Thornton Hee (March 26, 1911 – October 30, 1988) was an American animator, director, and teacher. He taught character design and caricature.

Career

Hee worked at Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1935–36 as a character designer. He designed many of the celebrity caricatures used in '' The CooCoo Nut Grove'' (1936) and '' The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos'' (1937). A 1936 Christmas card that he drew, featuring caricatures of the Schlesinger animators, was used to design the

gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous fictional creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft, and later in other machinery, processes, and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widely. ...

s in the 1944 animated short '' Russian Rhapsody.'' Hee joined

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

around 1937. He is most recognized for directing the '' Dance of the Hours'' segment of '' Fantasia''. He left after the

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

, but returned to work there twice, from 1940 to 1946, and again from 1958 to 1961. Hee also worked for United Productions of America (1951 to 1958) and

Terrytoons Terrytoons, Inc. was an American animation studio headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, which was active from 1929 until its closure in December 1972 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in-name only). Founded by Paul Te ...

(1961 to 1963). Hee was one of the co-founders, with Jack Hannah, of the Character Animation program at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

. He later served as chairman of the Film Arts Department. Hee provided the illustrations during the opening credits of ''

The Life of Riley ''The Life of Riley'' is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, as well as two different television series, and a comic book. Radio series The radio program initially aired on the B ...

'' television show of the 1950s. Hee was also a mentor to Joe Ranft.

References

External links

*
A Timely Letter From T. Hee''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hee, T. 1911 births 1988 deaths Film directors from Oklahoma American animated film directors Walt Disney Animation Studios people Animators from Oklahoma Artists from Oklahoma Warner Bros. Cartoons people Terrytoons people