Friz Freleng facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Friz Freleng
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| Born |
Isadore Freleng
August 21, 1905 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
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| Died | May 26, 1995 (aged 89) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Other names | I. Freleng Congressman Frizby |
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| Years active | 1923–1986 |
| Employer | Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio/Walt Disney Studio (1927–1928) Screen Gems (1928–1930) Harman-Ising (1929–1933) Warner Bros. Cartoons (1933–1937, 1939–1962) MGM (1937–1939) DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (1963-1981) Warner Bros. Animation (1981–1986) |
| Spouse(s) |
Lily Schoenfeld Freleng
(m. 1932) |
| Children | 2 |
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Isadore "Friz" Freleng (born August 21, 1905 – died May 26, 1995) was a famous American animator and director. He was also a cartoonist, producer, and even a composer. Friz Freleng is best known for his amazing work at Warner Bros. Cartoons. There, he helped create the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.
He helped bring to life many of Warner Bros.' most famous characters. These include Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Speedy Gonzales. Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director at Warner Bros., with a total of 266 films. He also won many awards, including five Academy Awards and three Emmy Awards.
After Warner Bros. closed its animation studio in 1963, Freleng started his own company. He teamed up with David H. DePatie to form DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. This company made many cartoons, like The Pink Panther Show, and even title sequences for movies.
His nickname "Friz" came from his friend, Hugh Harman. Harman first called him "Congressman Frizby." This was after a fictional senator who looked a lot like Freleng. Over time, it was shortened to "Friz."
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Early Career in Animation
Friz Freleng was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He started his animation career at a company called United Film Ad Service. There, he met other animators like Hugh Harman and Ub Iwerks.
In 1923, Iwerks' friend, Walt Disney, moved to Hollywood. Disney asked his friends from Kansas City to join him. Freleng waited until 1927 to move to California. He then joined the Walt Disney studio. He worked on early Disney cartoons like the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Freleng left Disney in 1928 and went back to his old job in Kansas.
Soon, Freleng, Harman, and Rudolph Ising decided to start their own studio. They created a cartoon with a new character named Bosko. They sold Bosko to Leon Schlesinger, who would make the cartoons for Warner Bros.. Freleng eventually moved back to California to work on the Looney Tunes series.
Freleng as a Director
Starting at Warner Bros.
In 1933, Harman and Ising left Schlesinger's studio. This left Schlesinger without experienced directors. So, he asked Freleng to come direct cartoons for Warner Bros. Freleng became a top director and introduced Porky Pig in the cartoon I Haven't Got a Hat (1935). Porky was a very unique character.
As a director, Freleng was known for being strict. However, his team always made high-quality animated shorts. Some of the cartoons Friz Freleng directed were later removed from TV. This was because they showed certain groups of people in ways that were considered offensive.
Time at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
In 1937, Freleng left Warner Bros. to work for MGM. He directed cartoons based on the comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids. But Freleng was not happy at MGM and left after about a year and a half.
Back to Warner Bros.
Freleng was very happy to return to Warner Bros. in 1939. One of his first cartoons back was You Ought to Be in Pictures. This cartoon mixed animation with live-action footage of the Warner Bros. studio. It even showed Leon Schlesinger himself!
Amazing Cartoons and Characters
Schlesinger gave his animators a lot of creative freedom. This allowed Freleng and other directors to try new things with comedy. Freleng became a master of comic timing. He often worked with layout artist Hawley Pratt. Together, they created or improved many Warner Bros. characters. These include Yosemite Sam (1945), Sylvester and Tweety (1947), and Speedy Gonzales (1955).
Freleng and Chuck Jones were the main directors at Warner Bros. after World War II. Freleng focused on characters like Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, and Tweety. He won four Oscars during his time at Warner Bros. for Tweetie Pie (1947), Speedy Gonzales (1955), Birds Anonymous (1957), and Knighty Knight Bugs (1958).
Freleng also directed cartoons where characters like the Goofy Gophers faced human inventions. He made cartoons about Dr. Jekyll's potion causing transformations. He also explored themes like humans fighting insects or storks delivering the wrong babies.
Sometimes, Freleng was even part of jokes in the cartoons. In Canary Row (1950), you could see billboards with "Friz" on them. The "Hotel Friz" appeared in Racketeer Rabbit (1946).
Musical Talent
Freleng was a talented musician and played the violin. He used his musical knowledge to time his cartoons perfectly with the music. He was one of the few directors at Warner Bros. who understood music so well. This helped make his cartoons even funnier and more exciting.
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises
Warner Bros. Cartoons closed down in 1963. Freleng then teamed up with David H. DePatie, who used to be a producer at Warner Bros. They formed their own company, DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. They even rented the old Warner Bros. cartoon studio space.
Their most famous creation was The Pink Panther. They were asked to create the opening titles for The Pink Panther movie (1963). Freleng and Hawley Pratt created the cool Pink Panther character. The character became so popular that they made a whole series of Pink Panther cartoons.
Their first Pink Panther cartoon, The Pink Phink (1964), won an Oscar in 1965. DePatie–Freleng then made other cartoon series like The Inspector and The Ant and the Aardvark. In 1969, The Pink Panther Show started on TV. These cartoons continued to be made until 1980.
The studio also helped create Frito-Lay's Chester Cheetah. They even did special effects for the original Star Wars movie (1977), like the animation for the lightsaber blades. In 1980, Freleng and DePatie sold their company to Marvel Comics, which renamed it Marvel Productions.
Later Years and Legacy
Freleng later worked as an executive producer on three Looney Tunes movies in the 1980s. These movies combined old cartoons with new animated scenes. In 1986, Freleng retired from Warner Bros.
In 1994, Freleng received a special award for his work in animation. This award is now called the "Friz Award" in his honor.
Friz Freleng passed away on May 26, 1995, at the age of 89. The TV show The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries and the Looney Tunes cartoon From Hare to Eternity were dedicated to his memory. He is buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Partial Filmography
- Alice's Picnic (animator, 1927)
- Trolley Troubles (animator, 1927)
- Fiery Fireman (director, 1928)
- Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (animator, 1929)
- Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (animator, 1931)
- I Haven't Got a Hat (director, 1935)
- Knighty Knight Bugs (director, 1958)
- Shishkabugs (director, 1962)
- Nuts and Volts (director, 1964)
- It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House (producer, 1965)
- The Wild Chase (producer, 1965)
- Pink Is a Many Splintered Thing (producer, 1968)
- The Ant and the Aardvark (producer, 1969)
- Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (director of "Bugs Bunny" parts, 1979)
