Ken Southworth
Ken Southworth | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 22, 1918 Porchlight Entertainment (1996) |
Ken Southworth (September 22, 1918 – December 6, 2007) was an
The Smurfs[1]
among others.
Early life
Ken Southworth was born in
Chicago Art Institute and moved to the U.S. when he was just 10 years old.[1]
Southworth held
dual citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom
, but mostly worked in the U.S.
Career
Southworth began working as an animator for
Southworth briefly worked at a number of smaller
animation studios after working at Disney, including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, Rudy Cataldi Productions and Sam Sing Productions. He is reportedly credited for creating the opening title sequence for Woody Woodpecker while working for Walter Lantz Productions.[1]
He later worked for animation powerhouse Hanna-Barbera for twenty one years.[1]
His credits at Hanna-Barbera included syndication from September 1960 to February 1961.
Southworth's later work included the Looney Tunes animation which was featured in the live action film, Gremlins 2: The New Batch and the Filmation film, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night.[2]
Southworth was also a leading teacher and instructor in the field of animation. Besides Hanna-Barbera, Southworth taught
seminars and courses at a number of institutions, including Glendale Animation Studios, the Art Institute of Southern California, the California State University, Fullerton, and VanArts.[1]
In 1998, he released a successful three volume series of video Home Instruction course, The Ken Southworth Animation Program in association with Ray Pointer and Inkwell Images.
Death
Ken Southworth died at his home in
strokes.[1]