(Source: News From Me, Cartoon Brew)
Animator Bernard "Berny" Wolf, who worked on many classic cartoons, from Krazy Kat and Betty Boop to Disney's Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo, has died aged 95.
As animator Mark Evanier observed, "It would probably take less time to list the great cartoon studios where Berny never worked." He started in 1924, working on Paramount's Krazy Kat cartoons. He quickly switched over to Max Fleischer's Inkwell Studios, quickly specializing on such Betty Boop cartoons as Minding the Baby (1931), Betty Boop's Bizzy Bee (1932) and The Old Man of the Mountain (1933). He later switched to Ub Iwerk's studio, working on the Willie Whopper and ComiColor cartoons.
By 1938, he was an animator at Disney Studios, designing and animating Jiminy Cricket for 1940's Pinocchio. He also worked on the "Centaur Romance" sequence for Fantasia; he was responsible for the last scene where a hovering Cupid's buttocks turn into a heart shape.
By 1941, Berny and Disney weren't getting along; he was only asked to animate the "clown silhouette" sequence for Dumbo. He left the company during the infamous 1941 animator's strike. He quickly found work at MGM, doing storyboard and layout for Tex Avery. He then worked for Rudy Ising, and started his own company Animedia Productions.
During the 1950's, Berny came back to Disney to design attractions and walkabout character costumes for Disneyland. He also worked on industrial cartoons and educational materials for a wide range of clients.
By the 1970's, Animedia was making employee training films for Toyota, and handling graphics and design layout for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. (Conan and Tarzan comic books).
In the 1980's, Berny shut down Animedia and went to at Hanna-Barbera, where he produced The Flinstone Kids, and the Scooby-Doo movies. During the 1990's, he worked on Garfield and Friends and other projects for Film Roman.
On his blog, Mark Evanier called Berny Wolf "a helluva talent and a true gentleman."
