Gene Deitch

At 95 years old, Gene Deitch physical status not available right now. We will update Gene Deitch's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Eugene Merril Deitch (born August 8, 1924) is an American illustrator, animator and film director.

Based in Prague since 1959, Deitch is known for creating animated cartoons such as Munro, Tom Terrific, and Nudnik, as well as his work on the Popeye and Tom and Jerry series.

Early life

Deitch was born in Chicago on August 8, 1924, the son of salesman Joseph Deitch and Ruth Delson Deitch. In 1929, the family moved to California, and Deitch attended school in Hollywood. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1942.

Personal life and death

Deitch met his first wife, Marie, when they both worked at North American Aviation, and they married in 1943. Their three sons, Kim, Simon, and Seth Deitch, are artists and writers for underground and alternative comics.

Several days after arriving in Prague in October 1959, Deitch met Zdenka Najmanová, the production manager at the studio Bratři v triku where he worked. They married in 1964. Deitch's memoir, For the Love of Prague, is based on his experience of being what he called "the only free American living and working in Prague during 30 years of the Communist Party dictatorship". According to Deitch, although he was followed by the StB and his phone was tapped, he was never aware of their presence and was never interrogated nor arrested.

Deitch died in Prague on April 16, 2020, at the age of 95. Shortly before his death, Deitch had noted intestinal problems.

Source

Early career

After graduating, Deitch began working for North American Aviation, drafting aircraft blueprints. He was drafted and underwent pilot training before acquiring pneumonia and was honorably discharged in May of the following year. Deitch contributed covers and interior art to the jazz magazine The Record Changer, from 1940 to 1951. Deitch, an early supporter and audio engineer for Connie Converse, one of the first American singer-songwriters, appeared in the 1950s. Converse appeared on CBS television for a brief period of time, but later found no success and ultimately abandoned music, only to be reminded decades later, by recordings Deitch had made of her music in 1954.

Animation career

Deitch began an apprenticeship at United Productions of America (UPA) in 1955 and later became the creative director of Terrytoons, creating Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, Tom Terrific, and Clint Clobber. Deitch wrote and drew the United Feature Syndicate comic strip The Real-Great Adventures of Terr'ble Thompson!, a heroic tale about a young girl in epic adventures, beginning in 1955 while working at UPA. Little Golden Records had a skit about Terr'ble Thompson, with actor Art Carney and bandleader Mitch Miller participating. That led to the daily strip, which ran from October 16, 1955 to April 14, 1956. His comedy Sidney's Family Tree was nominated for an Academy Award in early 1958. He was fired from Terrytoons in August 1958 and opened Gene Deitch Associates, Inc., which mainly made television commercials.

Deitch moved to the company's Prague, Czechoslovakia, in October 1959, after client Rembrandt Films promised to fund Munro, an animated theatrical short film Deitch wanted to produce. He had intended to stay only ten days in Prague, but after meeting his future wife, Zdenka, the city settled permanently in the city. Munro debuted in Czechoslovakia and in the United States on September 5, 1961, just a short walk from Tiffany's Breakfast. In 1961, it received an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the first short film to be lauded outside of the United States. In 2004, the Academy Film Archive acquired Munro.

Deitch worked with Rembrandt to produce Popeye cartoons on television with King Features, and from 1961 to 1962, he produced 13 new Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM. Deitch, who was "needlessly violent" as a "UPA guy," had misgivings of the former home. However, after being sent to work on the series, he quickly discovered that "nobody took [the assault] seriously," and that it was simply "a parody of exaggerated human emotions." "He also went to see what he felt to be the "biblical roots" in Tom and Jerry's conflict, which was similar to David and Goliath's, "the little guy can win (or at least survive) to face another day." Deitch's shorts were often regarded as the worst in the Tom and Jerry series by contemporary commentators; Deitch said that some readers wrote loving letters to him, saying that his Tom and Jerry shorts were their personal favorites.

Deitch co-produced and directed a series of TV shorts starring Krazy Kat for King Features from 1962 to 1964, with producer William L. Snyder. The Bluffers, which was based on one of Deitch's designs, was also co-produced by him. In Paris, he produced Alice of Wonderland, a 1966 film. He worked with Czech animator Ji Trnka on a full-length animated film version of The Hobbit in 1966. However, writer William L. Snyder couldn't secure the funds, and in order not to give the novel the rights for the novel's release, he requested Deitch to produce a short film version in 30 days. Adolf Born and Illustrator Deitch and illustrator made a 13-minute animated film that was never intended for public display; the film was long considered lost until it was discovered by Snyder's son and posted on YouTube in 2012. In 1966, Deitch created a teenage girl explorer in Terr'ble Tessie.

Deitch, from 1969 to his retirement in 2008, was the leading animation designer for Weston Woods Studios, modifying children's picture books. Deitch adapted 37 films for Weston Woods, from Drummer Hoff in 1969 to Voyage to the Bunny Planet in 2008. His studio was located in Prague near the Barrandov Studios, where many major films were shot. In 2003, Deitch was named the Annie Awards' Winsor McCay Award by ASIFA-Hollywood for his lifetime contribution to the art of animation.

Source