Robert Givens

Cast · Writer

Born

March 2, 1918 · Hanson, Kentucky

Died

December 14, 2017

Birth name

Robert Herman Givens

Bob Givens began straight out of high school as an animation checker and 'in-betweener' working primarily for Grim Natwick at Disney studios in 1937. He perfected his drawing technique in subsequent years by attended night classes at the Chouinard Art Institute and the New York Art Students League. In 1940, Bob moved over to Leon Schlesinger's animation unit at Warner Brothers as a layout and storyboard artist. He famously created early model sheets for Bugs Bunny which markedly improved upon Ben Hardaway's original designs. Bob's finished product - with refinements by Tex Avery -- then became more or less the blueprint for future incarnations of the rabbit (Robert McKimson's fine-tuning later resulted in the finished product). Bob's work was initially featured in A Wild Hare (1940), a cartoon which also set the tone for the personalities of both Bugs and his perennial antagonist Elmer Fudd. In 1942, Bob was drafted into army service and spent the war years making military training films at Culver City under the auspices of Rudolf Ising, one of the original creators of Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies (the other was Hugh Harman). He returned to 'Termite Terrace' after the war, mainly as layout artist for McKimson and Chuck Jones. After 1954, he free-lanced at various animation studios, including U.P.A. (where he worked on Mr.Magoo cartoons), Hanna-Barbera and DePatie-Freleng, in addition creating graphics for numerous Western Publishing comics and children's books. He retired in 2001 after six and a half decades in the animation business, that year also receiving the prestigious Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement.