October 10, 2006

Ed Benedict, a legendary animator who put life, love and laughter in TV cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and Yogi Bear, has died at the age of 94.

Benedict began his animation career in 1930 at Walt Disney Studios.In 1952, Benedict was contacted by Tex Avery, who'd worked with him at Universal Studios. Avery invited Benedict to work on Avery's animation unit at MGM. Benedict performed lead animation and layout duties for Avery, and later for Michael Lah after Avery's departure from the studio. Benedict's work can be seen in Dixieland Droopy, The First Bad Man, and Deputy Droopy.

In the late 1950's, Benedict was recruited by former MGM animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to provide character designs for their new animated television series, The Ruff & Ready Show. Benedict eventually became the primary character designer at Hanna-Barbera, designing Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, the various characters on The Flintstones, and many others.