Iwao Takamoto, born today on 29th April 1925, who passed 8th January 2007, spent a lifetime in the animation industry and was influential in the creation of some of the most beloved characters in the medium’s history.
During World War Two, Takamoto was forcibly incarcerated in the Manzanar concentration camp as a teen due to his Japanese ancestry. He began sketching scenes around camp as a way to pass the time.
Author Michael Mallory noted, “It was something that was within him. Iwao was like a photojournalist with a pencil; he loved watching people and capturing their attitudes and actions in a drawing.”
He was hired at Walt Disney Studios in 1945, while his parents and siblings were still interned, working on animated feature films such as Cinderella, The Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty. His ability was so well trusted that, in Lady and the Tramp, he was put in sole charge of Lady’s design.
He joined the animation studio, Hanna-Barbera, in 1960, where he was employed in numerous roles. There, he was influential in the creation of some of the most beloved characters in the medium’s history, including Scooby-Doo, Atom Ant, The Jetsons’ Astro, The Flintstones’ Great Gazoo, and The Wacky Races’ Penelope Pittstop and Muttley, all of whom he designed.
Takamoto received the Winsor McCay Award, the lifetime achievement award from the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) Hollywood, in 1996, and an honorary citation from the Japanese American National Museum. In 2005, he was given a golden award from the Animation Guild.
At the time of his death in 2007, 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 series Krypto the Superdog.
Takamoto’s memoirs were published posthumously in 2009 by University Press of Mississippi as Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters by Iwao Takamoto and Michael Mallory.
An intimate memoir, Living With A Legend, was published posthumously in 2012 by TotalRecall Press by his stepdaughter, Leslie E. Stern.
“Iwao Takamoto was a man of many talents, including being a magnificent artist, a thoroughly engaging conversationalist and an amazing storyteller,” noted Sander Schwartz, President of Kids & Family Entertainment at FremantleMedia Enterprises and past President of Warner Bros. Animation, when Leslie’s memoir was first published.
“Beyond his talent though, Iwao was a wonderfully kind and generous human being. Always cheerful, a chat with Iwao was the highlight of my day for many years.”
WEB LINKS
• Cartoon Research: Iwao Takamoto Practical Jokes
FURTHER READING…
Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters
Published by University Press of Mississippi in 2009 | ISBN: 978-1604731941
Available here in paperback from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Available here from your favourite bookshop via Bookshop.org (Affiliate Link)
Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters, published in 2009 is the story of this legendary American artist, told in his own words.
Takamoto records his experiences growing up in the heart of Los Angeles as a self-described “street kid”, and his wartime ordeal of being sent to a government internment camp for Japanese Americans. He recalls stories of how he and his teenaged friends still managed to function as normal teens, despite the confinement of Manzanar.
The book chronicles his career, first with the Walt Disney Studios, where he worked directly with the famous “”Nine Old Men,”” and later for Hanna-Barbera, where he was a key artistic force. Packed with memorable stories of working in the trenches of two of Hollywood’s most notable animation studios and filled with photographs and artwork, much of which has never before been published, this book is essential for any fan of animation and twentieth-century popular culture.
Living with a Legend by Leslie E. Stern
Published by Total Recall Publications | ISBN: 978-1590950951
Available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Available here from your favourite bookshop via Bookshop.org (Affiliate Link)
Living with a Legend is the non-fiction musings of Leslie E. Stern growing up in a multi-ethnic home amidst the genius of Iwao Takamoto, designer of Scooby-Doo and 85% of the Hanna-Barbera characters we all know and love.
It tells the story of her step-father’s emotion influence on her and never before told humorous anecdotes of her youth. It includes many personal drawings done by Iwao, as well as never before seen family photographs. Living with a Legend is filled with funny cartoons and holiday cards done by Iwao and by other animators for Iwao.
A must read for any cartoon lover and a pleasure to read for anyone with a heart.
“I smiled through every page of Living with a Legend, recognising the very special man I was privileged to know, Iwao Takamoto, but seeing him through the highly personal perspective of someone who knew him so much better. Leslie Stern has not simply written a loving, funny, and poignant portrait of an important American artist, she has wonderfully set down the record of a unique American family, one whose strength came through its very diversity. To paraphrase Iwao himself, Living With a Legend was not written through the hands, but through the heart.”
Michael Mallory, Author of My Life with a Thousand Characters
“Iwao Takamoto was a man of many talents….including being a magnificent artist, a thoroughly engaging conversationalist and an amazing storyteller. Beyond his talent though, Iwao was a wonderfully kind and generous human being. Always cheerful, a chat with Iwao was the highlight of my day for many years. In this book, Leslie Stern has documented a life of an inspiring man, husband, and step-father. Those of us who had the privilege of knowing Iwao are all the better for it. By reading Leslie’s book I’m inspired again by the story of a truly unique American whose well-lived life will hearten us all.”
Sander Schwartz, President of Kids & Family Entertainment at FremantleMedia Enterprises and past President of Warner Bros. Animation
“If Scooby-Doo could talk, he might be just as grateful for being birthed by Hanna-Barbera’s master animator, Iwao Takamoto, as Leslie Stern is for having him for her step-father. In Living with a Legend she doesn’t shrink from describing how he taught her to slurp udon noodles and counseled her when her marriage went cold. We are left to appreciate that the spirits in Iwao’s characters came from a wise man who spent time in a Japanese internment camp during WWII and – against all odds — came out with a walloping sense of humor. Leslie’s heartwarming book of memories about the stoic, funny, warm-hearted man who married her mother covers a family, a career and an inside view of Hanna-Barbera.”
Loretta Paraguassu, writer, artist, filmmaker, and former L.A. Times columnist
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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