Los Angeles — Animation pioneer and legend William Hanna, who revolutionized television animation along with his partner Joseph Barbera, creating hundreds of enduring characters such as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Jetsons and numerous others, died Thursday at his North Hollywood home. He was 90.
Hanna, who friends said remained creatively active by writing poetry and music, had been in failing health for the last several months, according to Sarah Carragher, director of publicity at Warner Bros., which now owns the Hanna-Barbera Studios.
Hanna and Barbera are regarded as the masterminds who forever changed the world of cartoons for the small screen with the development of less costly animation techniques. They launched the first prime-time animated TV series, "The Flintstones" in 1960, which can still be seen today in reruns and whose influence can be felt in current shows such as "The Simpsons."
Under the Hanna-Barbera Studios, the two men produced more than 3,000 animated half-hours of television and 150 different series. The studios also produced feature films spun from some of its more popular characters such as "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear."
Of the two, Hanna was considered the key force behind the physical production and timing of the cartoons, while Barbera would concentrate more on stories and ideas.
Hanna, who originally trained to be an engineer, began his animation career during the Depression when he worked in the ink and paint department of Harman-Ising Studios. He moved to MGM's cartoon division in 1937, where he met Barbera.
The two men created the battling cat and mouse team of Tom & Jerry, and turned out more 113 cartoons featuring the characters over the next 15 years, which started by playing in theaters.
Said Hanna, "On the 'Tom and Jerry's,' Joe and I would sit across a desk from each other and develop the story. Joe would do the storyboard and I'd do the timing and the direction of the animation. I would go over the scenes with the artists and tell them what I wanted out of the animation. We used to make one six-minute cartoon about every six weeks ... I enjoyed doing the Tom and Jerry cartoons, and if we had never done anything else, I would have been perfectly satisfied."
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