Rudy_Zamora

Rudy Zamora

Rudy Zamora

Mexican American animator and director

Joaquin Rudolfo Zamora (March 26, 1910 – July 29, 1989) was a Mexican-American animator[1] and a prolific animation director. His credits include The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, The Biskitts, Peanuts, and many others.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Career

Zamora was born in Mexico City, Mexico, but raised in the United States.[2] As a young adult, he read a help wanted ad in the local newspaper seeking a male animator at Pat Sullivan's studio. Despite Zamora having no prior experience in the field, he was intrigued and applied. His test entailed tracing a photo of Felix the Cat, and Zamora was hired after placing second among three men.[2] Zamora was still employed at Pat Sullivan's in 1928.[3]

He was hired as an inbetweener at Fleischer Studios in 1930,[4] and eventually became an animator there. Shamus Culhane described Zamora as "the star" among the new batch of animators at Fleischer.[5]

Following his stint at Fleischer, Zamora worked at Walt Disney Productions during the early 1930s, with Ed Benedict as his assistant.[6] While there, Zamora animated on Silly Symphony cartoons, including The China Plate (1931).[6] Zamora had a reputation for spending too much time playing practical jokes as opposed to working, and for this reason was fired by Walt Disney in 1932.[7]

By the 1940s he was an animator at Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, working on short films during World War II.[8] In 1944, he was one of several animators of the Woody Woodpecker short The Barber of Seville.[9] This cartoon was later chosen as one of The 50 Greatest Cartoons in 1994.[10] Throughout the 1960s, Zamora served as director for Rocky & Bullwinkle and Peabody's Improbable History, also overseeing Mexican animators who worked on the series overseas.[11]

At the twilight of his career, Zamora was a director at Hanna-Barbera. He helmed episodes of Richie Rich,[12] The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show[13] and Laverne & Shirley, an animated adaptation of the sitcom.[14] Zamora directed a Christmas episode of The Smurfs that aired in 1983.[15] Zamora's last credit was the 1987 television film Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose.

References

  1. [1]
    Falide, Augusto A.; Doyle, William S. (1996). Latino Success: Insights from 100 of America's Most Powerful Latino Business Professionals. Simon & Schuster. p. 78. ISBN 9780684813127.
  2. [2]
    Deneroff, Harvey (December 21, 2015). "A Chat with Rudy Zamora". Cartoon Research. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  3. [3]
    Sito, Tom (October 6, 2006). Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson. University Press of Kentucky. p. 14. ISBN 9780813171487.
  4. [4]
    Barrier, Michael (September 16, 2003). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford University Press. p. 284. ISBN 9780199839223.
  5. [5]
    Culhane, Shamus (March 21, 1998). Talking animals and other people. Hachette Books. p. 43. ISBN 9780306808302.
  6. [6]
    Barrier, Michael (April 7, 2008). The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780520256194.
  7. [7]
    Peri, Don (2011). Working with Disney: Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists. University Press of Mississippi. p. 71. ISBN 9781604739404.
  8. [8]
    Shull, Michael E.; Wilt, David E. (May 23, 2014). Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939–1945 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 156. ISBN 9780786481699.
  9. [9]
    Baxter, Devon (November 25, 2015). "Walter Lantz "Barber Of Seville" (1944)". Cartoon Research. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  10. [10]
    Beck, Jerry (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Turner Publishing.
  11. [11]
    Scott, Keith (April 8, 2014). The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose. Macmillan Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 9781466867437.
  12. [12]
    Perlmutter, David (May 4, 2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 503. ISBN 9781538103746.
  13. [13]
    Browning, John Edgar; Picart, Caroline Joan (January 10, 2014). Dracula in Visual Media: Film, Television, Comic Book and Electronic Game Appearances, 1921-2010. McFarland & Company. p. 155. ISBN 9780786462018.
  14. [14]
    Leszczak, Bob (May 16, 2016). Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s: A Complete Guide. McFarland & Company. p. 211. ISBN 9781476623849.
  15. [15]
    Crump, William D. (August 28, 2013). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 388. ISBN 9781476605739.
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