Tedd Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edward Stacey Pierce III (1906-08-12)August 12, 1906 Quogue, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 19, 1972(1972-02-19) (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Ted Pierce |
| Occupation(s) | Animation screenwriter, voice actor |
| Years active | 1933[1]–1968 |
| Employer(s) | Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros. Cartoons (1933–1939, 1941–1964) Fleischer Studios (1939–1941) UPA (1953) Walter Lantz Productions (1961–1962) Rembrandt Films/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (1962) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Edward Stacey "Tedd"Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s.
Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samuel Cuppels Pierce, who in turn was the son of Edward S. Pierce, a long-serving treasurer of the St. Louis-based Samuel Cuppels Woodenware Company. Pierce completed his education through the fourth year of high school, according to the 1940 census records.[2]
Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for theWarner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, whose other notable alumni includeChuck Jones andMichael Maltese, contributing storylines and gags for numerous shorts from 1935 until his departure in 1959. Pierce also worked as a writer atFleischer Studios from 1939 to 1941. Jones credited Pierce in his autobiographyChuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist (1989) as being the inspiration for the characterPepé Le Pew, the haplessly romantic Frenchskunk due to Pierce's self-proclamation that he was a ladies' man.[3] He had one son, named Geoffrey Pierce, from a former marriage.[1]
In early credits, his name was spelled "T-E-D". He was said to have added an extra "D" to his name as a way of lampooning puppeteerBil Baird when he dropped one of the "L"s from his first name.[4]
He contributed (with Bill Danch) the story of theTom and Jerry shortTall in the Trap (1962), directed byGene Deitch.
In his Warners career, Pierce worked with three of the best-known Warner animation directors (Jones,Robert McKimson andFriz Freleng). While rotating between Jones and Freleng (often in collaboration withMichael Maltese) for much of the 1940s, the dissolution of their partnership in 1946 left Pierce reassigned solely to Freleng's unit. Freleng would, however, replace Pierce withWarren Foster (then McKimson's primary storyman) in 1949 owing to his dissatisfaction with Pierce's output, reassigning Pierce to McKimson's unit for much of his remaining tenure at Warner's. Pierce's credited output includes Freleng'sHare Do (1949),Bad Ol' Putty Tat (1949),Bunker Hill Bunny (1950) andBig House Bunny (1950); Jones'Hare Tonic (1945, an early success for both of them) andBroom-Stick Bunny (1956); and McKimson'sHillbilly Hare (1950),Lovelorn Leghorn (1951) andCat-Tails for Two (1953), the last of which was Speedy Gonzales' first appearance. Because much of Pierce's Termite Terrace career was spent with McKimson's unit, however, it would follow that Pierce was generally overshadowed by his contemporaries Maltese and Foster.
Pierce also got occasional voice work in the shorts: he gave voice to the tough guy inInto Your Dance (1935),Jack Bunny inI Love to Singa (1936), King Bombo inGulliver's Travels (1939), and the villainous C. Bagley Beetle inMr. Bug Goes to Town (1941), in addition to writing on those films.[5]
He imitatedBud Abbott in one Warner short castingAbbott and Costello as alley catsBabbit and Catstello (A Tale of Two Kitties) and two Warner shorts casting them as mice (Tale of Two Mice andThe Mouse-Merized Cat). Pierce also voiced Tom Dover inThe Dover Boys, the "tall, thin" character inWackiki Wabbit, and the French chef Louis inFrench Rarebit. In addition, in a few shorts containing Jones'Hubie and Bertie characters, Pierce voiced Hubie, and Maltese played Bertie. Thereafter they were voiced by the principal voice actor,Mel Blanc, andStan Freberg, who had also voiced secondaryLooney Tunes/Merrie Melodies duos such as theGoofy Gophers andSpike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier.
While it has been speculated that Pierce did voice-work for coming-attractions trailers forUniversal Studios, experts in the voice acting field such as Keith Scott have disputed this point.
