Chuck Jones

Trivia

• After his death, the Looney Tunes cartoon Daffy Duck for President, based on the book that Jones had written and using Jones' style for the characters, originally scheduled to be released in 2000, was released in 2004.
• Jones, the last surviving animation director from the "Termite Terrace" days of the WB cartoons, died of heart failure in 2002. He was cremated after the funeral service and his ashes were scattered at sea. Cartoon Network aired a 30-second segment with black dots tracing Jones' portrait with the words "We'll miss you - Cartoon Network." fading in on the right-hand side.
• Jones did produce a few more Looney Tunes-based and non-related cartoons, a noticeable one being Chariots of Fur, his final Road Runner cartoon, in 1994.
• Jones' final Looney Tunes cartoon was From Hare to Eternity in 1996/1997, which starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, with Greg Burson voicing Bugs. The cartoon was dedicated to Friz Freleng, who had passed on in 1995.
• Jones, whose work had been nominated eight times over his career for an Oscar (winning thrice, for For Scent-imental Reasons, So Much for So Little, and The Dot and the Line), received an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters whose animated lives have brought joy to our real ones for more than half a century." At that year's awards show, Robin Williams, a self-confe
• For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7011 Hollywood Blvd.
• In his later years, Jones became the most vocal alumnus of the Termite Terrace studio, frequently giving lectures, seminars, and working to educate newcomers in the animation field. Many of his principles, therefore, found their way back into the mainstream animation consciousness, and can be seen in films such as The Emperor's New Groove and Lilo & Stitch.
• Jones was a historical authority as well as a major contributor to the development of animation throughout the 20th century. He received an honorary degree from Oglethorpe University in 1993.
• In 1988, Jones contributed to the creation of London's Museum of the Moving Image by spending several days working high on scaffolding creating a chase sequence directly onto the high walls of the museum.
• Jones also directed animated sequences various features such as a lengthy sequence in the 1992 film Stay Tuned and a shorter one seen at the start of the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. Jones was not a fan of much contemporary animation, terming most of it, especially television cartoons such as those of Hanna-Barbera, "illustrated radio".

Quotes

• When critics sit in judgment it is hard to tell where justice leaves off and vengeance begins.
• Well, directing is doing the key drawings, not the key animation, mind you.
• We must not confuse distortion with innovation; distortion is useless change, art is beneficial change.
• There's only one test of a great children's book, or a great children's film, and that is this: If it can be read or viewed with pleasure by adults, then it has the chance to be a great children's film, or a great children's book.
• There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is the willingness to think.
• The whole essence of good drawing - and of good thinking, perhaps - is to work a subject down to the simplest form possible and still have it believable for what it is meant to be.
• The rules are simple. Take your work, but never yourself, seriously. Pour in the love and whatever skill you have, and it will come out.
• The only time a wife listens to her husband is when he's asleep.
• The only thing an adult can give a child is time.
• The older I get, the more individuality I find in animals and the less I find in humans.