William Charles Nolan (June 10, 1894 – December 6, 1954) was an American

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

writer, animator, director, and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

. He is best known for creating and perfecting the rubber hose style of animation and for streamlining

Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon characte ...

.That Crazy Cat Bill Nolan
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Career

Nolan first began his career in 1913 as a newspaper cartoonist, then worked for Raoul Barre and Kings Features until 1918. Then, in 1924 to 1926, he animated and designed Felix the Cat. He then moved to Winkler to animate on Krazy Kat again. Nolan went to the Walter Lantz Studio from 1929 until 1935, where he animated and briefly voiced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Nolan also worked at MGM on ''

The Captain and the Kids ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949).The Katzenjammer Kids ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949).Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of ...

where he worked on

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

. During

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Nolan was in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

drawing technical manuals with

Timm Aircraft The O.W. Timm Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by Otto William Timm, based in Los Angeles, California. History Between 1911 and 1922 O.W. Timm built several aircraft with varying success before he founded, in 1 ...

. In 1949, after the war, he formed Willam-Nicholas Productions with Nick Nicholas. He moved his company in 1954 in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

, where he died in Decmeber.

References

External links

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Cartooning Self-Taught
' by Bill Nolan, published in 1936. 1894 births 1954 deaths Animators from Connecticut American animated film directors Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people Walter Lantz Productions people American miltary personnel Fleischer Studios people {{US-animator-stub