Rokuro "Bob" Kuwahara (August 12, 1901 – 1964) was a Japanese-born American

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

best known for his work with

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

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 ...

between the 1930s and 1960s. Kuwahara was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on August 12, 1901, and his family moved to the United States in 1910, where he graduated from Los Angeles Polytechnic High School in 1921. After high school he attended the

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a Private university, private Art school, art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is l ...

in Los Angeles until 1928. In 1929 Kuwahara moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to work as a commercial artist, but the Wall Street crash of 1929 forced him to return to Los Angeles. In 1932 Kuwahara began working as an animator and writer for Walt Disney, where he had a hand in shorts like ''

Thru the Mirror ''Thru the Mirror'' is a 1936 American animated short film directed by David Hand (director), David Hand from a story by William Cottrell and Joe Grant. In this cartoon short, Mickey Mouse has a ''Through the Looking-Glass''-parody-like dream t ...

'' and the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated '' Who Killed Cock Robin?'', as well as the feature-length film ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

''. In 1937 Kuwahara went to work for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, but later spent three years in the Heart Mountain internment camp during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

following the signing of

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

. In 1945 Kuwahara and his family moved to

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a Village (New York), village located within the Town (New York), Town of Mamaroneck (town), New York, Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York. Larchmont is a suburb of New York City, located approximately northeast of Midt ...

where he wrote and drew a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

called '' Miki'' for five years before low circulation forced him to drop the strip. In 1950 Kuwahara returned to animation, signing on with Paul Terry's

studio, and stayed with the studio following

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

' purchase of the studio in 1955. In 1959 Kuwahara wrote and directed the first of 14 Hashimoto-san theatrical shorts, for which he is probably best remembered today. Production of these shorts continued until 1963, after which time they were incorporated into CBS' '' The Hector Heathcote Show.'' During the same period Kuwahara was also a director for the popular '' Deputy Dawg'' series. Kuwahara's final TV series was 1965's syndicated '' The Astronut Show''. Kuwahara died in 1964. He was survived by a wife, Julia (1904–1996), and two sons, Denis and Michel.

Notes

External links

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Bob Kuwahara biography
on Lambiek 1901 births 1964 deaths Artists from Tokyo Japanese animators American animators Manga artists American comics artists Terrytoons people Japanese-American internees Japanese people imprisoned in the United States Japanese emigrants to the United States Walt Disney Animation Studios people Otis College of Art and Design alumni Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people John H. Francis Polytechnic High School alumni {{animator-stub