TAKAMOTO, Iwao

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Birth/Death

born c. 1925


died January 8, 2007


Occupation/Title

Artist, Animator, Producer, Vice-President of Creative Design at Hanna-Barbera

Bio Summary

Takamoto first entered the cartoon world after the end of the war. He was hired as an assistant animator by Walt Disney Studios in 1947, where he worked as an assistant for the legendary Milt Kahl. He worked as an animator on such titles as
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Lady and the Tramp.

Takamoto left Disney in 1961 and joined Hanna-Barbera Productions shortly after. He worked in several positions there, but is arguably best known as a character designer. He is responsible for the original character design of such characters as Scooby Doo, The Jestons' dog Astro, and Penelope Pitstop. He has worked as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, supervising shows such as The Addams Family, Hong Kong Phooey, and Jabberjaw. He has directed several feature length animated films, including Charlotte's Web (1973) and Jetsons: The Movie (1990).

Takamoto served as 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.


Early Life/Family

Takamoto's father emigrated from Hiroshima to the United States for his health. He returned to Japan only once, to marry his wife. Takamoto was born later in Los Angeles. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Takamoto's family, like many Japanese-Americans, was sent to an internment camp. They spent the rest of World War II in the Manzanar internment camp.

Education/Training

Takamoto spent his early years in the Manzanar camp where he has learned to illustrate from his peers.

Career Outline

His style is what defines many of the new animators to this day. Cartoons that have influenced waves of generations such as "The Jetsons","The Flintstones", and "Scooby-Doo" are now a standard template for animation for children.



Comments On Style

In 1947, worked for Disney Studiosas Assitant Animator under the tutelage of the legendary "nine old men".

In 1960, Takamoto joined with Hanna-Barbera where he still remains today as Vide-President of Creative Design


Influences

Personality

"I worked with Iwao at both Walt Disney and Hanna-Barbera. No doubt he can draw. He's one heck of a draftsman, and few can equal his drawing ability.Do you realize how good one has to be in order to impress Milt Kahl?" --Floyd Norman

Anecdotes

One of the artists has recalled working with Iwao and sitting across the room from him, Iwao was very reminiscent of Yoda.

Miscellaneous

Takamoto's efforts have grown to such a level when he was working for Disney, he was entrusted with
the sole design for "The Lady" in "The Lady and the Tramp" Takamoto has influenced virtually every famous character that came out of the Hannah-Barbara studio.


Filmography

Producer - filmography

""Dinky Dog" (1969) TV Series (creative producer) 
- Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection (1972) TV Episode (producer) 
"The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie" (producer) 
... aka The New Saturday Superstar Movie (USA: second season title) 
"Yogi's Gang" (1973) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The Addams Family" (1973) TV Series (producer) 
"Goober and the Ghost-Chasers" (1973) TV Series (producer) 
"Jeannie" (1973) TV Series (creative producer) 
"Inch High, Private Eye" (1973) TV Series (creative producer) 
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids" (1973) TV Series (creative producer) 
"Hong Kong Phooey" (1974) TV Series (producer) 
"Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch" (1974) TV Series (creative producer) 
"Devlin" (1974) TV Series (producer) 
"The Partridge Family, 2200 A.D." (1974) TV Series (producer) 
... aka The Partridge Family in Outer Space (USA) 
"The New Tom & Jerry Show" (1975) TV Series (creative producer) 
... aka New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show 
... aka The Tom & Jerry Show (USA: syndication title) 
... aka Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show (USA: second season title) 
... aka Tom & Jerry/Mumbly Show (USA: last season title) 
"The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" (1976) TV Series (creative producer)
... aka The Scooby-Doo Show (USA: first part title) 
"Clue Club" (1976) TV Series (producer) 
"Jabberjaw" (1976) TV Series (co-executive producer) 
"Fred Flintstone and Friends" (1977) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The C.B. Bears" (1977) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The All-New Super Friends Hour" (1977) TV Series (creative producer)
"The Great Grape Ape Show" (1977) TV Series (producer) 
A Flintstone Christmas (1977) (TV) (creative producer) 
"Dynomutt, Dog Wonder" (1978) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The Three Robonic Stooges" (1978) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The Challenge of the Super Friends" (1978) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The All-New Popeye Hour" (1978) TV Series (creative producer) 
"Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" (1979) TV Series (creative producer) 
The Kwicky Koala Show" (1981) TV Series (creative producer) 


Miscellaneous Crew - filmography

"The Flintstones" (1960) TV Series (layout designer) 
"The Yogi Bear Show" (1961) TV Series (layout artist) 
"Jonny Quest" (1964) TV Series (layout artist) 
... aka The Adventures of Jonny Quest 
"The Hillbilly Bears" (1965) TV Series (layout artist) 
"The Secret Squirrel Show" (1965) TV Series (layout artist) 
The Man Called Flintstone (1966) (layout artist) 
"Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles" (1966) TV Series (layout artist) 
"Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor" (1967) TV Series (layout artist) 
"Super Friends" (1973) TV Series (creative producer) 
"The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour" (1978) TV Series (animation director) 
C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979) (title designer: main title) 
"Galtar and the Golden Lance" (1985) TV Series (creative designer) 
GoBots: War of the Rock Lords (1986) (creative designer) 
... aka GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords (USA: video title) 
Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) (TV) (creative designer) 
"A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (1988) TV Series (creative designer) 
Hägar the Horrible (1989) (TV) (creative designer) 
Jetsons: The Movie (1990) (supervising director) 


Production Designer - filmography


"Wacky Races" (1968) TV Series 
"The Adventures of Gulliver" (1968) TV Series 
The Night Before Christmas (1968) (TV) 
"The Cattanooga Cats" (1969) TV Series 
"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" (1969) TV Series 
"Where's Huddles?" (1970) TV Series 
"Josie and the Pussycats" (1970) TV Series 
"The Harlem Globetrotters" (1970) TV Series 
... aka The Go-Go Globetrotters (USA: rerun title) 
"The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" (1971) TV Series 
"Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch" (1971) TV Series 
"The New Scooby-Doo Movies" (1972) TV Series 
... aka Scooby-Doo Meets the Harlem Globetrotters (USA: video title) 
... aka Scooby-Doo's New Comedy Movie Pictures (USA) 
"The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie" (1972) TV Series 
... aka The New Saturday Superstar Movie (USA: second season title) 
"Yogi's Treasure Hunt" (1978) TV Series 
... aka Yogi's Space Race 

Art Department - filmography
The Karateguard (2005) (storyboard) 

Special Effects - filmography
The Dreamer of Oz (1990) (TV) (special effects consultant) 
... aka The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story 

Art Director - filmography
"The Snorks" (1984) TV Series 

Honors

Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1996
Golden Award from the Animation Guild 2005

Related Links

A-HAA: Biography: Clair Weeks' Goodbye Book 1952
http://www.answers.com/topic/iwao-takamoto
http://clampettstudio.com/bios/iwao_takamoto.htm


Bibliographic References

Animation Blast Magazine, Interview with Iwao Takamoto. Issue #3, pg 4
BIO-AAA-539

Contributors To This Listing

Dmitry Yun,
Everett Khim

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