Tex Avery Documentary

I mentioned legendary animator Tex Avery in my prior post. While he made animated commercials at the end of his career in the 1960s (most notably for "Raid" bug spray), his legend was made many years earlier, in the 1940s. In 1940 he created arguably the first Bugs Bunny cartoon for Warner Bros. (and came up with the immortal line "What's Up, Doc?"). And later that decade he perfected his signature style at MGM: his characters' exaggerated actions and reactions, and the overt sexuality of some of his female characters (see left). But by all accounts he burned out in the 1950s, first taking an extended leave of absence from MGM in 1950 and then leaving the film business entirely to make television commercials in the 1960s. He died at the age of 72 in 1980, not having lived to see the incredible influence of his work on a next generation of animators and film makers, so evident in the 1988 film, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," as well as "Ren & Stimpy" in the 1990s and even Jim Carey's 1994 movie "The Mask."

Embedded below is part 1 of a one hour documentary made in 1988 about Tex Avery's career: