Thread: Scooby Doo creater dies 81

IWAO Takamoto, the animator who designed the cartoon canine Scooby-Doo as well as characters on such shows as The Flintstones and The Jetsons died today after suffering a massive coronary, a spokesman said. He was 81.

Takamoto died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for respiratory problems, Warner Bros Animation spokesman, Gary Miereanu, said

Takamoto designed Scooby-Doo, his equally famished and cowardly master Shaggy, and their pals Velma, Daphne and Fred in the late 1960s while working at the Hanna-Barbera animation studio. The Great Dane's name was inspired by an improvised line at the end of Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night.

He also designed the snickering dog Muttley, who was featured in a number of productions, and Astro, the family dog on The Jetsons. For The Flintstones, he created the Great Gazoo, a green alien.

Takamoto, who was born in Los Angeles in 1925, spent part of the war in an internment camp, where he received some informal illustration training from fellow Japanese-Americans.

After the war he got a job as an apprentice at Disney Studios, where he worked on such features as Cinderella and Peter Pan. In 1961, he moved to Hanna-Barbera, now a unit of Time Warner Inc.

At the time of his death, Takamoto was a vice president at Warner Bros Animation. He storyboarded the 2005 Tom and Jerry animation short The Karateguard, and helped design many of the characters in the current series Krypto the Superdog.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and two children.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...005962,00.html

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Rut roh, rat rinks!

It turns out it wasn't really Takamototo at all it was actually the disgruntled old janitor! He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those kids and their dog....

Seriously though Takamoto was an icon in animation and will be missed. Saturday mornings wouldn't have been the same without him.