Veteran animator and director Brad Case passed away at the age of 93 on Wednesday, March 19. Since getting his start as an uncredited animator on Disney’s Bambi in the mid 1930s, Case enjoyed a long career spanning 65 years and such leading studios as MGM, Walter Lantz, Ub Iwerks, Hanna-Barbera, UPA, Warner Bros., DePatie-Freleng, Marvel, Graz Ent. and New World.
Case earned his first screen credit on the 1944 Donald Duck short The Plastics Inventor and created effects animation for the 1946 features Song of the South and Make Mine Music. His directorial debut came with the 1961 animated TV series The Dick Tracy Show, which led to gigs on 1976’s The Pink Panther and Friends and 1977’s Baggy Pants & the Nitwits and What’s New, Mr. Magoo? In 1978, he directed episodes of The All New Pink Panther Show and The Fantastic Four.
As a storyboard artist, Case lent his talents to the series Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch and The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971). In addition, he served as layout artist for the 1966 feature The Man Called Flintstone and the shows Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles (1966), Birdman and the Galaxy Trio (1967) and The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971).
Case’s feature film animation credits include Shinbone Alley (1971) and Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island (1983). Later in his career, he served as sequence director on the 1984 Transformers series and 1985’s Jem and G.I. He also directed segments of the 1985 direct-to-video release Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines.
Case received the Animation Guild Golden Award in 1985. He is survived by son Dale, an animation director and supervisor whose credits include the 1996 TV series Hey Arnold!
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