Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 â€" March 24, 1982) was an
American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons
under the supervision of director Chuck Jones.Ken Harris was born in
Tulare County, California. He finished his education at an unknown
college in Stockton, New Jersey. Harris started as a race car builder
and driver with his brother, who had a garage. Harris and his brother
had to spend $4,000 dollars on a race track. He raced at Ascot three
times in 1926. One time he went 113 miles. Around the time he was a
racer, he started being an assistant service vice manager and selling
cars at a Pontiac agency before the agency eventually closed down. His
first job as an artist was for Sid Ziff, where he sold some cartoons
to him here and there. Then he worked for the Los Angeles Herald
Examiner, from 1927 to around 1930, when he joined the ill-fated Romer
Grey studio. Harris finally ended up at Leon Schlesinger Productions
under the Friz Freleng unit. This lasted for a short while until he
was relocated into the Frank Tashlin unit. Eventually, Tashlin left
and the unit was taken over by Chuck Jones. The association with Jones
and Harris began in 1937 and lasted until 1962, the longest time an
animator spent with a director at the studio. Harris briefly animated
for the UPA short The Brotherhood of Man. Harris would sometimes go
play tennis and buy a new car, according to Jerry Beck and assistant
for Jones named Corny Cole. Jones described him as "a virtuoso. Ken
Harris did it all." Dan Backslide, one of the characters from the
Jones short The Dover Boys, was a caricature of Harris. After Jones
left Warner's, Harris worked with former animator Phil Monroe on two
cartoons before Warner Bros. closed its cartoon department. In 1963,
Harris worked briefly for Friz Freleng on the titles of The Pink
Panther (1963), then for Hanna-Barbera on their first feature film Hey
There It's Yogi Bear! (1964), then rejoined Jones at MGM for three
years. After work as an animator on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
(1966) â€" directed by Jones, a longtime friend of Dr. Seuss â€"
Harris came to the studio of independent animator Richard Williams in
London in 1967. There he served as William's mentor as well as his
employee. Harris's credits with him included A Christmas Carol (1971)
â€" as animator of Ebenezer Scrooge â€" the opening titles of The
Return of the Pink Panther (1975), and the still-unfinished animated
feature The Thief and the Cobbler (animating the Thief of the title,
which is very reminiscent of Harris's earlier work animating Wile E.
Coyote for Jones).Among the many scenes Harris has animated: Mama Bear
doing an outrageous tap-dance (which Chuck Jones, who directed the
cartoon, and who was Harris' longtime collaborator, has said was
inspired by Michael Maltese, "who could really dance that way") in A
Bear For Punishment; Wile E. Coyote consuming earthquake pills in
Hopalong Casualty; as well as the lengthy dance sequence in What's
Opera, Doc?.
American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons
under the supervision of director Chuck Jones.Ken Harris was born in
Tulare County, California. He finished his education at an unknown
college in Stockton, New Jersey. Harris started as a race car builder
and driver with his brother, who had a garage. Harris and his brother
had to spend $4,000 dollars on a race track. He raced at Ascot three
times in 1926. One time he went 113 miles. Around the time he was a
racer, he started being an assistant service vice manager and selling
cars at a Pontiac agency before the agency eventually closed down. His
first job as an artist was for Sid Ziff, where he sold some cartoons
to him here and there. Then he worked for the Los Angeles Herald
Examiner, from 1927 to around 1930, when he joined the ill-fated Romer
Grey studio. Harris finally ended up at Leon Schlesinger Productions
under the Friz Freleng unit. This lasted for a short while until he
was relocated into the Frank Tashlin unit. Eventually, Tashlin left
and the unit was taken over by Chuck Jones. The association with Jones
and Harris began in 1937 and lasted until 1962, the longest time an
animator spent with a director at the studio. Harris briefly animated
for the UPA short The Brotherhood of Man. Harris would sometimes go
play tennis and buy a new car, according to Jerry Beck and assistant
for Jones named Corny Cole. Jones described him as "a virtuoso. Ken
Harris did it all." Dan Backslide, one of the characters from the
Jones short The Dover Boys, was a caricature of Harris. After Jones
left Warner's, Harris worked with former animator Phil Monroe on two
cartoons before Warner Bros. closed its cartoon department. In 1963,
Harris worked briefly for Friz Freleng on the titles of The Pink
Panther (1963), then for Hanna-Barbera on their first feature film Hey
There It's Yogi Bear! (1964), then rejoined Jones at MGM for three
years. After work as an animator on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
(1966) â€" directed by Jones, a longtime friend of Dr. Seuss â€"
Harris came to the studio of independent animator Richard Williams in
London in 1967. There he served as William's mentor as well as his
employee. Harris's credits with him included A Christmas Carol (1971)
â€" as animator of Ebenezer Scrooge â€" the opening titles of The
Return of the Pink Panther (1975), and the still-unfinished animated
feature The Thief and the Cobbler (animating the Thief of the title,
which is very reminiscent of Harris's earlier work animating Wile E.
Coyote for Jones).Among the many scenes Harris has animated: Mama Bear
doing an outrageous tap-dance (which Chuck Jones, who directed the
cartoon, and who was Harris' longtime collaborator, has said was
inspired by Michael Maltese, "who could really dance that way") in A
Bear For Punishment; Wile E. Coyote consuming earthquake pills in
Hopalong Casualty; as well as the lengthy dance sequence in What's
Opera, Doc?.
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