Collection: Bob Clampett (1913-1984) Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Bob Clampett (1913-1984) was an American Animator, Producer, Director, and Puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil. Bob Clampett was born in San Diego, California on May 8, 1913 to Joan and Robert Clampett. When he was a toddler, he and his family moved to Hollywood where they lived next door to actor Charlie Chaplin and his brother Syd. While growing up in Hollywood, Bob Clampett was interested in and influenced by actors Douglas Fairbanks, Lon Chaney, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd.

Bob Clampett showed extraordinary drawing talent at the ages of four and five, which led to him wanting to do art, but decided to step up to cartooning and make comic strips. Later on, Bob showed an interest in animation, film making and puppetry. He also began making his own short films subjects in his garage. While working at his aunt's doll factory, he helped design the first Mickey Mouse doll for Disney, due to the rising popularity of the character, but he was unable to find a drawing of the character so he decided to go to a movie theater and sketch some drawings of Mickey from what he saw.  At the age of twelve, Bob had his cartoons published by the Los Angeles Times including a full-page comic about the nocturnal adventures of a pussycat that was published in color in the Sunday edition. King Features Syndicate saw this and offered him a contract to start at seventy-five dollars a week when he finished high school. 

Bob Clampett then went to work as an animator and director on the 'Merrie Melodies' and 'Looney Tunes' series, and worked alongside some of the biggest names in the industry, including Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Frank Tashlin, Bob McKimson and Friz Freleng. Clampett was especially known for his wild and energetic style, with influences by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali. He was promoted to a directorial position in 1937 and during his fifteen years at the studio, directed 84 cartoons later deemed classic and designed some of the studio's most famous characters, including Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Tweety. Among Clampett's most acclaimed films are Porky in Wackyland (1938) and The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946). Some of the best showcases of his style are classic shorts like 'Porky in Wackyland' (1938), 'Wabbit Twouble' (1941), the Dr. Seuss adaptation 'Horton Hatches the Egg' (1942), 'The Wacky Wabbit' (1942), 'Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid' (1942), 'The Hep Cat' (1942), 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs' (1943), 'A Corny Concerto' (1943), 'Falling Hare' (1943), 'What's Cookin' Doc?' (1944), 'Russian Rhapsody' (1944), 'The Old Grey Hare' (1944), 'Draftee Daffy' (1945), 'Book Revue' (1946), 'Baby Bottleneck' (1946), 'Kitty Kornered' (1946) and 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery' (1946).

Bob Clampett left Warner Bros. in 1945 and went to work for television, developing the puppet show 'Time for Beany' (1949-1955) and its animated follow-up 'Beany and Cecil' (1959-1969). Clampett has been a major influence on many comic artists and animators, including 'Ren & Stimpy' creator John Kricfalusi, although he also received considerable criticism from former Warner colleagues like Chuck Jones, for his "self-promotion" and claims for being the creator of 'Bugs Bunny' and 'Porky Pig'. Robert Emerson Clampett died of a heart attack on 2 May 1984 in Detroit, Michigan, shortly before his 71st birthday. In 2000 Clampett's classic short 'Porky in Wackyland' was added to the National Film Registry for being "culturally, aesthetically and historically important."