Gene Deitch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gene Deitch (2007)

Eugene Merril Deitch (born August 8, 1924 in Chicago , † April 16, 2020 in Prague ) was an American illustrator , animator and film director .

Life

After graduating from Los Angeles High School, Deitch began working for North American Aviation in 1942 , where he drew aircraft plans. There he met his first wife Marie, who was married from 1943 to 1960. Her sons Simon , Seth and Kim Deitch are also cartoonists.

Between 1945 and 1951, Gene Deitch worked for the jazz magazine The Record Changer , first as a graphic designer, then as an art director . The New York producer William L. Snyder convinced Deitch in 1959 to go to Prague to be the artistic director of the animation studio founded by Snyder. The formula for success of Snyder, who was a skilled businessman, was the production of labor-intensive animated films for the western market at cheap rates in the eastern bloc . Deitch's animation studio is located near the Barrandov studios in Prague.

From 1959 Deitch lived in Prague, where he married his second wife Zdenka Najmanová in 1964, who worked in the cartoon studio "Bratři v triku". In his 1997 memoir For the Love of Prague , Deitch thematized his experience as "the only free American in Prague during 30 years of communism".

Deitch also produced cartoons from there during the Cold War for US-based companies such as UPA / Columbia Pictures, Terrytoons / 20th Century Fox ( Tom Terrific ) , MGM ( Tom and Jerry ) and Paramount Pictures ( Nudnik ) . He co - directed the comic television series Krazy Kat with producer William L. Snyder . The short film Munro , produced by Snyder and directed by Deitch, received an Oscar in 1961 in the category "Best Animated Short Film"; Self Defense ... for Cowards was nominated for an Oscar in the same category in 1963. Two more Oscar nominations followed in 1965 for Nudnik # 2 and How to Avoid Friendship .

Starting in 1968, Deitch was the lead animation director for Weston Woods / Scholastic, a Connecticut- based production company that mainly adapts children's books. In 1996 MoMA in New York showed a retrospective of the eight short films by Deitch for the film company Rembrandt Films . In 2003 he received the Annie Award from the ASIFA -Hollywood organization for his life's work.

Deitch died in Prague in April 2020 at the age of 95.

Filmography

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Neil Genzlinger: Gene Deitch, Prolific Animator, Is Dead at 95. In: The New York Times . April 25, 2020, accessed April 25, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Gene Deitch (born Eugene Merril Deitch), 1924. In: ncsml.org. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015 ; accessed on April 19, 2020 (English).
  3. ^ Jen Nessel: Made In Prague, Bound for the US In: The New York Times . August 9, 1998, accessed April 18, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Lucie Jandová: Gene Deitch: Že bych zůstal v Československu žít, tehdy nikoho nenapadlo. In: novinky.cz . May 5, 2018, accessed April 19, 2020 (Czech).
  5. ^ Gene Deitch: For the Love of Prague . Pragma, Prague 1997, ISBN 80-7205-467-8 .
  6. ^ Dulcie Leimbach: For Children. In: The New York Times. April 19, 1996, archived from the original on October 15, 2013 ; accessed on April 18, 2020 (English).
  7. ↑ Legacy: 31st Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2003). In: annieawards.org. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013 ; accessed on April 18, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Deitch, Gene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deitch, Eugene Merril
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American illustrator, animator and film director
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 2020
Place of death Prague