Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994 TAG: 9403230070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BURBANK, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Lantz died at St. Joseph Medical Center, where he had been admitted March 14, said Alicia Gonzalez, a hospital spokeswoman. She declined to give the cause of death, saying family members had not approved its release.
Lantz was given an honorary Academy Award in 1978 "for bringing joy and laughter to every part of the world through his unique animated motion pictures."
Lantz's cartoon stable also included Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Smedley, Sugarfoot, Charley Beary and Oswald Rabbit. In 1930, he made animation history by producing the first Technicolor cartoon - the five-minute opening sequence of "The King of Jazz."
His wife, stage actress Grace Stafford, gave the bird its contemptuous "Heh-heh-heh-HEHHHH-heh" laugh. She died in March 1992 at age 88.
Woody was inspired by a woodpecker that disturbed the Lantzes' honeymoon at California's Lake June in 1941, or so the legend goes; Stafford suggested her husband create an animated character based on the bird.
The late Mel Blanc was among a flock of actors who became the bird's voice over the years. Lantz was forced to hunt for another Woody voice, though, when Blanc signed an exclusive contract to do the voices of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Bros. characters in the late 1940s.
When Lantz's wife asked to audition, Lantz refused. She then secretly made a recording and placed it among the audition tapes of seven other applicants. Lantz picked her. During the next quarter-century, she put the words in Woody's beak.
Lantz was born April 27, 1900, in New Rochelle, N.Y., was trained with the Art Students League in New York City and got a job at age 16 with William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the New York American.
There, he met animation pioneer Winsor McCay, who offered him a job. By age 19, Lantz had worked on "The Katzenjammer Kids," "Mutt and Jeff," "Bringing Up Father" and other cartoons based on comic strips.
He worked briefly as a gag writer for the Mack Sennett studio, famous for its Keystone Kops serials. In 1928, Lantz was hired by Universal chief Carl Laemmle to produce the studio's popular "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoons.
Woody Woodpecker made his first appearance in the Andy Panda cartoon "Knock Knock."
"Woody Woodpecker started out as a supporting player, but he became a star in his second picture. And he's been a nest egg to me ever since," Lantz once said.
by CNB