Hawley Pratt

Hawley Barnard Pratt (June 9, 1911 – March 4, 1999) was an American animator, character designer, and illustrator. He is best known for his work for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and later as a director. Pratt also worked for Walt Disney Studios, Filmation, and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises where he co-created The Pink Panther.

Life and career Born in Seattle and raised in the Bronx by his widowed mother Mabel, Pratt graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He became an assistant animator then full-animator at Walt Disney Studios in 1933, especially he worked on The Nutcracker Suite sequence for Fantasia where he animated the spinning flowers dancing to “Dance of the Reed-Flutes”. He later left to join Warner Bros. Cartoons, along with fellow animators Bill Melendez, Cornett Wood, and Jack Bradbury who also departed to the same studio after the Disney animators' strike in 1941. While there, he directed (or co-directed) all episodes of The Pink Panther Show. Pratt made his directorial effort in the 1966 short The Pink Blueprint, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject (Cartoon). His other directorial works also include three Roland and Rattfink shorts, The Super 6, and three Dr. Seuss television specials: The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and Dr. Seuss on the Loose.

Awards Golden Award 1992