Manuel Perez | |
|---|---|
 Manuel Perez atWarner Bros., 1937[1] | |
| Born | June 17, 1914 |
| Died | January 18, 1981(1981-01-18) (aged 66) |
| Occupation(s) | Animator,animation director |
Manuel "Manny"Perez (17 June 1914 – 18 January 1981) was an Americananimator andanimation director whose career spanned 40 years, from the 1940s to the 1980s, and best known for his work on theWarner Bros. Cartoons animated shorts, working on such cartoons asBugs Bunny,Elmer Fudd andDaffy Duck.[2][3][4][5] Later in his career he worked onFritz the Cat[6][7] andThe Lord of the Rings.[2]
Born in 1914 inMorenci, Arizona, in 1917 his family moved to Los Angeles where Perez later attended high school. An athlete, he took part infootball, baseball and track. Two years after graduating he was hired byLeon Schlesinger as a trainee animator.[8][9]
'Manny' Perez worked on over 300 cartoons during the 'Golden Age of American Animation', mainly forWarner Bros. Cartoons, for whom he started animating in 1938,[10] but also forBill Melendez Productions,DePatie-Freleng Enterprises andHanna-Barbera. His first credited cartoon wasPorky's Bear Facts (1941).[9] Among the cartoons he animated were those featuringBugs Bunny,Daffy Duck,Porky Pig,Elmer Fudd,Tweety andSylvester,Quick Draw McGraw, thePink Panther,[11] ThePeanuts specialsA Charlie Brown Christmas andHe's Your Dog, Charlie Brown,Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner,Doctor Dolittle,The Cat in the Hat,Fritz the Cat, where he infamously animated Fritz and three girls in the bathtub for two thousand drawings (half a minute), andPlastic Man, among many others.[6][12][13]
A member of the labor union The Screen Cartoonists Guild, Perez was one of the animators involved in the 'Looney Tunes Lock Out' of 1941, whenLeon Schlesinger, who had been producing cartoons forWarner Bros. Cartoons since the mid-1930s, locked out those animators who had joined the Guild, including Perez. After six days Schlesinger relented and allowed them to go back to work.[14]
Although Perez worked forFriz Freleng for about ten years, the two did not get along. According to animator Greg Duffell in 1999:
Virgil Ross told me that Perez was "Friz's whipping boy"... Virgil felt that Friz belittled Manny, then when Manny left Virgil felt thathe became the target of Friz' wrath ... I met Manny Perez in 1975 at San Rio Productions during the production of a feature film (I've forgotten the title now) that was like a rock musicFantasia. I was quite thrilled, of course, to meet Mr. Perez (didn't know he'd be there) and started to ask him questions about his work. At that time, I wasn't clear which animator did what, though I could see the various styles while watching the cartoons. Manny was very elusive about identifying any of his work for me. At the mention of Friz' name he said these words, with a tense smile, that I'll never forget: "You know, I worked so long for him. ... well ... I got tohate that little guy ..."[10]
In his later years, Perez worked onJourney Back to Oz (1971); the animated version ofThe Lord of the Rings (1978),[9]The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (1979),[10] andThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979).[15]
Perez died January 18, 1981 at the age of 66 inVan Nuys, California. The final projects he worked on wereHey Good Lookin' andHeidi's Song.[9]