Bob Givens

Sad to report that Robert Givens, longtime designer, layout and background artist, whose career reaches back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is seriously ill. (Bob is ninety-nine years old and just shy of 100, and at that age, sickness is a dangerous thing.)

Mr. Givens worked as an inbetweener at Walt Disney Productions, but soon departed animation work for design, storyboards, and layout at Leon Schlesinger's studio in Hollywood. After World War II interrupted his cartoon career, he returned to Warner Bros. and resumed what became more than a half-century of television and theatrical cartooning. Bob not only worked on the first animated television commercial (in 1947) but thousands more afterward.

He continued to work right into the 21st century, finishing up his career with The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (Warner Bros. Animation) and Timber Wolf.