Bud Luckey | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Everett Luckey (1934-07-28)July 28, 1934 Billings, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | February 24, 2018(2018-02-24) (aged 83) Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Yellowstone Valley Memorial Park, Billings, Montana, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1961–2014 |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (1992–2014) |
| Children | Andy Luckey |
| Awards | Annie Award (2004) Clio Award (1966) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1953–1957 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | United States Air Force |
William Everett "Bud"Luckey (July 28, 1934 – February 24, 2018) was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, musician, singer and voice actor. He worked at the animation studioPixar, where he worked as a character designer on a number of films, includingToy Story,Toy Story 2,A Bug's Life,Monsters, Inc.,Finding Nemo,Cars andRatatouille. Luckey was also the voice ofRick Dicker inThe Incredibles,Chuckles the Clown inToy Story 3 and asEeyore inWinnie the Pooh (2011).
In 2004, Luckey directed and wrote the Pixar short filmBoundin', for which he also composed music and performed as the solo singer and narrator. It won theAnnie Award and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Luckey continued to work as a performer of character voices in both Disney and Pixar films until his retirement in 2014.[1]
William Everett Luckey was born inBillings, Montana on July 28, 1934.[2][3][4]
During theKorean War, Luckey served in theUnited States Air Force.[5] He later served as an Artist-Illustrator (a specialty now called "Visual Information Specialist") with theNATO Allied Occupation Forces in Europe and North Africa from 1953 to 1954 and, finally, with theStrategic Air Command from 1954 to 1957.[1]
Among Luckey's Air Force duty stations wasNouasseur Air Base (also known as Nouasseur Air Depot), a nuclear bomber strike base and nuclear weapon storage depot south of Casablanca, Morocco.[6] There, he served with theThird Air Force Air Material Command, Southern District (now part of theAir Force Materiel Command).[5] Additional duty stations wereLackland AFB andKelly AFB (now collectively part ofJoint Base San Antonio), as well asPortland AFB (now known asPortland Air National Guard Base).[6] Through the mid-1960s, he remained an Air Force reservist.[6]
After leaving active Air Force duty and with the benefits of the Korean WarG.I. Bill, Luckey attendedChouinard Art Institute (which later merged with the California Academy of Music to formCalifornia Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts)) from 1957 to 1960.[1] He was aDisney scholar, and received professional animation training at theUniversity of Southern California withDisney veteran animatorArt Babbitt.[5] After graduation, Luckey worked for a time as Babbitt's assistant / apprentice at Quartet Films inLos Angeles.[6]
In 1961, he served as an animator forThe Alvin Show.[1] He also worked as an animator and sequence director on a pilot forMad magazine television special produced by longtime friendsJimmy T. Murakami and Gordon Bellamy.[5] Luckey would later serve as an animator onThe Mouse and His Child.[1]
As an advertising agency Art Director and Producer from 1961 to 1969 at the Guild, Bascom, & Bonfigli (Advertising) Agency (which later merged with Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, now Saatchi & Saatchi, in 1967), Luckey worked on television commercials forKellogg's Frosted Flakes (Tony the Tiger),Froot Loops (Toucan Sam), andRice Krispies (Snap, Crackle and Pop), as well asInterstate Bakeries'Dolly Madison products featuringCharles M. Schulz'Peanuts characters.[7] He created the "Bosco Dumbunnies" characters for theBest Foods Chocolate Flavor Milk Amplifier productBosco Chocolate Syrup – the commercial spots were animated by renowned animatorsFred Wolf andJimmy Murakami.[7] In 1966, Luckey won aClio Award for theGeneral Mills commercialBetty Crocker – "Magic Faucet".[7]
Luckey also worked withAlex Anderson, who created the characters ofRocky the Flying Squirrel,Bullwinkle, andDudley Do-Right, as well as the more obscureCrusader Rabbit. Anderson was the Vice President of Television at the Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency at that time.[1]
Despite its San Francisco location, the Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency was also well known for its work on political campaigns.[7] The agency's Creative Director Maxwell "Bud" Arnold was considered a foremost expert in the budding field of television advertising for politics and Arnold's expertise brought many key political figures to the agency's roster.[7] In that regard, Luckey also did work on the presidential campaigns ofJohn F. Kennedy,Robert F. Kennedy, andHubert Humphrey, who were clients of the agency during his tenure.[7]
