Internment camp inmate who gave life to Scooby-Doo has died

Internment camp inmate who gave life to Scooby-Doo
SHÂN ROSS

IWAO Takamoto, the animator who created the cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley and directed the classic film Charlotte's Web has died. He was 81.

Mr Takamoto, who began learning his craft in an American internment camp during the Second World War, died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angles on Monday, Gary Miereanu, a spokesman for Warner Bros Animation, said yesterday.

In a career spanning more than six decades, Mr Takamoto helped to design some of the biggest animated films and television shows, including Cinderella, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp and The Flintstones.

But it was Scooby-Doo, the legendary cowardly canine ghost-hunter that captivated audiences, for which he was best known. Mr Takamoto designed Scooby-Doo in the late 1960s while working at the Hanna- Barbera animation studio. The Great Dane's name came from the end of Frank Sinatra's song Strangers in the Night, which contained the phrase "dooby-doo".

Mr Takamoto created Scooby-Doo's character after talking to a dog breeder, who showed him pictures and "talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such", he told Cartoon Network Studios.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=48102007

Rest in peace Iwao. Your creations helped to keep me entertained as a child and taught me an important lesson in compassion. My own children now enjoy those same cartoons, so your gifts to the world will continue to grow even though you have passed on. :(

Rest in peace Iwao. And thank you!

Still one of my all time favorite animated movies. Not much compassion in Scooby Doo :)

he was an internment camp inmate. I never even knew who Scooby's creator was ever. RIP I am glad you created Scooby Doo and had I known your background, I would have probably have paid closer attention to one of my favorite cartoon characters!

if it hadn't been for those darned kids!!