Bill Littlejohn, Award-Winning Animator

Bill Littlejohn, an animator whose work included Tom and Jerry shorts and the Peanuts specials, died Sept. 17, 2010, at his home in Malibu, California. He was 96.

Born in New Jersey in 1914, Littlejohn trained as a pilot, instructed for the U.S. Air Force during World War II. He was also a test pilot for Hamilton Standard props.

He began his animation career in 1931. Although he was talented, he said his principal motivation to pursue the field was financial — in the depths of the Depression, he needed work. His first job came through an aunt who worked at the Van Beuren Studios in New York.

In 1935, he left New York for Los Angeles to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering. Two years later he returned to animation with a position at MGM, where he worked on the Happy Harmonies cartoons and the popular Tom and Jerry series.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Littlejohn became active in the movement to unionize the animation industry and helped organize the strike at the Walt Disney Studio in 1941.

During World War II, Littlejohn continued to work for MGM and Walter Lantz studios while serving as a test pilot for the U.S. Army. After the war, he did his most famous animation for independent filmmakers and television studios and worked on numerous commercials for Playhouse Pictures, Jay Ward Productions, Fine Arts Films and others.

Later Littlejohn was an animator on Peanuts specials and features by Bill Melendez Productions. He drew some of Snoopy’s most outrageous antics.

He also did acclaimed work for the husband-and-wife team of John and Faith Hubley, including principal animation for the duo’s 1962 Oscar-winning short The Hole. Others he contributed included to The Hat, Of Stars and Men, Enter Life and John Hubley’s last film, A Doonesbury Special, which was nominated for an Oscar.

A dedicated advocate of animation as an art form, Littlejohn was one of the founders of the International Tournées of Animation, a program of shorts from around the world that played at museums throughout the U.S. he also helped organize the Olympiad of Animation for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. In addition, he co-founded ASIFA/Hollywood, the local chapter of the international animation society, and received its Annie award for career achievement in 1981. He was president of the Screen Cartoonists Guild and represented the short films branch on the Board of Governors of the Motion Picture Academy from 1988 to 2001.

Littlejohn’s wife of 61 years, artist and actress Fini Rudiger Littlejohn, died in 2004. He is survived by a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.