Ron Campbell (26 December 1939 – 22 January 2021) was an Australian

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 ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, and producer, best known for his work on the 1960s ''

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

'' television series, as well as the animated feature film '' Yellow Submarine''.

Early career

Ron Campbell's career began in 1958 animating various commercials for Australian television. However, when

Al Brodax Albert Philip Brodax (February 14, 1926 – November 24, 2016) was an American film and television producer who was credited as "Al Brodax". Career Brodax grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan but moved to Brooklyn as a teen and attended ...

brought both his

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, created by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-America ...

and

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

cartoons to Australia for production, Campbell was recruited to work on the project. After Krazy Kat, Campbell went on to direct many installments of ''

'' television series for

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

. The show debuted on 25 September 1965, and remained number one in the ratings for the duration of its four-year run. He later wrote the foreword to the book ''Beatletoons: The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles'', where his involvement in the show is also talked about extensively. Ron's surname is misspelled as "CAMBELL" at the end credits of "

Cool McCool ''Cool McCool'' is a Saturday morning animated series that ran on NBC from September 10, 1966, to January 21, 1967, with three segments per show, consisting overall of sixty segments. It was created by Bob Kane—who was most famous as one of ...

". Due in part to the enormous success of the program, Campbell was hired by Bill Hanna (of

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

fame) and relocated to

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. In Hollywood, he would go on to work on a wide array of animated television series including, but not limited to: ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

'', ''

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produc ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

'', ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil, and their day-to-d ...

'', ''

Rocket Power ''Rocket Power'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó and produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio for Nickelodeon. The show centers on the daily lives of Otto, Reggie, Twister ...

'', and ''

Ed, Edd n Eddy '' Ed, Edd n Eddy'' is an animated television series created by Danny Antonucci for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around three friends named Ed, Edd (nicknamed "Double D" to avoid confusion with Ed), and Eddy—collectively known as "th ...

''.

''Yellow Submarine''

In 1968,

once again contracted Campbell from London, where he was producing The Beatles' feature-length animated motion picture, '' Yellow Submarine''. Brodax asked Campbell, and his colleague Duane Crowther, if they could animate many of the connecting sequences in the movie. Together, they subsequently ended up animating around twelve minutes, or roughly one seventh of the entire film. In his 2004 memoir ''Up Periscope Yellow'', chronicling the making of ''Yellow Submarine'', Brodax accredits Campbell for essentially helping pull together various elements of the movie. As one of the film's animators, Ron Campbell contributed to the book, ''Inside the Yellow Submarine- The Making of the Beatles Animated Classic'' by Robert Hieronimus, a unique historical perspective on the making of the film.

Ron Campbell Films

In 1971, Campbell founded his own animation studio, Ron Campbell Films, Inc.; the company's first project would also place him as associate producer for ABC's television special ''

Nanny and the Professor ''Nanny and the Professor'' is an early 1970s American sitcom created by AJ Carothers and Thomas L. Miller for 20th Century-Fox Television that aired on ABC from January 21, 1970 until December 27, 1971. During pre-production, the proposed ...

''. He would also go on to produce and direct animation in both the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

and Peabody award-winning children's shows, ''

The Big Blue Marble ''Big Blue Marble'' is a half-hour children's television program that was aired from 1974 to 1983 in Broadcast syndication, syndication including on PBS television stations. Overview Distinctive content included stories about children around ...

'' and ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

''. Following this, Campbell worked on the hit animated series, ''

''.

Disney, Nickelodeon, and retirement

The 1990s took Campbell to

Disney Animation The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, where he worked on several cartoons, including: '' Bonkers'', ''

Goof Troop ''Goof Troop'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation. The series focuses on the relationship between single father Goofy and his son, Max Goof, Max, as well as their neighbor Pet ...

'', ''

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on the ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' books by authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, ''The New Adventures'' was the ...

'' and ''

Darkwing Duck ''Darkwing Duck'' is an American animated superhero comedy television series produced by Disney Television Animation (formerly Walt Disney Television Animation) that first ran from 1991 to 1992 on both the syndicated programming block '' The Dis ...

''. In addition to this, he also worked with

Klasky-Csupo Klasky-Csupo, Inc. ( ) is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó (hence the company's name) in a spare room of th ...

for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, and storyboarded on such shows as: ''

'', ''

'', and ''

Duckman ''Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man'', commonly known simply as ''Duckman'', is an American adult animated sitcom created and developed by Everett Peck, based on the characters he created in his 1990 one-shot comic book published by Dark Horse Com ...

'' for the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

. In retirement, Campbell lived in the Phoenix, Arizona area and created original pop art paintings, based upon the films he was involved with in one capacity or another. His paintings were sold through Scott Segelbaum's Rock Art Show, with whom he regularly exhibited and sold his artwork in various art galleries throughout North America.

Death

Campbell died in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, on 22 January 2021, aged 81.

References

External links

*
Rock Art Show

Ron Campbell Animator

Ron Campbell Digital Collectibles as NFTs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ron 1939 births 2021 deaths Australian animators Australian animated film directors Australian animated film producers Australian television directors Australian television producers Hanna-Barbera people Australian storyboard artists