Dick Lundy (animator)
Richard James Lundy (August 14, 1907 – April 7, 1990) was an American animator and film director who worked at several animation studios including The Walt Disney Company, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera. Lundy was a pioneer of personality animation and is best remembered as one of the creators of Donald Duck.[1] Throughout his career he worked as a primary animator on at least 60 films, both short and feature-length, and directed 51 shorts.
Dick Lundy
April 7, 1990 (aged 82)
The Walt Disney Company (1928–1943)
Walter Lantz Productions (1943–1949)
MGM (1949–1957)
Hanna-Barbera (1957–1973)
Career[edit]
In 1929, Lundy was employed by Walt Disney Productions, becoming the studio's dance specialist; animating many of the musical numbers in early Silly Symphony and Mickey Mouse shorts.[2] He later worked on Three Little Pigs (1933) and Orphan's Benefit (1934). After working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Lundy became a director at Disney.
In 1943, Lundy departed the Disney studios and worked for Walter Lantz Productions. He started as an animator and again became a director. He directed shorts featuring Andy Panda, Woody Woodpecker, and the Swing Symphonies. Lundy was responsible for shifting the studios direction to a style more in vain to works made by Disney and MGM, a stark contrast when compared to the works of the studios previous director, James Culhane. Lundy worked for Wolff Productions after the Lantz studio temporarily closed in 1949. The Lantz studio would reopen in 1950 and remain in business until 1972, but Lundy never worked at Lantz again. While at Wolff, Lundy worked on television commercials. In 1950, he worked for MGM on Barney Bear shorts and the Droopy film Caballero Droopy.
In 1959 Lundy worked for Hanna-Barbera on The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, and Scooby-Doo. He retired in 1973, but continued to do freelance work for several years thereafter.[3]
Donald Duck[edit]
Lundy was not the first to draw or even animate Donald Duck. The character was created by Swiss-born designer Albert Hurter and animated by Art Babbitt and Dick Huemer for the short film The Wise Little Hen (1934).[4] This was Donald's first appearance, although the story offered little opportunity for character development. This would come in Donald's second appearance, Orphan's Benefit (also 1934), in which Lundy was the sole animator of Donald. According to common animation practice, the audio and voices of the film were recorded first and were then played for the animators to reference. In listening to voice actor Clarence Nash portray the Duck in Orphan's Benefit, Lundy said "[I] decided that [Donald] was an ego-show-off. If anything crossed him, he got mad and blew his top."[5]
Personal life[edit]
Lundy was married three times. First marriage with Anne Lundy resulted in two biological children, after the divorce he moved to Toluca Lake California. In 1932 he married Juanita Sheridan who also worked at the Disney studio. This marriage was short and ended in divorce in 1934.
By 1939, Lundy was remarried to Mabel Lundy. Together they had one daughter Llewellyn, resulting in three biological Lundy children. [6][7]