Richard James Lundy (August 14, 1907 – April 7, 1990) was an American animator and film director who worked at several animation studios including The Walt Disney Company, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera. Lundy was a pioneer of personality animation and is best remembered as one of the creators of Donald Duck. Throughout his career he worked as a primary animator on at least 60 films, both short and feature-length, and directed 51 shorts.
Richard James Lundy (August 14, 1907 – April 7, 1990) was an American animator and film director who worked at several animation studios including Walt Disney Productions, MGM, Walter Lantz Productions, and Hanna-Barbera. Lundy was a pioneer of personality animation and is best remembered as one of the creators of Donald Duck. Throughout his career, he worked as a primary animator on at least 60 films, both short and feature-length, and directed 51 shorts.
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Early life
Lundy was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to James and Minnie Lundy, their only child. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Detroit, where Lundy's father worked as an inspector for the Burroughs adding machine Company.
When Lundy was ten years old, his parents separated and he and his mother went to live in Port Huron north of Detroit. They later moved back to the city where Lundy's mother worked as a waitress. Lundy moved to Los Angeles in the late 1920s.
Career
In 1929, Lundy was employed by Walt Disney Productions, becoming the studio's dance specialist; animating many of the musical numbers in early Silly Symphony and Mickey Mouse shorts. He later worked on Three Little Pigs (1933) and Orphan's Benefit (1934). After working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Lundy became a director at Disney.
In late 1943, Lundy was left without anymore directorial assignments before being fired by Disney. Initially devastated, Lundy soon found work at Walter Lantz Productions. He started as an animator and again became a director. He directed shorts featuring Andy Panda, Woody Woodpecker, and the Swing Symphonies. Lundy became the studios primary director in late-1946, and was noted for shifting the studios direction to a style more in vain to works made by Disney and MGM, a stark contrast when compared to work by the studio's previous director, James Culhane. Lundy worked for Wolff Productions after the Lantz studio temporarily closed in 1949. The Lantz studio would reopen in 1950 and remain in business until 1972, but Lundy never worked at Lantz again. While at Wolff, Lundy worked on television commercials. In 1950, he worked for MGM on Barney Bear shorts and the Droopy film Caballero Droopy.
In 1959 Lundy worked for Hanna-Barbera on The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, and Scooby-Doo. He retired in 1973, but continued to do freelance work for several years thereafter.
Donald Duck
Lundy was not the first to draw or even animate Donald Duck. The character was created by Swiss-born designer Albert Hurter and animated by Art Babbitt and Dick Huemer for the short film The Wise Little Hen (1934). This was Donald's first appearance, although the story offered little opportunity for character development. This would come in Donald's second appearance, Orphan's Benefit (also 1934), in which Lundy was the sole animator of Donald. According to common animation practice, the audio and voices of the film were recorded first and were then played for the animators to reference. In listening to voice actor Clarence Nash portray the Duck in Orphan's Benefit, Lundy said "[I] decided that [Donald] was an ego-show-off. If anything crossed him, he got mad and blew his top."
Personal life
Lundy was married three times. His first marriage with Anne Lundy resulted in two children. The two divorced and he moved to Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. In 1932, he married Juanita Sheridan, who also worked at the Disney studio. This marriage was short and ended in divorce in 1934.
By 1939, Lundy was remarried to Mabel Lundy. Together they had one daughter Llewellyn.
Filmography
Films
In this period, most of the films in which Lundy worked belong to Disney
Playful Pan (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Pioneer Days (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Winter (animator - uncredited) (1930)
The Picnic (animator - uncredited) (1930)
The Gorilla Mystery (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Monkey Melodies (animator - uncredited) (1930)
The Chain Gang (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Night (animator - uncredited) (1930)
The Shindig (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Midnight in a Toy Shop (animator - uncredited) (1930)
Ice Box Raider/One Two Many/Baddie Buddies (segment "Baddie Buddies") (1961)
Disguise and Gals/Remember the Daze/Foxy Proxy (segment "Foxy Proxy") (1961)
Genial Genie/The Gangsters All Here/Duck the Music (segment "Genial Genie") (1961)
Yogi's Birthday Party (animator/animation supervisor) (1962)
The Jetsons (animator - 4 episodes) (1962–1963)
The Venus (1962)
Uniblab (1962)
The Coming of Astro (1962)
The Little Man (1963)
Rancid Ransom (Short) (animator) (1962)
The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series (animator - 2 episodes) (1962)
Gator-Napper/Water-Melon Felon/Zero Hero
Droopy Dragon/See-Saw/Whale of a Tale
Common Scents (Short) (animator) (1962)
Raggedy Rug (Short) (animator) (1964)
The Magilla Gorilla Show (animator - 9 episodes) (1964–1965)
Fairy Godmother (1964)
Masquerade Party (1964)
Airlift (1964)
Mad Avenue Madness (1965)
Magilla Mix-Up (1965)
Montana Magilla (1965)
That Was the Geek That Was (1965)
Love at First Fight (1965)
Bird Brained (1965)
The Secret Squirrel Show (animator - 1 episode) (1965)
Sub Swiper/Way Out Squiddly/Prince of a Pup
The Atom Ant Show (animator - 2 episodes) (1966)
Killer Diller Gorilla (uncredited)
Bully for Atom Ant
Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles (animator) (1966)
Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor (animator) (1967)
The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (animator - 5 episodes) (1968–1969)
The Magic Shillelah (1968)
Huck of La Mancha (1968)
The Last Labor of Hercules (1968)
The Eye of Doorgah (1968)
Mission of Captain Mordecai (1969)
The Adventures of Gulliver (animator - 1 episode) (1968)
The Forbidden Pool (1968)
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (animator - 6 episodes) (1969)
The Treacherous Movie Lot Plot
Carnival Calamity
Wild West Peril
The Boardwalk Booby Trap
The Terrible Trolley Trap
Jungle Jeopardy
Josie and the Pussycats (animator - 1 episode) (1970)
Plateau of the Apes Plot
Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (animator - 8 episodes) (1970)
Don't Fool with a Phantom
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf?
A Tiki Scare Is No Fair
Haunted House Hang-Up
Jeepers, It's the Creeper
Scooby's Night with a Frozen Fright
Mystery Mask Mix-Up
Nowhere to Hyde
Where's Huddles? (animator - 10 episodes) (1970)
One Man's Family
A Sticky Affair
The Odd Trio
Get That Letter Back
To Catch a Thief
Hot Dog Hannah
The Offensives
The Ramblin' Wreck
A Weighty Problem
The Old Swimming Hole
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (animator - 16 episodes) (1972)
The Roman Holidays (animator - 3 episodes) (1972)
Cyrano deHappius
Hectic Holiday
Double Date
The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (animator - 1 episode) (1972)
Yogi's Ark Lark
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (animator - 1972)
Love, American Style (animator - 1 episode) (1972)
Love and the Bachelor Party/Love and the Latin Lover/Love and the Old-Fashioned Father/Love and the Test of Manhood (segment "Love and the Old-Fashioned Father")
