-Doo and many other cartoon characters, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 81.
Takamoto's death was announced by Warner Bros. Animation, which says he died Monday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as a result of a massive coronary.
His death comes less than a month after the passing of animation legend Joe Barbera, who with his partner William Hanna owned the studio where Takamoto worked for most of his career.
Hanna died in 2001, a decade after the company was bought by Turner Broadcasting, a move which led to it becoming part of Warner Bros.
In addition to Scooby-Doo, Takamoto designed two other popular animated canine characters: Muttley, who appeared in several different cartoons, and Astro, the dog belonging to the space age family "The Jetsons."
Takamoto continued working up until his death, most recently serving as Vice President of Special Projects for Warner Bros. Animation. He storyboarded the 2005 Tom and Jerry animation short "The Karateguard," and was instrumental in the design of many characters in the current Cartoon Network and Kids' WB! animated series "Krypto the Superdog."
He also served as a consultant on Warner Bros. Animation's ongoing Scooby-Doo direct-to-video series, including the 2006 release "Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!" and the upcoming "Chill Out, Scooby-Doo"
"Iwao Takamoto was not only a tremendously talented designer and artist, he was a beautiful human being," said Warner Bros. Animation President Sander Schwartz. "Iwao was always ready with a wide smile, a firm handshake and a warm welcome. Iwao's designs will be his legacy for generations to come. Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with him will miss his mentoring presence, his good counsel and his unparalleled talent and spirit."
Born April 29, 1925 in Los Angeles, Takamoto graduated ahead of his class at age 15 from Thomas Jefferson High School.
He learned his craft in difficult circumstances, which made his ultimate success all the more remarkable.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as many Japanese and Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to what were called "internment camps," Takamoto and his family were sent to the Manzanar Internment Camp, near Independence, Calif. Takamoto was able to depart the camp with an assignment to pick fruit on a farm in Idaho, but he left Manzanar with one important gift: some informal illustration training from fellow Japanese-Americans in the camp.
Returning to Los Angeles, he landed an interview with the Disney Studios, despite his lack of a portfolio or any formal artistic training.
In the few days prior to the interview, Takamoto quickly filled two newly-purchased sketchpads with every image he could imagine. Disney hired him on the spot as an apprentice in-betweener on June 5, 1945 - just two months before the end of World War II.
Takamoto trained under Disney's legendary "nine old men," including Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Eric Lawson. While at Disney, Takamoto worked on short animated cartoons as well as full-length films, including "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp," "Sleeping Beauty" and "101 Dalmatians."
In mid-August of 1961, Takamoto moved to Hanna-Barbera Studios, where he stayed for four decades. As a character designer, it was his job to create the look and images of the characters based on an idea for a proposed cartoon show.
Not only did Takamoto design Scooby-Doo, he also created Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery Machine crew. He named the popular Great Dane after Frank Sinatra's rendition of "Strangers in the Night," in which Sinatra keeps the song going by intoning, only half playfully: "Scooby Dooby Doo."
At a recent chat with Cartoon Network Studios personnel in Burbank, Takamoto offered some tidbits regarding his approach to creating the Scooby-Doo design.
"There was a lady at (Hanna-Barbera) that bred Great Danes," Takamoto explained. "She showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such. I decided to go the opposite and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his color is wrong."
He was the primary designer of the "The Secret Squirrel Show" (featuring both the title character and Atom Ant), "The Great Grape Ape Show," "Harlem Globe Trotters," and "Josie and the Pussy Cats" series.
He created the Penelope Pitstop character from "The Wacky Races" in two hours, after a client complained to Barbera that the show had no female characters.
"The Flintstones" character the Great Gazoo was another of Takamoto's cosmic designs.
Takamoto received several lifetime achievement honors towards the end of his life. In 1996, received the Windsor McKay's Lifetime Achievement Award from ASIFA-Hollywood. In 2001, he was honored by the Japanese American National Museum, and in 2005, he received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild.
A resident of Beverly Hills, Takamoto is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son Michael and step-daughter Leslie; and his brother Robert and sister Judy.
