William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an animator, director, producer, and co-founder, together with Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera Productions. The studio produced well-known cartoons such as The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo.

Career

Hanna started his career in 1931 when he learned that Leon Schlesinger Productions, producers of animated cartoons for Warner Bros., were hiring staff. He gained his employment without any formal training and soon became head of their Ink and Paint Department. When producer-directors Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising left Schlesinger and Warners in 1933 to become independent and produce cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna was one of the employees who followed them.

In 1936, Hanna directed his first cartoon, To Spring, one of the Harman-Ising Happy Harmonies series entries. In 1937, MGM made a business decision to stop outsourcing to Harman-Ising and bring production in-house. Hanna was among those hired away from Harman-Ising, and he became a senior director on MGM's Captain and the Kids series. The same year, they hired storyman Joseph Barbera from Terrytoons, and in 1939 the two began what was to be a winning partnership as co-directors.

The first cartoon directed by Hanna and Barbera together was Puss Gets the Boot, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject and introduced their most famous creation from this period, the cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Hanna supplied all the screams and yelps of Tom in the shorts without credit. Leonard Maltin says that "Barbera's strength was in gags and story development, while Hanna saw himself more as a director, with a solid sense of timing; they complemented each other perfectly."

Hanna and Barbera's 17-year partnership on the Tom & Jerry series resulted in 7 Academy Awards for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject, and 14 total nominations, more than any other character-based theatrical animated series. Hanna and Barbera were placed in charge of MGM's animation division in late 1955; this was short-lived, as MGM closed the division in 1957.

From here, Hanna branched out into television, forming the company Shield Productions to partner with animator Jay Ward, who had created the series Crusader Rabbit. This fizzled, and in 1957 he reteamed up with his old partner Joseph Barbera to produce the series The Ruff & Reddy Show, under the company name H-B Enterprises, soon changed to Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Hanna-Barbera Productions became by the late-1960s the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing hit programs such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! by the end of the decade. The studio thrived until 1991, when Hanna and Barbera sold it to Turner Entertainment. Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors and periodically worked on new Hanna-Barbera shows, including the What-a-Cartoon! series.

William Hanna passed away on March 22, 2001 at the age of 90.

See also

• List of entertainer pairs

External links

• William Hanna profile from Tom and Jerry Online