Thurl Ravenscroft, who roared “They’re Grrrrreeeat!” in Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger ads and voiced a host of Disney characters, died Sunday of prostate cancer. He was 91.For more than 50 years, Ravenscroft was the voice behind Tony the Tiger, TV’s popular cartoon pitchman for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. He is also well known for his cartoon voice work with Disney and Chuck Jones - including singing the classic “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” - and lent his voice to characters on rides at Disneyland, including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion. Born in Norfolk, Neb., Ravenscroft moved to California in 1933 to study art. By the mid-1930s he was appearing regularly on radio, and by the late-1930s he was singing backup for Bing Crosby. In 1952, Ravenscroft’s voice appeared in the first Frosted Flakes commercial.

Another classic cartoon voice has left us. Comedian-actor-director Howard Morris passed away Saturday afternoon. An announcement was posted by Howard’s son on his Ernest T. Bass homepage.Morris, well known for his appearances with Sid Ceaser and Carl Reiner on YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS in the 1950s, joined the regular cast at Hanna Barbera with his portrayal of Jet Screamer (above) on THE JETSONS in 1962. He also voiced Atom Ant, Mr. Peebles and Breezly Bruin among others for H-B. More importantly, Morris did most of the voices for Gene Deitch’s Oscar winning short MUNRO (1960), was King Features’ BEETLE BAILEY (1962) and enacted several voices on Filmation’s THE ARCHIE SHOW (1968), including Jughead.He was a regular voice in Disney films, a member of the Mel Brooks stock company, and directed numerous 60s sitcoms and comedy features.An enormous talent. Rest in peace.

Best known for his voice of Fred Flintstone (replacing Alan Reed after his death), character actor Henry Corden has passed away at age 85.Outside of his Flintstone work, my favorite role of his was his recurring stint as Mr. Babbitt, the gruff landlord of THE MONKEES.He shall be missed.

Howard Green informs us of the passing of Ollie Johnston’s beloved wife, Marie, Friday morning at her home in La Canada surrounded by family.She was 87 years old. She and Ollie had been married for 62 years.

He really really likes it! Link

THE ART OF ANIMATION TIMING: A MASTER SESSION WITH FRED CRIPPEN takes place this Saturday, May 21st at 3pm. It’s at The American Film Institute (Ted Ashley Screening Room, 2021 N. Western Ave. Hollywood, CA). Fred is one of the true living legends of the animation biz — a veteran of the famed design studio UPA and creator of ROGER RAMJET. He has a lifetime of accumulated knowledge about the art form and he’s generously willing to share it all. We’ll be showing plenty of his films and discussing his distinctive approach to animation. Come prepared with your questions.

ASIFA-Hollywood members get free admission as always. Non-members pay $10, but here’s the deal: if you mention Cartoon Brew, admission is half-price ($5) for non-members. For a bit more about the event, see this earlier write-up. See ya there!

Animator Oscar Grillo sends us a new drawing everyday. This was the one he sent today.

Pardon my long silence. Deadlines aplenty. I’m happy to report that all the text for my 50s animation design book is now finished. The pressure of this book has hardly subsided; there are now impending deadlines for images, text revisions and pressing non-book matters (like a little thing called ANIMATION BLAST #9 that I’m itching to finish up and have sent to the printer). It’s interesting to note that there is now nearly three times as much text in the book as originally intended. There is so little information available about most designers from that period that it seemed like a disservice to print an artist’s work without offering proper biographic details and a discussion of their specific contributions to animation design. It’s going to be a huge challenge fitting in all of this text with the images, and not ending up with something that looks like a Chip Kidd book design, but I’m confident that my designer will come up with a classy solution.