Tom Ruegger () is an American animator and songwriter. Ruegger is known for his association with

Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

and Warner Bros. Animation. He also created ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation a ...

'', ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until ...

'', ''

Pinky and the Brain ''Pinky and the Brain'' is an American animated television series that was created by Tom Ruegger that premiered on Kids' WB on September 9, 1995. It was the first animated television series to be presented in Dolby Surround and the fourth col ...

'', and ''

Histeria! ''Histeria!'' is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, ''Histeria!'' was an explicitly educational program created to ...

''.

Early life and career

Ruegger was raised in

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. The borough, along wit ...

. During his childhood, he made drawings of ''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

'' when it aired. He graduated from Metuchen High School in 1972. In 1976, he made his first cartoon, called ''The Premiere of Platypus Duck'', while he was a student at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. Shortly after graduation from Dartmouth that year, he moved to Los Angeles to become an animator. Ruegger began his career at

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...

, writing for '' Gilligan's Planet''. He soon after joined

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

, writing and producing various

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

, most notably '' The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries'', '' Snorks'', '' The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo'', '' Pound Puppies'', and '' A Pup Named Scooby-Doo''. He also wrote one episode of ''

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line ''Masters of the Universe''. The show, often referred to as simply ''He-Man'', was one of the most popular anim ...

''. In 1989, he began working alongside Jean MacCurdy and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

at Warner Bros. Animation to create and produce several animated series, including ''

'', ''

Taz-Mania ''Taz-Mania'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991 to 1995, broadcast in the United States on Fox Kids. The show follows the adventures of the ''Looney Tunes'' character Taz ( the Tasmanian Devil) in the ...

'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', '' The Plucky Duck Show'', ''

'', ''

Freakazoid ''Freakazoid!'' is an American superhero comedy animated television series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and developed by Tom Ruegger for the Kids' WB programming block of The WB. The series chronicles the adventures of the title cha ...

'', ''

Road Rovers ''Road Rovers'' is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation that premiered on Kids' WB on September 7, 1996, and ended after one season on February 22, 1997. It was later shown on Cartoon Network from February 7, ...

'', and '' Histeria''. In 2004, Ruegger started Tom Ruegger Production, a full-service animation studio. In 2006, Ruegger began developing, story-editing and serving as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

on the 40-episode animated series ''

Animalia Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

'', based on the picture book by

Graeme Base Graeme Rowland Base (born 6 April 1958) is a British-Australian author and artist of picture books. He is perhaps best known for his second book, '' Animalia'' published in 1986, and third book '' The Eleventh Hour'' which was released in 1989. ...

. Along with Nicholas Hollander, he developed and story-edited another animated series entitled '' Sushi Pack''. In 2011, Ruegger began working for

, where he executive produced 40 half-hours of '' The 7D'' for

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...

, a comedy based on the seven Dwarfs from ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as ...

''. Ruegger has received fourteen Emmy Awards for his work in animation.

Personal life

Ruegger married voice actress Adrienne Alexander in 1983; they have three sons together, Nathan, Luke and Cody. The couple divorced in 2004. In 2006, he married marathon runner Annie Malley, and they reside near Los Angeles, California. Nathan and Luke have become voice actors. Nathan voiced the baby version of Plucky Duck on ''

'',

Skippy Squirrel This is a list of characters in the 1993 animated series, ''Animaniacs'', and its 2020 revival. The Warner Siblings (Animaniacs) The Warner Siblings (also known as "the Animaniacs" by fans and the media) are small, silly, mischievous, anthrop ...

on ''

'' and

Froggo Froggo Games was a video game company that published games for the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800. History Froggo Games incorporated in 1987 when the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 were no longer popular systems, years after the release of the Nintendo E ...

on '' Histeria'', where Luke provided the voice for the Flame and Bumpo Basset on ''

'' and Big Fat Baby on '' Histeria''. Cody performed the voice of Little Blue Bird on ''

'' and Loud Kiddington on '' Histeria''. Ruegger's sons also are the primary inspiration behind the main characters in ''

'', Yakko, Wakko and Dot. As of 2017, Cody is serving as an attorney in New York City, while Nathan and Luke have careers in film and television in Los Angeles. Ruegger himself also made occasional cameos on his shows in caricature form, most notably as the recurring character of director Cooper DeVille in ''

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruegger, Tom 1950s births 20th-century American artists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American artists 21st-century American writers American male screenwriters American male television writers American lyricists American parodists American producers American storyboard artists American television writers Animators from California Animators from New Jersey Dartmouth College alumni Daytime Emmy Award winners Filmation people Hanna-Barbera people Living people Metuchen High School alumni People from Metuchen, New Jersey Primetime Emmy Award winners Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from New Jersey Songwriters from California Songwriters from New Jersey Warner Bros. Animation people Writers from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people)