Iwao Takamoto
Encyclopedia
Iwao Takamoto was a Japanese-American animator
, television producer
, and film director
. He was most famous as being a production
and character designer for Hanna-Barbera Productions shows such as Scooby-Doo
.
to the United States for his health. He returned to Japan
only once, to marry his wife. Takamoto was born on April 29, 1925 in Los Angeles
, California
. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor
, Takamoto's family, like many Japanese Americans, was forced to move to an internment camp
. They spent the rest of World War II
in the Manzanar
internment camp. It was there that Takamoto received basic illustration training from a couple of friendly co-internees.
Takamoto first entered the cartoon world after the end of the war. He was hired as an assistant animator by Walt Disney Studios in 1945. Takamoto eventually became an assistant for the legendary Milt Kahl
. He worked as an animator on such titles as Cinderella
, Lady and the Tramp
, Sleeping Beauty
, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians
.
were both uncredited sequence directors in The Fox and the Hound. He worked in several positions there, but is arguably best known as a character designer. He was responsible for the original character design of such characters as Scooby-Doo
, The Jetsons
dog Astro, and Penelope Pitstop
. He worked as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, supervising shows such as The Addams Family
, Hong Kong Phooey
, and Jabberjaw
. He directed several feature length animated films, including Charlotte's Web
(1973) and Jetsons: The Movie
(1990). The inspiration for Scooby-Doo's creation as a Great Dane
came from an employee of the Hanna-Barbera company, who bred this dog.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/arts/television/10takamoto.html?ex=1326085200&en=621fc868fcd67df1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Takamoto was Vice-President of Creative Design at Hanna-Barbera, and was responsible for overseeing H-B's many product related merchandising. In 2005, he received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild, to honor his more than 50 years of service in the animation field.
Takamoto's memoirs were published posthumously in 2009 by University Press of Mississippi
under the title Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters.
at age 81. Coincidentally, Takomoto died exactly three weeks after Hanna-Barbera
co-founder Joseph Barbera
. Throughout the week following his death, Adult Swim
put up a bumper reading "Iwao Takamoto [1925-2007]". He was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles
in Gardens of Blessing, Section 3, Lot 1390, Space 3. There was a memorial added to the end of a Scooby-Doo film: 'Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!
'.
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
, television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. He was most famous as being a production
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
and character designer for Hanna-Barbera Productions shows such as Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
.
Biography
Takamoto's father emigrated from HiroshimaHiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
to the United States for his health. He returned to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
only once, to marry his wife. Takamoto was born on April 29, 1925 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Takamoto's family, like many Japanese Americans, was forced to move to an internment camp
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
. They spent the rest of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in the Manzanar
Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
internment camp. It was there that Takamoto received basic illustration training from a couple of friendly co-internees.
Takamoto first entered the cartoon world after the end of the war. He was hired as an assistant animator by Walt Disney Studios in 1945. Takamoto eventually became an assistant for the legendary Milt Kahl
Milt Kahl
Milton Erwin Kahl was an animator for the Disney studio, and one of Disney's Nine Old Men....
. He worked as an animator on such titles as Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
, Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen...
, Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...
, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
.
Leaving Disney (1961)
Takamoto left Disney in 1961 and joined Hanna-Barbera Productions shortly thereafter, but he and Joseph BarberaJoseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....
were both uncredited sequence directors in The Fox and the Hound. He worked in several positions there, but is arguably best known as a character designer. He was responsible for the original character design of such characters as Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo (character)
Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and the protagonist in the Scooby-Doo animated television series created by the popular American animation company Hanna-Barbera...
, The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
dog Astro, and Penelope Pitstop
Penelope Pitstop
Penelope Pitstop is a fictional character who appeared in the Hanna-Barbera animated series Wacky Races, and starred in the spin-off The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, voiced by Janet Waldo, 1969.-Background:...
. He worked as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, supervising shows such as The Addams Family
The Addams Family (1973 animated series)
The Addams Family is an animated adaptation of the Charles Addams cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1973.-Scooby-Doo appearance:...
, Hong Kong Phooey
Hong Kong Phooey
Hong Kong Phooey is a 16-episode Hanna-Barbera animated series that first aired on ABC Saturday morning from to . The main character, Hong Kong Phooey, is a superhero who uses Chinese martial arts to fight crime. Hong Kong Phooey is the secret alter ego of Penrod "Penry" Pooch, a "mild-mannered"...
, and Jabberjaw
Jabberjaw
Jabberjaw is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired from September 11, 1976 to September 3, 1978 on ABC.-Premise:...
. He directed several feature length animated films, including Charlotte's Web
Charlotte's Web (1973 film)
Charlotte's Web is a 1973 American animated musical film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Sagittarius Productions and based upon the 1952 children's book of the same name by E. B. White...
(1973) and Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie is a 1990 animated science fiction film produced by Hanna-Barbera and released on July 6, 1990, by Universal Pictures based on the hit cartoon series, The Jetsons . The movie features the final voice roles of George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc who both died during production of the film...
(1990). The inspiration for Scooby-Doo's creation as a Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
came from an employee of the Hanna-Barbera company, who bred this dog.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/arts/television/10takamoto.html?ex=1326085200&en=621fc868fcd67df1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Takamoto was Vice-President of Creative Design at Hanna-Barbera, and was responsible for overseeing H-B's many product related merchandising. In 2005, he received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild, to honor his more than 50 years of service in the animation field.
Takamoto's memoirs were published posthumously in 2009 by University Press of Mississippi
University Press of Mississippi
The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi:*Alcorn State University*Delta State University*Jackson State University*Mississippi State University...
under the title Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters.
Death
He died on January 8, 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at age 81. Coincidentally, Takomoto died exactly three weeks after Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
co-founder Joseph Barbera
Joseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....
. Throughout the week following his death, Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
put up a bumper reading "Iwao Takamoto [1925-2007]". He was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries refers to two Jewish cemeteries in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. The original cemetery is located at 5950 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. The cemetery was originally established in 1953 by the neighboring Forest...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in Gardens of Blessing, Section 3, Lot 1390, Space 3. There was a memorial added to the end of a Scooby-Doo film: 'Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!
Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!
Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! is the eleventh Scooby-Doo direct-to-video film series, produced by Warner Bros. Animation which began in late 2006. It was dedicated to Iwao Takamoto and Joseph Barbera, who both died during the making of the film...
'.
External links
- January 1999 interview in ANIMATION BLAST {no longer available}
- Obituary, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 29 January 2007. - Iwao Takamoto's Gravesite at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...