Chuck Jones
Birthday:
21 September 1912, Spokane, Washington, USA
Birth Name:
Charles Martin Jones
Starting as a cel washer, Chuck Jones worked his way up to animator and then director at the animation division of Warner Bros. He is famous for creating such beloved cartoon characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Ralph Wolf, Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, Sniffles, and many others, as well as adding to the develop...
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Starting as a cel washer, Chuck Jones worked his way up to animator and then director at the animation division of Warner Bros. He is famous for creating such beloved cartoon characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Ralph Wolf, Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, Sniffles, and many others, as well as adding to the development of Warner favorites such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and countless others.His most famous cartoons tend to have been created with writer Michael Maltese. Jones' autobiography, published by Simon & Schuster "Chuck Amuck"--a pun on his Daffy Duck short Duck Amuck (1953)--gives a very amusing account of his life. It is liberally sprinkled with hundreds of cartoons with some color plates. Show less «
Animation isn't the illusion of life; it is life!
Animation isn't the illusion of life; it is life!
[on one of his most famous characters, Wile E. Coyote] The coyote is victimized by his own ineptitude. I never understood how to use tools a...Show more »
[on one of his most famous characters, Wile E. Coyote] The coyote is victimized by his own ineptitude. I never understood how to use tools and that's really the coyote's problem. Show less «
[about animation] I don't think it has to be realistic. It just has to be believable.
[about animation] I don't think it has to be realistic. It just has to be believable.
If you want to draw Bugs Bunny, just learn to draw a carrot and hook a rabbit on to it.
If you want to draw Bugs Bunny, just learn to draw a carrot and hook a rabbit on to it.
[on Wile E. Coyote] I think he's a heroic character. I admire him because he keeps trying all the time. Also, it's legitimate -- he is just ...Show more »
[on Wile E. Coyote] I think he's a heroic character. I admire him because he keeps trying all the time. Also, it's legitimate -- he is just trying to get something to eat. Evidence of logic is vital to comedy. You must believe it or you can't laugh at it. The Coyote and the Road Runner are the only two alive out there. There was a drought or famine. The Road Runner, who lives on insects, probably didn't have to leave during the drought. The coyote starts out after him because there's nothing left and by the time that others return the coyote has become a fanatic. That fanaticism is more vital to him -- and us -- than any present need. We all pursue hopeless goals at times, don't we? Show less «
The Road Runner is really a force. He's the Coyote's Holy Grail. You don't have to put a personality on the Holy Grail; you only need somebo...Show more »
The Road Runner is really a force. He's the Coyote's Holy Grail. You don't have to put a personality on the Holy Grail; you only need somebody pursuing it. Show less «
[about the cartoons he made during his Warner Brothers period] Those cartoons were never made for children. Nor were they made for adults. T...Show more »
[about the cartoons he made during his Warner Brothers period] Those cartoons were never made for children. Nor were they made for adults. They were made for me. Show less «
[on Elmer Fudd] "Be vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits". He's just about to cry. He's afraid someone's going to come along and disturb him.
[on Elmer Fudd] "Be vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits". He's just about to cry. He's afraid someone's going to come along and disturb him.
Bugs is an aspiration. Daffy is a realization. You know that Daffy is within you and, if allowed to get loose, you would be just like Daffy....Show more »
Bugs is an aspiration. Daffy is a realization. You know that Daffy is within you and, if allowed to get loose, you would be just like Daffy. But with Bugs...you hope to be like that. Show less «
We are all Daffy Ducks, Woody Allens, Charles Chaplins and Wile E. Coyotes inside. We are all haplessly and hopelessly hopeful. We are all t...Show more »
We are all Daffy Ducks, Woody Allens, Charles Chaplins and Wile E. Coyotes inside. We are all haplessly and hopelessly hopeful. We are all to some extent avaricious, mean, traitorous, envious, jealous--but most of these charming characteristics we manage to keep fairly well buried and under control. Show less «
When Jack Warner [Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner], seeking a director for Warner Bros.' first three-dimensional film, House of Wax ...Show more »
When Jack Warner [Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner], seeking a director for Warner Bros.' first three-dimensional film, House of Wax (1953), chose 'Andre de Toth', who only had the use of one eye, I at last was able to understand the kind of logic that had made me a director. Show less «
I believe that all children will learn the joy of drawing if encouraged by ample materials, and love strong enough from their parents - and ...Show more »
I believe that all children will learn the joy of drawing if encouraged by ample materials, and love strong enough from their parents - and it must be very strong - to refrain from the well-intended but deadly use of unqualified criticism or excessive praise during the very early, very critical, very creative years of childhood. Show less «
If we are not all of us incipient comedians, why do we laugh at comedy? Why do we love great comedians? Not for what they look like, but for...Show more »
If we are not all of us incipient comedians, why do we laugh at comedy? Why do we love great comedians? Not for what they look like, but for what they do... They are mirrors of what we do, or, in the case of the comic hero, what we would like to be able to do. Show less «
You must love what you caricature. You must not mock it - unless it is ridiculously self-important. You must respect the impulsive thought a...Show more »
You must love what you caricature. You must not mock it - unless it is ridiculously self-important. You must respect the impulsive thought and try to implement it. You cannot perform as a director by what you already know. You must always remember that only man, of all creatures, can laugh, or needs to; and that if you are in the trade of helping others to laugh and to survive by laughter, then you are privileged indeed. And remember always that character is all that matters in the making of great comedians, in animation and in live action. Show less «
If your story calls for human beings, use live-action. It is cheaper, quicker and more believable. If, as a director, I could train a live c...Show more »
If your story calls for human beings, use live-action. It is cheaper, quicker and more believable. If, as a director, I could train a live coyote and a live road runner to act, I would use them. I am an animator and an animation director; therefore, I look for characters that cannot be done in live action. Show less «
The older I get, the more individuality I find in animals and the less I find in humans.
