Abe Levitow, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAbe Levitow
American animator
Date of Birth: 22-Jul-1922
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Death: 08-May-1975
Profession: animator
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About Abe Levitow
- Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros.
- Cartoons, UPA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Levitow was born in Los Angeles, California.
- He began working as an in-betweener at Warner Brothers Studios in 1940.
- Levitow briefly left Warner Brothers when he was drafted during World War II, returning in 1945.
- He first received animation credit in 1953 while working under the direction of Chuck Jones.
- He worked steadily for Jones over the remainder of the 1950s, and directed several cartoons for release in 1959, including the Pepé Le Pew cartoon "Really Scent".
- While working under Jones, he made characters' joints more angular than most other animators.
- Those characters with fur (Wile E.
- Coyote, for example) looked especially shaggy in Levitow's scenes. In 1961, he moved to UPA and directed a series of Dick Tracy cartoons.
- Then in 1962, he directed the first feature-length animated television special, Mr.
- Magoo's Christmas Carol.
- 1962 also saw the release of his theatrical feature Gay Purr-ee, with the voices of Robert Goulet, Judy Garland, and others.
- By 1965, he was working with Jones at MGM as an animator and a director in the Tom and Jerry series.
- He co-directed the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth with Chuck Jones at MGM.
- In addition, he worked with UPA on more Mr.
- Magoo cartoons, including The Famous Adventures of Mr.
- Magoo.
- He animated on the Chuck Jones-produced A Christmas Carol, directed by Richard Williams at Williams' London studio in 1971.
- His last completed project was B.C.: The First Thanksgiving in 1973.
- At the time of his death on May 8, 1975, Levitow was in line to direct the animated feature film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure.
- The project was taken over by Richard Williams when Levitow unexpectedly died during pre-production at the age of 52.
- Grampa Simpson on The Simpsons was named after both Levitow and creator Matt Groening's grandfather (unbeknownst to the writers).
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