Leo Salkin, a Hollywood film animator and screenwriter who was the inspiration for the squinty-eyed cartoon character Mr. Magoo, died on Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, Calif. He was 80 years old and lived in Hollywood.
The cause was congestive heart failure.
Mr. Salkin, who worked at M-G-M, Universal and Disney, among other studios, was an animator on the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp" and the director and animator of Mel Brooks's and Carl Reiner's film "The 2,000-Year-old Man." "Pigs Is Pigs," a movie that Mr. Salkin wrote, animated and directed, received an Academy Award nomination for best animated short film. Squinty, but Not Forgetful
Although the animator John Hubley had originally intended to base Mr. Magoo on W. C. Fields, he scrapped the idea in favor of a caricature of his friend Mr. Salkin. The bumbling, diminutive television character, created by Mr. Hubley in the early 1950's, was also the star of a feature film that Mr. Salkin.
Leo was kind of a short, bald fellow whose eyes seemed to squint a lot. But he wasn't forgetful like Mr. Magoo."
Mr. Salkin, a former president of the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Society, wrote an episode of the 1960's television series "The Addams Family," and published a book, "Story-Telling Home Movies: How to Make Them," (McGraw-Hill, 1958). Throughout his career, he worked alongside such pioneering animators as Chuck Jones, the primary director of Warner Brothers' "Looney Toons"; Walter Lantz, who created Woody Woodpecker, and Walt Disney.
Mr. Salkin is survived by his wife, Jeri, of Hollywood; a brother, William, of Beverly Hills, and a granddaughter.
The cause was congestive heart failure.
Mr. Salkin, who worked at M-G-M, Universal and Disney, among other studios, was an animator on the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp" and the director and animator of Mel Brooks's and Carl Reiner's film "The 2,000-Year-old Man." "Pigs Is Pigs," a movie that Mr. Salkin wrote, animated and directed, received an Academy Award nomination for best animated short film. Squinty, but Not Forgetful
Although the animator John Hubley had originally intended to base Mr. Magoo on W. C. Fields, he scrapped the idea in favor of a caricature of his friend Mr. Salkin. The bumbling, diminutive television character, created by Mr. Hubley in the early 1950's, was also the star of a feature film that Mr. Salkin.
Leo was kind of a short, bald fellow whose eyes seemed to squint a lot. But he wasn't forgetful like Mr. Magoo."
Mr. Salkin, a former president of the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Society, wrote an episode of the 1960's television series "The Addams Family," and published a book, "Story-Telling Home Movies: How to Make Them," (McGraw-Hill, 1958). Throughout his career, he worked alongside such pioneering animators as Chuck Jones, the primary director of Warner Brothers' "Looney Toons"; Walter Lantz, who created Woody Woodpecker, and Walt Disney.
Mr. Salkin is survived by his wife, Jeri, of Hollywood; a brother, William, of Beverly Hills, and a granddaughter.
Leo Salkin, a Hollywood film animator and screenwriter who was the inspiration for the squinty-eyed cartoon character Mr. Magoo, died on Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, Calif. He was 80 years old and lived in Hollywood.
The cause was congestive heart failure.
Mr. Salkin, who worked at M-G-M, Universal and Disney, among other studios, was an animator on the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp" and the director and animator of Mel Brooks's and Carl Reiner's film "The 2,000-Year-old Man." "Pigs Is Pigs," a movie that Mr. Salkin wrote, animated and directed, received an Academy Award nomination for best animated short film. Squinty, but Not Forgetful
Although the animator John Hubley had originally intended to base Mr. Magoo on W. C. Fields, he scrapped the idea in favor of a caricature of his friend Mr. Salkin. The bumbling, diminutive television character, created by Mr. Hubley in the early 1950's, was also the star of a feature film that Mr. Salkin.
Leo was kind of a short, bald fellow whose eyes seemed to squint a lot. But he wasn't forgetful like Mr. Magoo."
Mr. Salkin, a former president of the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Society, wrote an episode of the 1960's television series "The Addams Family," and published a book, "Story-Telling Home Movies: How to Make Them," (McGraw-Hill, 1958). Throughout his career, he worked alongside such pioneering animators as Chuck Jones, the primary director of Warner Brothers' "Looney Toons"; Walter Lantz, who created Woody Woodpecker, and Walt Disney.
Mr. Salkin is survived by his wife, Jeri, of Hollywood; a brother, William, of Beverly Hills, and a granddaughter.
The cause was congestive heart failure.
Mr. Salkin, who worked at M-G-M, Universal and Disney, among other studios, was an animator on the Disney film "Lady and the Tramp" and the director and animator of Mel Brooks's and Carl Reiner's film "The 2,000-Year-old Man." "Pigs Is Pigs," a movie that Mr. Salkin wrote, animated and directed, received an Academy Award nomination for best animated short film. Squinty, but Not Forgetful
Although the animator John Hubley had originally intended to base Mr. Magoo on W. C. Fields, he scrapped the idea in favor of a caricature of his friend Mr. Salkin. The bumbling, diminutive television character, created by Mr. Hubley in the early 1950's, was also the star of a feature film that Mr. Salkin.
Leo was kind of a short, bald fellow whose eyes seemed to squint a lot. But he wasn't forgetful like Mr. Magoo."
Mr. Salkin, a former president of the Hollywood chapter of the International Animated Film Society, wrote an episode of the 1960's television series "The Addams Family," and published a book, "Story-Telling Home Movies: How to Make Them," (McGraw-Hill, 1958). Throughout his career, he worked alongside such pioneering animators as Chuck Jones, the primary director of Warner Brothers' "Looney Toons"; Walter Lantz, who created Woody Woodpecker, and Walt Disney.
Mr. Salkin is survived by his wife, Jeri, of Hollywood; a brother, William, of Beverly Hills, and a granddaughter.
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