Much-loved Hanna-Barbera writer and storyboard artist Tony Benedict has passed away at the age of 89. Mark Evanier reported the news on his blog earlier this morning. Among his many credits were The Flintstones (he worked on all the episodes), Top Cat and The Jetsons. He also wrote and storyboarded for Huckleberry Hound, Yakky Doodle, Touche Turtle, Wally Gator, Magilla Gorilla and Secret Squirrel. Benedict developed The Jetson’s Astro the dog from Joe Barbera’s suggestions.
After leaving the Marines, Benedict began his career at Disney in 1956 as an in-betweener on Sleeping Beauty. He also worked on the Disneyland TV series. In 1958, he began work on UPA’s Mr. Magoo cartoons. After he sold a script for The Flintstones in 1959, he was brought on to work at Hanna-Barbera as a storyman and sketch artist.
“Writing and boarding a Jetsons episode was to me about as much fun as I ever was permitted to have,” wrote Benedict. “Thinking visually. No text. The characters followed my acting direction or I would tear them up and trash them. A STORY board was the first step in the production line. Not a production board. That was something quite different. Attitudes, expressions, staging, action, gags and dialogue began here. One solo writer. No writing teams at Hanna Barbera in 1962. A single TV screen credit for writing one Jetsons episode was the sweetest reward. How deeply satisfying that was.”
He wrote and produced The Early Birds short in 1968 and was the producer/writer and director of the 1969 feature, The Three Bears, which was followed by The Jabberwocky in 1970. He also worked on animated segments for Sesame Street and The Electric Company, Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales and The Daffy Duck Easter Show in the 1970s. During the 1980s, Benedict continued to work as a storyboard artist for a wide variety of series and shorts, including the new Jetsons, The New Yogi Bear Show, Beany and Cecil, Tony Toon Adventures, Camp Dandy, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, Madeline and Droopy: Master Detective.
Fortunately, Tony leaves behind a wealth of remembrances, photos and illustrations which can be retrieved on his Facebook page and interviews (the Animation Guild interview can be found here). Our condolences go out to all his friends and family. We will add information about services here as soon as we obtain it.
