Pink Panther's creator died 12 years ago

Friz Freleng died twelve years ago in Los Angeles, California, USA from natural causes (b. August 21, 1906 in Kansas City, Missouri in 1905). He was one of the most prolific and successful animators of the 20th century, Isadore "Friz" Freleng was the director of Merry Melodies and Looney Tunes for Warner Brothers Cartoons. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance) and Speedy Gonzales. While at Warner Bros., Freleng won Academy Awards for Tweety Pie (1947), Speedy Gonzales (1955), Birds Anonymous (1957) and Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) and was nominated for seven others. After Warners shut down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partner David DePatie founded DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.

Friz Freleng

The Panther started out in 1964 as an animated short shown before The Blake Edwards movie "The Pink Panther". A lot of people thought the cartoon was a lot cooler than the movie. So the creator, Friz Freleng, together with David DePatie, started making a long running series of Pink Panther cartoons. They are still shown today all over the world.

See Friz Freeleng in IMDB