Category: In Passing

Actor/comedian Sid Raymond, the voice of Baby Huey and Katnip, died, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES. He was 97.

In addition to his lead characters for Famous Studios cartoons, his other cartoon work included: Little John in the Popeye cartoon ROBIN HOOD-WINKED, the Hungry Lion in PLEASED TO EAT YOU, Ali and the Third Thief in POPEYE MAKES A MOVIE, various Martians in POPEYE, THE ACE OF SPACE, Jerry Lewis in POPEYE'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY and the narrator in SPORTICKLES.

Deep-voiced actor Tony Jay, whose many roles included villainous Judge Frollo in Disney's 1996 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, died Sunday following microsurgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his lungs.

The British-born Jay, who provided voices in many videogames, was admitted to Cedar Sinai Hospital in April and had begun to recover both his breathing and mobility.

Voice actor Lennie Weinrib, whose most famed role was as the title character in the 1969 live-action series, H.R. PUFNSTUF (which he also co-wrote), died June 28, 2006, at his home in Chile. He was 71 years old.

For his animation career, Weinrib provided the voice for Scooby's impetuous nephew Scrappy-Doo in SCOOBY-DOO AND SCRAPPY-DOO (1979) and THE SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO PUPPY HOUR (1982). He was also in the voice cast of the first Scooby series, SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! (1969) and THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES (1972).

Assistant animator Kimie Calvert, the wife of director and producer Fred Calvert, has passed away. The Animation Guild Local 839 just reported her passing, which was on Dec. 23, 2005.

With a career spanning from 1956 until 2003, Calvert worked for Filmfair, Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Fred Calvert, Rich Animation, Baer Animation, Warner Bros., Amblimation, Hyperion and Calvert-Cobbler.

She was an animator for the Disney feature THE TIGGER MOVIE (2000).

Veteran animation producer Edward Herskovitz died May 22, 2006, at his home in Rishon Le'Zion, Israel. He was 85.

Herskovitz worked as an animation producer in Japan during the 1970s. He was one of the founding members of ASIFA-Japan. He collaborated on many international co-productions, making France his second home.

He was born in Egypt in 1921, after his parents moved there when WWI reached what later became Israel. He joined a traveling circus in his youth, eventually settling down in Japan. After a stroke, he moved to Israel.

Renowned Czech documentary filmmaker Pavel Koutecky died after falling from a high building under construction in the Prague-Pankrac neighborhood while filming is latest film, reports the public Czech Television (CT). He was 49.

The police spokesman told CT that Koutecky had been reported missing since Friday (April 14, 2006) night. Script editor Alena Muellerova said that Koutecky was shooting a documentary about a young man who climbs high buildings.

Richard Fleischer, who directed almost 50 movies, died of natural causes on March 25, 2006, at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his son Mark. He was 89.

Son of famed animator Max Fleischer, he would direct 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA for Walt Disney, whose named was not spoken in their home. Max told his son that the opportunity was too important to pass up.

The lavishly produced 1954 live-action adaptation of the Jules Verne adventure was a box office hit and moved Fleischer from B-movies to the big time

Maureen Stapleton, who won an Academy Award in 1981 for her supporting role as anarchist activist Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's REDS, died March 13, 2006. She was 80. The longtime smoker died from chronic pulmonary disease in Lenox, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire hills, where she had been living, son Daniel Allentuck said.

Dennis Weaver, who played limping deputy Chester Goode in GUNSMOKE and the intelligent New Mexico deputy solving crime in the Big Apple in TV's MCCLOUD, died Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. He was 81 years old. Weaver died at his home in Ridgway, in southwestern Colorado, of complications from cancer, publicist Julian Myers said Monday.

Mark "Chip" VanDeVelde, vp at Crave Ent., passed away on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006. VanDeVelde was part of the SVG Distribution / Crave Ent. since 1998.

Before coming to Crave, VanDeVelde served as the national sales manager for Konami.

Visitation will be held at the McDonald-Allen-Grennan Funeral Home on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm and the funeral service will be held on Friday, Feb. 24, at 10:00 am at St. Mary's Catholic Church.