Walter Lantz

Walter Benjamin Lantz (April 27, 1899– March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.

Biography

Early years and start in animation

Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York to Italian immigrant parents, Francesco Paolo Lantz (formerly Lanza) and Maria Gervasi from Calitri. According to Joe Adamson's biography, The Walter Lantz Story, Lantz's father was given his new surname by an immigration official who anglicized it. Walter Lantz was always interested in art, completing a mail order drawing class at age twelve. He was inspired when he saw Winsor McCay's animated short, Gertie the Dinosaur.

While working as an auto mechanic Lantz got his first break. A wealthy customer named Fred Kafka liked his drawings on the garage's bulletin board and financed Lantz's studies at the Art Students League of New York. Kafka also helped him land a job as a copy boy at the New York American, owned by William Randolph Hearst. Lantz worked at the newspaper and attended art school at night.

Walter Lantz Productions

Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1929 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios, now part of the media conglomerate NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast. Nowadays the company exists in name only as a subsidiary of Universal Animation Studios, handling the rights to the studio's characters and films.

The studio was formed originally as Universal Studio Cartoons on the initiative of Universal movie mogul Carl Laemmle, who was tired of the continuous company politics he was dealing with concerning contracting cartoons to outside animation studios. Walter Lantz, who was Laemmle's part-time chauffeur and a veteran of the John R. Bray Studios with considerable experience in all elements of animation production, was selected to run the department.

In 1935, the studio was severed from Universal and became Walter Lantz Productions under Lantz's direct control, and in 1940, Lantz managed to gain the copyright for his characters. The cartoons continued to be distributed by Universal through 1947, changing to United Artists distribution in 1948–49, and by Universal again from 1951 to 1972.

Lantz

Lantz is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, in the North of Spain.

External links

Coordinates: 42°59′56″N 1°37′10″W / 42.99889°N 1.61944°W / 42.99889; -1.61944

Lantz (disambiguation)

Lantz may refer to:

Places

People

See also