DEITCH, Gene

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Birth/Death

Birth Date: August 8, 1924


Occupation/Title

Illustrator, Animator, and Film Director


Bio Summary

Gene Deitch was a frequent contributor to The Record Changer, a jazz magazine, from 1945 to 1951. He started out as an apprentice in UPA studios, working as an Assistant Production Designer on the first Mister Magoo cartoons for Columbia Pictures. Within five years, he rose to become Creative Director of UPA’s New York Studio. He got many gold medals for his films including some famous commercials. His TV commercials were the first ever shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art. They were shown for an entire month in 1954. IN 1955, Deitch joined Terrytoons, where he created characters like "John Doormat", "Clint Clobber", "Gaston Le Crayon", "Sydney" and "Foofle". In 1956 CBS bought the Terrytoons animation studio and named Deitch as its Creative Director. Under his supervision and direction, the studio produced 18 Cinemascope cartoons per year for 20th-Century Fox, and won its very first Oscar nomination. He created and directed the Tom Terrific series for the CBS nationwide Captain Kangaroo show. Tom Terrific, with Mighty Manfred the Wander Dog, was the very first serial for network television. In early 1958, his theatrical cartoon Sidney’s Family Tree was nominated for an Academy Award. In August 1958, he was fired from Terrytoons and set up his own studio in New York called Gene Deitch Associates, Inc. He moved to Prague in 1959 and married his wife, Zdenka, in 1960. In Prague, he worked with William L. Snyder, and directed approximately a dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM. He also produced "Krazy Kat" and "Popeye" for King Features and also an Oscar-winning "Munro" in 1960. He later created "Nudnik" which was based off of "Foofle", the character he created back at Terrytoons. Since 1968 Deitch has been the leading animation director for the Connecticut organization Weston Woods/ Scholastic, adapting children’s picture books. He was awarded the "Annie" Award by ASIFA Hollywood in 2003 for a lifetime contribution to the art of animation. He currently lives in Prague with his wife.


Early Life/Family

Gene Deitch was born Eugene Merril Deitch in Chicago, Illinois, USA.


Education/Training

Career Outline

UPA
Terrytoons 1955-1958
Gene Deitch Associates, Inc.
MGM
Weston Woods/Scholastic


Comments On Style

Gene Deitch's style is very abstract/modern.


Influences

Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Gene Deitch is the father of the underground cartoonist Kim Deitch. Simon and Kim Deitch were prominent artists in the underground comix movement. And another of his sons, Seth Deitch writes fiction, mostly for underground publications. Gene Deitch wrote a book called "For the Love of Prague" which tells of his career and his relationship with his wife.


Filmography

Honors

Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 2003


Related Links

A-HAA: Advertising: UPA's Bert and Harry Piels

Bibliographic References

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0215126/bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Deitch
http://www.afana.org/deitch.htm
http://www.genedeitch.com/


Contributors To This Listing

Sirenafairy

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