Walter Lantz

Walter Lantz
Lantz in 1990, with paintings of Woody Woodpecker
Born	Walter Benjamin Lantz (1899-04-27)April 27, 1899 New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Died	March 22, 1994(1994-03-22) (aged 94) Burbank, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart failure
Occupation	Animator, producer, director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1916–1982
Spouse(s)	Doris Hollister (m. 1930; div. 1940) Grace Stafford (m. 1940; her death 1992)
Children	John F. Lantz
Awards	Academy Honorary Award 1979 Lifetime Achievement Winsor McCay Award 1973 Lifetime Achievement

Walter Benjamin Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, director and actor best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.

Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Italian immigrant parents, Francesco Paolo Lantz (formerly Lanza) and Maria Gervasi from Calitri. According to Joe Adamson's biography, The Walter Lantz Story, Lantz's father was given his new surname by an immigration official who anglicized it. Walter Lantz was always interested in art, completing a mail-order drawing class at age 12. He was inspired when he saw Winsor McCay's animated short, "Gertie the Dinosaur".

While working as an auto mechanic, Lantz got his first break. Wealthy customer Fred Kafka liked his drawings on the garage's bulletin board and financed Lantz's studies at the Art Students League of New York. Kafka also helped him land a job as a copy boy at the New York American, owned by William Randolph Hearst. Lantz worked at the newspaper and attended art school at night.

By the age of 16, Lantz was working in the animation department under director Gregory La Cava. Lantz then worked at the John R. Bray Studios on the Jerry On The Job series. In 1924, Lantz directed, animated, and even starred in his first cartoon series, "Dinky Doodle", and soon replaced George "Vernon" Stallings as head of production (In the 1920s, Bray began to concentrate on competing with Hal Roach, the "king of two-reelers"). Lantz moved to Hollywood, California, after Bray switched to a publicity film studio in 1927, where he attempted to set up his own cartoon studio with Pinto Colvig, but their sound cartoons never got produced. In the meantime, he worked briefly for director Frank Capra and was a gag writer for Mack Sennett comedies. He also resorted to odd jobs, one of them being the chauffeur for one of Hollywood's most important moguls.