Walter Lantz

Born: April 27, 1899
Died: March 22, 1994

Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, director and actor best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating the animated character Woody Woodpecker. Along with Woody, Walter created multiple other characters including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Andy Panda, The Beary Family, Maggie & Sam, Maw and Paw, Space Mouse, Inspector Willoughby, Homer Pigeon, Chilly Willy, Lil’ Eightball, Charlie Chicken, Wally Walrus, and many more.

Woody Woodpecker

Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon anthropomorphic woodpecker that has appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972.

He was created in 1940 by Lantz and storyboard artist Ben “Bugs” Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody’s character and design evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, who was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb, Kent Rogers, Ben Hardaway, and, finally, Grace Stafford (wife of Walter Lantz).

Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show, which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained a staple of Universal’s release schedule until 1972, when Lantz finally closed down his studio.

From Wikipedia