Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom & Jerry, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones and the Jetsons, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.
Barbera died of natural causes at his Studio City home with his wife Sheila at his side, the spokesman said.
With partner Bill Hanna, Barbera first found success in the late 1930s creating the fussin’ and fightin’ Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM. The cat and mouse went on to win seven Academy Awards, more than any other series with the same characters.
Then, as founders and partners in Hanna-Barbera Studios, they discovered a whole new realm of success starting in the 1950s with animated TV comedies including “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” “Huckleberry Hound and Friends” (the first animated TV series to receive an Emmy), “Quick Draw McGraw” (which introduced Yogi, Boo-Boo and Jellystone Park), “Top Cat,” “Jonny Quest” and “Scooby-Doo.”
Hanna-Barbera Studios would rake in eight Emmys, including the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1988, and Barbera and Hanna were elected to the ATAS Hall of Fame in 1994.
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