Jerry Eisenberg, ‘Peter Potamus,’ ‘Wacky Races’ and ‘Fangface’ Animator, Dies at 87
- Jerry Eisenberg, the animator known for his work on iconic cartoons like The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo, has passed away at the age of 87.
Jerry Eisenberg, the amiable animator known for his contributions to The Jetsons , The Peter Potamus Show , Wacky Races , Fangface , Spider-Man cartoons, Scooby-Doo movies and so much more, has died. He was 87.
A second-generation cartoonist, Eisenberg died Wednesday of natural causes at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, his son, Derek Eisenberg, told The Hollywood Reporter .
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Eisenberg spent more than two decades in two stints at the fabled animation house Hanna-Barbera Productions and worked for Ruby-Spears Productions, Marvel and other companies during his remarkable six-decade career.
At H-B, Eisenberg served as a layout artist on The Huckleberry Hound Show , Quick Draw McGraw , The Jetsons , The Flintstones , Jonny Quest, Wacky Races, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour , Motormouse and Autocat, The Peter Potamus Show and Josie and the Pussycats.
He also designed characters for Squiddly Diddly , The Secret Squirrel Show , The Magilla Gorilla Show , The Atom Ant Show , Super Friends and Hong Kong Phooey .
In a decade-plus at Ruby-Spears, where he was a producer and character designer, he worked on Fangface , Plastic Man , Thundarr the Barbarian and Heathcliff ,
Later, he was a storyboard artist on several direct-to-video Scooby-Doo films from 1999-2012 at Warner Bros. Animation.
Jerome Eisenberg was born in New York City on Dec. 14, 1937. He and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a toddler.
His father, Harvey Eisenberg, was an animator and comic book artist who worked on Tom & Jerry , Foxy Fagan and Yogi Bear cartoons alongside William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at MGM and later at their own company.
Jerry did sports cartoons for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper while in high school, and that helped him land a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts).
In 1956, he got a job as an in-betweener at MGM, where he met Jack Nicholson, then a messenger at the studio (the two would play pickup basketball for years). After MGM shuttered its animation unit shortly after he arrived, he went to Warner Bros. and assisted animator Ken Harris until 1961, when he was hired at Hanna-Barbera.
Eisenberg exited in 1977 to join Joe Ruby and Ken Spears ' new Ruby-Spears outfit but returned to H-B in the 1990s.
He also worked at Marvel for about five years, becoming pals with Stan Lee and serving as a storyboard artist on Spider-Man: The Animated Series from 1994-98. His credits included Tom & Jerry Kids , Johnny Bravo , Muppet Babies , House of Mouse and Bob the Builder .
Eisenberg was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and his book, Meet Jerry: My Life, My Adventure , came out in 2023.
He, Willie Ito and Tony Benedict, lifelong friends and fellow animators, were known as "The 3 Tooners."
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife, Raymonde — they married in November 1968 — and his grandchildren, Lauren, Audrey and Franklin.
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