Profile of Robert McKimson on Famous Like Me

Robert "Bob" McKimson, Sr. (September 27, 1910–September 27, 1977) was an animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros.

After ten years of art education, McKimson went to work for Walt Disney. He stayed with Disney's studio for two years before moving to that of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. In 1946, McKimson was promoted to director, replacing Frank Tashlin. He shared this position with Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones until the closing of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in 1963. During this period, McKimson created the character Foghorn Leghorn and directed every cartoon starring the character, every Hippety Hopper/Sylvester pairing, and every Tasmanian Devil short.

Critics, perhaps unfairly, routinely dismiss McKimson's work-- that is, when the critics deem to discuss McKimson's work at all. Much of this critical neglect likely stems from two factors: McKimson's early death, and his extreme shyness. He died well before animation became a respected artform, and when he was alive, he gave few interviews. His shorts are described as having a "squarer" style than his fellow directors, Freleng and Jones. Critics describe his style as somewhat prosaic, literal, and not as innovative, clever or impeccably crafted as the films of Jones or Freleng. In addition, McKimson favored an overstated, hammy style of "acting" for his characters, in contrast to the cool, studied, Method-like underplaying that Jones imbued in his versions of the same characters. In many ways, his cartoons, extremely violent and irreverent, are a continuation of the style of Bob Clampett, who had left the studio a few years before McKimson's promotion to director.

But if McKimson's cartoons did not reach the intellectual heights of Jones or enjoy the musical freedom of Freleng, he is seen by animation scholars as being the most artistically talented of the Termite Terrace cartoon directors. In 1942, McKimson drew a single portrait of Bugs Bunny, leaning against a tree and smiling as he was eating a carrot, that became known as the definitive portrait of the character; this picture has been imitated many times by later artists, including McKimson's peers. McKimson was, for many years, the studio's most prominent animator and character designer; he created the definitve Bugs Bunny model sheet in 1943. His peers acknowledged McKimson's ability to draw images and figures without any construction lines. Even when Warner Bros. acknowledged the influence of UPA and abandoned extreme "realism" in cartoons during the early 1950s, the characters in McKimson's cartoons continued to reflect his craftsmanship.

In 1953, however, the Warner Bros. cartoon studio laid off most of its staff for six months. McKimson had to rebuild his unit, which never regained the vivid animation of earlier years. Most of McKimson's "earthbound" cartoons were released from 1955 on, although he still made some good shorts from the much lower budgets of the post-1964 era.

Warner Bros. shut down its animation studio in 1963, and McKimson joined DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, co-owned by his old associates Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie, who had been a producer at the Warners studio. At DePatie-Freleng, McKimson directed several The Inspector shorts and worked on some of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies contracted out to DePatie-Freleng by Warner Bros.. In 1967, Warners opened its studio again and McKimson went back to Warners, until it finally shut down in 1969. His last Warner Bros. cartoon was "Injun Trouble" with Cool Cat. "Injun Trouble" was also the last of the original Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon to be produced before the Warner Bros. cartoon studio was closed.

In 1972, he went back to DePatie-Freleng to direct Pink Panther shorts, among their other series.

McKimson died suddenly in 1977, on his 67th birthday. He suffered a massive heart attack while eating dinner with Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie.

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