Ken Spears
Ken Spears | |
---|---|
Born | Charles Kenneth Spears March 12, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Died | November 6, 2020 Brea, California, U.S. | (aged 82)
Occupation(s) | Animator, writer, television producer, sound editor |
Years active | 1959–2020 |
Children | 2 |
Charles Kenneth Spears (March 12, 1938 – November 6, 2020)[1] was an American animator, writer, television producer and sound editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Joe Ruby. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions.[2][3]
Biography
Spears was born on March 12, 1938, in Los Angeles but was also raised in New York City. His mother, Edna (born Graiver), died a month after he was born, while his father, Harry Spears, worked as a radio host and producer before joining a real estate business.[4] Spears became a friend of the son of animation producer William Hanna while attending high school in California.[4][5]
As an adult, shortly after leaving the
For Hanna-Barbera, Spears and Ruby created the Scooby-Doo franchise and its main characters: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers, and the eponymous title character. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, debuted on CBS in September 1969.[3] After Fred Silverman, then head of daytime programming at CBS, concluded that, after about 15 drafts, a Great Dane was the star of the project,[4] Spears and Ruby tried multiple ideas before settling on a cowardly dog who solves mysteries.[6] For H-B, they also created Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Jabberjaw, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, among other programs. At DePatie–Freleng, they created The Barkleys and The Houndcats. In the early 1970s, Silverman hired Spears and Ruby to supervise the production of CBS's Saturday morning cartoon lineup, a position they assumed at ABC when Silverman defected to that network.[5]
Wanting to create competition for Hanna-Barbera, ABC set Ruby and Spears up with their own studio in 1977, as a subsidiary of
Spears died of complications from Lewy body dementia at his home in Brea, California, on November 6, 2020, at the age of 82.[8] Prior to his death, he had continued to work with Ruby on the production and development of animated series until Ruby's death on August 26, 2020. Ruby had been in hospice care for two years prior to his death. It is unknown how often they had worked together in those two years.[7][8]
References
- ^ "Charles Kenneth Spears, Born 03/12/1938 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". californiabirthindex.org.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (April 12, 2010). "Jack Kirby's Heroes in Waiting". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ a b "Scooby-Doo co-creator Ken Spears dies aged 82". BBC News. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Green, Penelope (November 19, 2020). "Ken Spears, Partner in an Animation Powerhouse, Dies at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Shostak, Stu (February 5, 2012). "Interview with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears". Stu's Show. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ "Scooby-Doo co-creator Joe Ruby dies aged 87". BBC News. August 28, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Shostak, Stu (01-16-2013). "Interview with Joe Ruby and Ken Spears". Stu's Show. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ a b Shafer, Ellise (November 9, 2020). "Ken Spears, Co-Creator of 'Scooby-Doo,' Dies at 82". Variety. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
External links
- Ken Spears at IMDb