Oscar-winning illustrator and animation filmmaker, Gene Deitch has sadly passed away. He died on Thursday, April 16, 2020, at his apartment in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic.
According to his Czech publisher, Petr Himmel, who made the disclosure, Deitch died unexpectedly.
Born on August 8 in 1924, in Chicago, Deitch, whose full name was Eugene Merrill Deitch, was popular for directing some of the most popular animator cartoons, including Popeye the Sailor Man, Munro, Tom Terrific, and Nudnik.
He also directed 13 episodes of Tom and Jerry.
In 1955, Deitch took an apprenticeship at the animation studio United Productions of America (UPA). Later, he became the creative director of Terrytoons; creating such characters as Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, Tom Terrific, and Clint Clobber.
Beginning in 1955, while working at UPA, Deitch wrote and drew the United Feature Syndicate comic strip The Real-Great Adventures of Terr’ble Thompson!, Hero of History; starring a courageous child in fantastical adventures.
Deitch’s animated short film (Munro) won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1961; the first of its kind created outside the United States to win the Stellar award. In addition to that, he earned critical acclaim for directing animated feature Alice of Wonderland In Paris; which won him the Winsor McCay Award in 2003 for his contribution to the animation.
Having accomplished this much during his lifetime, we can only pray his soul rest in peace.