Animator Chuck Jones _ Oscar-winner who drew Bugs, Daffy, Porky _ dead at 89

Saturday, February 23rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Academy Award-winning animator Chuck Jones, best known for making Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig and other beloved characters come to life, has died. He was 89.

He died Friday of congestive heart failure at his Newport Beach home with his wife, Marian, by his side, said his daughter, Linda Jones.

Chuck Jones worked on more than 300 animated films in a career that spanned more than 60 years. Three of his films won Academy Awards and he was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996 for lifetime achievement. He also received an honorary life membership from the Directors Guild of America.

While she praised her father's legacy in the world of animation, Linda Jones said she would remember him as a great father. She was grateful they had a chance to collaborate on several projects, including ``Chariots of Fur'' in 1994 and ``Superior Duck'' in 1996.

``He and I have had a lifetime of being close, which is a rarity,'' she said. ``I value that as much as anyone values his great genius.''

Working at Warner Bros., Jones animated some of the studio's most recognizable characters. Along with Bugs and Daffy, he worked on the fast-moving, beep-beeping Road Runner and his hapless pursuer, Wile E. Coyote.

Jones also produced, directed and wrote the screenplay for the animated television classic ``Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.''

Although his work was cartooning, it won him the admiration of people throughout the entertainment business.

``Chuck Jones' originality, his humor and his pacing still have no peer today,'' director Steven Spielberg once said.

One of Jones' most popular films, ``What's Opera, Doc?'' was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992 for being ``among the most culturally, historically and aesthetically significant films of our time.''

Three of Jones' films won Academy Awards: ``For Scent-imental Reasons,'' ``So Much for So Little'' and ``The Dot and the Line.''

Born in 1912 in Spokane, Wash., Jones moved to Hollywood with his family, finding work there as a child extra in Mac Sennett comedies.

After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of Arts), he began making a living drawing pencil portraits at a Los Angeles marketplace. He landed his first job washing animation cels in 1932, working for legendary Disney animator Ub Iwerks.

A few years later, he became an animator at the Leon Schlesinger Studio, which was later sold to Warner Bros. He headed his own unit at the Warner Bros. Animation Dept. until it closed in 1962.

He also worked for MGM Studios, creating episodes for the ``Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series.

His autobiography, ``Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist,'' was published in 1989, followed two years later by a second book, ``Chuck Reducks.''