Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters

Animator Iwao Takamoto was born in Los Angeles, California in 1925. His family, like many Japanese-Americans, was sent to the Manzanar internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While there, he received basic illustration training from other internees. He was hired as an assistant animator by Walt Disney Studios in 1947 and worked on such classics as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, and Peter Pan. He started working for Hanna-Barbera Productions shortly after leaving Walt Disney Studios in 1961. While there, he created such characters as Scooby-Doo, Astro from The Jetsons, and Penelope Pitstop. He directed numerous feature length animated films, including Charlotte's Web (1973) and Jetsons: The Movie (1990). In 2005, he received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild. He died on January 8, 2007 of heart failure. Michael Mallory has covered aspects of popular culture ranging from animation, to cinema, to toys for such publications as "The Los Angeles Times", "The Chicago Tribune", "Newsday", "Daily Variety", "The Hollywood Reporter" & "Millimeter". He has been seen & heard as a pop/culture animation expert on the BBC & E! Entertainment Television, as well as many radio & television stations nationwide. He is the author of "Hanna-Barbera Cartoons" & is a published fiction writer.