Barbera, Joseph 1911–2006
Barbera, Joseph 1911–2006
(Joe Barbera, Joseph R. Barbera)
PERSONAL
Original name, Joseph Roland Barbera; born March 24, 1911, in New York, NY; died December 18, 2006, in Los Angeles, CA. Animator, producer, director, composer, and writer. Barbera, along with partner William Hanna, owned Hanna-Barbera Productions, which created such well-known cartoon characters as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Tom and Jerry, and the Flintstones. Barbera and Hanna began working together in the 1930s when Barbera worked as an animator, director, and producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The two headed the animation department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1950s before starting Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1957. The pair won numerous awards, including the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Emmy Awards, for their work. In the 1960s they created such successful animated television series as Huckeberry Hound and Friends, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, and The Flintstones. Hanna and Barbera continued to dominate television's schedule of animated series over the next few decades. Series included The Harlem Globetrotters and Josei and the Pussycats, both of which aired in the 1970s, and The Smurfs and Monchhichis, which ran in the 1980s. Barbera also worked as a producer and director in feature films. Some were animated, such as Hey There, It's Yogi Bear, Charlotte's Web, Here Are the Smurfs, and Go-Bots: Battle of the Rock Lords, while others were live action, such as Mother, Jugs & Speed and Scooby-Doo, released in 2002. Barbera and Hanna were inducted into the Televisoin Academy Hall of Fame in 1994, the same year Barbera published My Life in Toons, his autobiography.
PERIODICALS
Boston Globe, December 19, 2006.
Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2006.
New York Times, December 19, 2006.
Washington Post, December 19, 2006.