Bob Givens facts for kids

Robert Herman Givens (born March 2, 1918 – died December 14, 2017) was an American animator and character designer. He is most famous for creating the first official design for Bugs Bunny.

Bob Givens worked for many well-known animation studios. These included Walt Disney Animation Studios, Warner Bros. Cartoons, and Hanna-Barbera. He started his career in the late 1930s and continued working until the early 2000s. He helped create over 25 successful characters. He also worked on storyboards and layout designs for cartoons.

Early Life and Learning About Art

Bob Givens was born in Hanson, Kentucky, on March 2, 1918. He was one of two twin boys. His family moved to southern California. They hoped the warmer weather would help his father, who was a horse breeder.

Bob went to Alhambra High School and graduated in 1936. He also studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute. While still in high school, he worked as a freelance artist. In 1937, he joined the Walt Disney Studio. A friend from school, Hardie Gramatky, who worked at Disney, suggested he apply.

Starting His Animation Career

At Disney, Bob Givens started as an animation checker. He also worked as a timer on many short cartoons. Most of these cartoons featured Donald Duck. He then helped with Disney's first full-length movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Later, he joined Warner Bros. for the first time. There, he worked with famous directors like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.

Creating Bugs Bunny

In 1940, director Tex Avery asked Bob Givens to design a new rabbit character. Other artists had designed this rabbit before. But Avery thought the rabbit was "too cute." Bob Givens then created the first official design for the rabbit. This rabbit was later named Bugs Bunny. Another animator, Robert McKimson, made the design even better a few years later.

Working During World War II

Bob Givens' first time at Warner Bros. ended when World War II started. He was called to serve in the military. His last cartoon before leaving was The Draft Horse (1942). During his military service, he helped make training films for the army. He worked with another animator, Rudolf Ising, on these films.

After the War: Many Studios

After the war, Bob Givens returned to Warner Bros. in the 1950s. He mainly worked as a layout artist. He stayed with the studio until it closed in 1954. Unlike many of his co-workers, he did not rejoin Warner Bros. when it opened again. Instead, he worked at many other studios. These included UPA, Hanna-Barbera, and the Jack Kinney studio.

He did return to Warner Bros. for one last time in the early 1960s. He stayed until the studio closed for good. He even worked on False Hare (1964), which was one of the last cartoons made by the studio.

Bob Givens then followed many Warner Bros. artists to a new studio called DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. He also worked with Chuck Jones again on Tom and Jerry cartoons. He continued to work on Looney Tunes cartoons at the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts studio in the late 1960s.

In the 1970s, he worked again at DePatie–Freleng and Hanna-Barbera. Later, he returned to the reformed Warner Bros. Animation studio. There, he worked on movies like Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981) and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983).

Later Career and Retirement

Bob Givens also worked on popular TV shows. He did the layout for Garfield and Friends from 1988 to 1992. He also worked on Bobby's World from 1989 to 1994.

In the 1990s, he worked with Chuck Jones again. He helped design the look of new Looney Tunes cartoons. His last animation work was on Timber Wolf in 2001. This was a direct-to-video animated movie. After Chuck Jones passed away in 2002, Bob Givens mostly retired. However, he kept teaching and giving talks about animation even into his 90s.

His Final Years

Bob Givens passed away on December 14, 2017. He was 99 years old. He died in Burbank, California, due to respiratory failure.

See also

• Walt Disney – a PBS film from 2015 that features Bob Givens