Hawley Pratt

Pratt also worked for Walt Disney Studios, Filmation, and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises where he co-created The Pink Panther.

• Name — Hawley Pratt • Birth Name — Hawley Barnard Pratt • Born — 9 June 1911 • Birthplace — Seattle, Washington U.S. • Died — 4 March 1999 • Place of death — Thousand Oaks, California U.S. • Occupation — Animator, character designer, illustrator • Years Active — 1933–1990

Born in Seattle and raised in the Bronx by his widowed mother Mabel, Pratt graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He became an assistant animator then full-animator at Walt Disney Studios in 1933, especially he worked on The Nutcracker Suite sequence for Fantasia where he animated the spinning flowers dancing to “Dance of the Reed-Flutes”. He later left to join Warner Bros. Cartoons, along with fellow animators Bill Melendez, Cornett Wood, and Jack Bradbury who also departed to the same studio after the Disney animators' strike in 1941. At Warners, he served as an assistant animator to Richard Bickenbach before taking over the role as a layout artist providing background layouts and character poses since Sylvester’s debut cartoon, Life with Feathers (finishing many layouts by Owen Fitzgerald and remains replaced him) until the early 1960s. Working closely with director Friz Freleng, Pratt's Warner Bros. resume includes the Oscar-winning cartoons Tweetie Pie, which introduced the duo of Sylvester and Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, where Freleng and Pratt redesigned the character into his modern incarnation, and Birds Anonymous. Pratt directed Señorella and the Glass Huarache, a Looney Tune released in 1964 after the studio closed its animation division. Pratt briefly worked at the Hanna-Barbera studio with Freleng before the two moved to DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. They created the Pink Panther character for the animated title sequence of the 1963 feature film of the same name; though, Pratt is often solely credited for the character's creation. While there, he directed (or co-directed) all episodes of The Pink Panther Show. Pratt made his directorial effort in the 1966 short The Pink Blueprint, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject (Cartoon). His other directorial works also include three Roland and Rattfink shorts, The Super 6, and three Dr. Seuss television specials: The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and Dr. Seuss on the Loose. Pratt also served as associate director and animator of the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Pratt's skills also had him illustrating several Little Golden Books and Big Golden Books. Pratt died on March 4, 1999.