Spaghetti Western Director ~ William Hanna
William Denby Hanna was born in Melrose, New Mexico on
July 14, 1910, and was an American animator, voice actor, and musician. Hanna
and Joseph Barbera co-created Tom and Jerry and founded the animation studio
and production company Hanna-Barbera, with Hanna providing the vocal effects
for Tom and Jerry's title characters.
Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in
1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as
Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),
Hanna met Barbera and formed a working relationship. In 1957, they co-founded
Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in
the business, creating or producing programs such as ‘The Flintstones’, ‘The
Huckleberry Hound Show’, ‘The Jetsons’, ‘Scooby-Doo’, ‘The Smurfs’, and ‘Yogi
Bear’. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million but
Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the
studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with
Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors.
William Hanna died in North Hollywood, California on March
22, 2001. He was 90.
William Hanna co-directed one animated Euro-western, “Les
Dalton en cavale” (Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run) with Morris, Joe Barbera
and Ray Patterson in 1982 and the 1983-1984, 1991 European western television
series ‘Lucky Luke’ with Joseph Barbera, Philippe Landrot and Morris.
HANNA, William (aka Bill Hanna) (William Denby Hanna) [7/14/1910, Melrose, New Mexico,
U.S.A. – 3/22/2001, North Hollywood, California, U.S.A. (esophageal cancer)] –
producer, director, writer, animator, composer, songwriter, actor, singer,
married to Violet Blanch Wogatzke [1913-2014] (1936-2001) father of David
William Hanna [1939- ], Bonnie Jean
Hanna [1942-2000], co-founded Hanna-Barbera Studios [1957], inducted into the
Television Academy Hall of Fame [1994].
Lucky Luke: The
Daltons on the Run – 1982 (co) [as Bill Hanna]
Lucky Luke (TV) – 1983-1984,
1991 (co)
Spaghetti Western
Screenwriter ~ Gianni Crea
Gianni Crea was an
Italian director, assistant director, writer and actor. He was born in Siderno
Calabria, Italy on January 4, 1938. He was an assistant director on one film in
1965, wrote seven screenplays between 1969 and 2006 but was best known as a
director. He directed ten films between 1969 and 2000. His reputation comes
from the five Spaghetti westerns he directed in the 1960s and 1970s.
Gianni Crea wrote three
Spaghetti western screenplays: “Legge della violenza – tutti o nessuno” (The
Law of Violence) with Alfonso Balcazar and Dean Craig in 1969, “Il magnifico
west” (The Magnificent West), and “I sette del gruppo Selvaggio” (7 Devils on
Horseback) both in 1972.
CREA, Gianni (aka Perry Dell)
[1/4/1938, Siderno, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy - 2010, Italy] – director,
assistant director, writer, actor.
The Law of Violence
– 1969 (co)
Fill My Grave with
Gold – 1971 [as Perry Dell] [film was never completed]
The Magnificent West
– 1972
7 Devils on
Horseback – 1972
Spaghetti Western
Cinematographer ~ Vladimir Malik
Vladimir Malik born
in Horní Berkovice, Czechoslovakia on January 21, 1931, was a film director,
artist, animator and executive producer. In 1982, he graduated from the Faculty
of Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, but from the
age of seventeen he devoted himself to animated films. He is the director of
the animated films “Automata” (1985), “Great Cleaning” (1986), the animated
television series ‘Why...’ (1994-2000), ‘Tales of King Fiškus’ (1995-1996). In
the years 1987-1992, he made a series of co-produced animated films about
babies – “Baby in the Amusement Park” (1987), “Baby in the Bank”, “Baby in the
Candy Store” (1988), “Baby in the Factory”, “Baby in the Cosmodrome” (1990),
“Baby in the Mountains” (1992). He received a number of awards for his work and
participated with them in film and television festivals at home and abroad. In
1994, Vladimír Malík founded a private production company - Studio Domček. He
worked as a teacher in the Studio of Animated Creation at the Faculty of Film
and Television of the VŠMU in Bratislava. He died in Prague on February 24,
2022, at the age of 91.
Vladimir Malik was a
cinematographer on one Euro-western, “Úkryt cerného Billa” in 1964.
MALIK, Vladimír (aka V. Malík, Vladimir Malik) [1/21/1931, Horní
Berkovice, Czechoslovakia – 2/24/2022, Prague, Czech Republic] – director,
writer, cinematographer, cameraman, animator, film editor, founded Studio
Domček Productions.
Úkryt cerného Billa
– 1964