Charles M. Schulz'sPeanuts characters such asCharlie Brown andSnoopy were used by theDancer Fitzgerald Sample agency for its clientInterstate Bakeries's products sold under theDolly Madison brand name.[7] Luckey was placed in charge as the Senior Art Director/Producer for all advertising containing Schulz characters.[8] As a result, Luckey often visited Schulz to review material as well as famed animatorBill Melendez, whose studio produced the animation containing the Schulz characters.[8] Luckey's relationship with Schulz and Melendez was such that after Luckey left the agency in 1969 to form his own animation company,Dancer Fitzgerald Sample contracted him for several years to continue working on the Dolly Madison campaigns featuring Schulz's characters.[7]
While working at the Guild Bascom & Bonfigli / Dancer Fitzgerald Sample agency, Luckey first collaborated with copywriter Don Hadley.[7] The two became lifelong friends until Hadley's death in 2007.[1] After leaving the agency, Hadley and Luckey co-created numerous short films forSesame Street.[2]
During the mid-1960s,Jim Henson worked with Luckey on commercials.[2] They remained close friends until Henson's death in 1990.[7] That friendship later resulted in Luckey's work onSesame Street and his illustration work featuring Henson'sMuppet characters in the 1970s and 1980s.[7]
During the 1970s, Luckey wrote and animated many short films forSesame Street and theChildren's Television Workshop, often doing the voice work himself as well.[9] Among them are "The Ladybugs' Picnic", which was performed byJim Kweskin, "That's About the Size of It", the Donnie-Bud Series (with co-writer Don Hadley) featuring numbers 2 to 6, "Penny Candy Man", "Martian Beauty", "#7 The Alligator King", (withTurk Murphy) "Lovely Eleven Morning", "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Nine", and the award-winning "Longie and Shorty the Rattlesnakes" miniseries.[10] He returned to work on one more segment forSesame Street in 1990 titled "Z – Zebu". Many of Luckey'sSesame Street works were created with his long-time friend and creative collaborator writer / lyricist Don Hadley (1936–2007).[2]
Luckey founded his own animation studio titled the Luckey-Zamora Picture Moving Company in the early 1970s and merged its operation with Colossal Pictures in the late 1980s before joining Pixar in 1992.[2] The company then took studio space in the Produce District of San Francisco.[2] In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the largest animation studio in the San Francisco Bay Area.[7]
His film credits includedThe Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child.[1]
He worked onBetty Boop's Hollywood Mystery and did character design forBack to the Future: The Animated Series from 1991 to 1992.[8]
On the 2005DVD release ofPixar'sThe Incredibles, in addition to Bud Luckey'sOscar-nominated shortBoundin', the studio included a short biography of Luckey entitled "Who is Bud Luckey?".[10] In that video biography, Pixar (and now Disney's) former Creative Executive Vice PresidentJohn Lasseter declared: "Bud Luckey is one of the true unsung heroes of animation."[9]
In 1992, Luckey joined the studio as the oldest employee and their fifth animator, and also worked as a character designer, storyboard artist, and voice performer forToy Story and other Pixar movies.[11][12]John Lasseter credits Luckey with the creation and design of the star ofToy Story,Woody, acowboy.[10] Originally, the character was aventriloquist's dummy likeEdgar Bergen's characterCharlie McCarthy.[10] He evolved into apullstring doll with an empty gun holster.[10]
His character designs can also be seen inA Bug's Life,Toy Story 2,Monsters, Inc.,Finding Nemo,Cars,Ratatouille,WALL-E,Up, andToy Story 3.[8][9]In 2003, Luckey gained attention for the short filmBoundin', which was released theatrically as the opening cartoon forThe Incredibles.[1] It was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Animated Short in 2003.[8] Luckey wrote and designed the short, and also composed the music and lyrics, and sang and performed banjo on the soundtrack for the cartoon.[10]Boundin' won theASIFA HollywoodAnnie Award that same year.[8]
InThe Incredibles, Luckey voiced the role of National Supers Agency (NSA) AgentRick Dicker.[1] In the film's DVD commentary, directorBrad Bird jokes that he had an idea to startBoundin' with Rick Dicker coming into his office late at night, pulling out a bottle of "booze" and a banjo to start singing the song about the dancing sheep who is sheared and has his confidence restored by theJackalope.[10] In the film's sequel, released in June 2018, the role of Agent Dicker was recast withJonathan Banks as Luckey had retired in 2014.[13] He also lent his voice toChuckles the Clown inToy Story 3 andHawaiian Vacation.[1]
Luckey designed and illustrated more than 100 children's books containing his characters, including theGolden BookMater and the Ghostlight, which featured theCars character Mater.[8]
He was featured in the 2011 filmWinnie the Pooh as the voice ofEeyore.[14]
Luckey was the father of animator/director/producerAndy Luckey, best known as a producer of the animatedTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[1]
On February 24, 2018, Luckey died at his home inNewtown, Connecticut of astroke at the age of 83.Incredibles 2 was released posthumously and dedicated to his memory withJonathan Banks taking over his voice role as Rick Dicker.[1][15]
