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Animation legend William Hanna dead
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ANIMATION legend William Hanna, who with partner Joseph Barbera turned television into their own personal cartoon world, creating such characters as Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died recently at his home in North Hollywood, Warner Bros. He was 90 years old. The cause of death was not immediately released.
Hanna and Barbera, who used to do five five-minute Tom and Jerry film cartoons a year for MGM, were doing up to 11 half-hour shows on TV a week at the height of their fame.
Hanna and Barbera met on the lot of MGM in 1937 where they created the famed ``Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series. They formed their own animation company Hanna-Barbera in 1957 after the phone rang and they were told that the animation division at MGM was being shut.
Besides ``Tom and Jerry'', they had made film history at MGM by mixing animation and live action sequences in such classic films as Gene Kelly's ``Anchors Away'' and ``Invitation to Dance.''
They had won every award including seven Oscars.
The Hanna-Barbera studio has been owned by Warner Bros, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc, since 1996.
Hanna was involved with the studio until his death.
Hanna is survived by wife, Violet, two children, and seven grandchildren.
(SD-Agencies)
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