The older I get, the more individuality I find in animals and the less I find in humans.
At Disney they could animate One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), but if I had tried to make "One Dog Named Spot" for Leon Schlesinger, he...Show more »
At Disney they could animate One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), but if I had tried to make "One Dog Named Spot" for Leon Schlesinger, he would not let me do it. Spots cost money. Show less «
Walt Disney, along with many other producers, may have had the political acumen of a squid, but to me he is the patron saint of all animator...Show more »
Walt Disney, along with many other producers, may have had the political acumen of a squid, but to me he is the patron saint of all animators. Show less «
[on his correspondence with Walt Disney] Over the years I wrote perhaps four more letters to him, and he always wrote back. About six months...Show more »
[on his correspondence with Walt Disney] Over the years I wrote perhaps four more letters to him, and he always wrote back. About six months before he died, I was at the hospital across the street from the Disney studio, and a nurse told me that Walt was a patient there and suggested I go and say hello to him. I found him alone, sitting up in his bed. Shading his eyes, he invited me in. I told him about the letters and thanked him for replying to every one. He said something peculiar: 'It wasn't difficult. You are the only animator who ever wrote to me.' It is strange to think that he was adored by so many millions of people but apparently not by those he adored - his own animators, who could do something he could not do and whose talent he so admired. Show less «
Once you have heard a strange audience burst into laughter at a film you directed, you realize what the word "joy" is all about.
Once you have heard a strange audience burst into laughter at a film you directed, you realize what the word "joy" is all about.
[on How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)] You can say that a Grinch wants to steal Christmas, and you don't need to know anything more abo...Show more »
[on How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)] You can say that a Grinch wants to steal Christmas, and you don't need to know anything more about him--he is just a villainous Grinch who hates Christmas. A human being cannot be that simple. If a human villain--an old man, for example--wanted to steal Christmas, we would have to go deeper into the character, to find out whether he hated Christmas because of his age, because he lived alone on a mountain or because he loathed kids. What we do shamefully recognize, of course, is that we are all a bit like the Grinch, for we all hate Christmas a little. Or a lot. Show less «
It is easier to humanize animals than it is to humanize humans. We are far too close to other human beings; we are surrounded by human being...Show more »
It is easier to humanize animals than it is to humanize humans. We are far too close to other human beings; we are surrounded by human beings; therefore to many of us, anyone who looks like a coke-head is a coke-head, anyone who looks like a bum is a bum. It is in order to avoid these stereotypes that animators, as well as Aesop, Kipling [Rudyard Kipling, La Fontaine, E.B. White, Beatrix Potter, Felix Salten, Walt Kelly and countless others turn to animals. Show less «
There is no such thing as sympathy without believability; there is no such thing as real laughter without sympathy.
There is no such thing as sympathy without believability; there is no such thing as real laughter without sympathy.
Developing an animated character is very much like getting married. You must learn how to get along together, and you must show great patien...Show more »
Developing an animated character is very much like getting married. You must learn how to get along together, and you must show great patience and understanding about what you can and can't do to bring the individual best out in each character. Show less «
[receiving his honorary Oscar in 1996] Well, what can I say in the face of such humiliating evidence? I stand guilty before the world of dir...Show more »
[receiving his honorary Oscar in 1996] Well, what can I say in the face of such humiliating evidence? I stand guilty before the world of directing over 300 cartoons in the last 50 or 60 years. Hopefully this means you've forgiven me. When in 1931 I came stumbling out of Chouinard Art Institute into the arid maelstrom of the Hreat Depression, in the one hope that I could resume my school career as a janitor, a miracle occurred so staggeringly unexpected and unbelievable that I find it incredible even today--somebody offered to pay me to draw. And so this miracle continues. For over 70 years I've been paid adequately, if not lavishly, for doing what I enjoy doing most, a miracle indeed. Robert Frost expresses it best: "My object in life", he said, "is to unite my avocation and my vocation as my two eyes are one in sight". My deepest thanks for this signal and shining award, and my love to Marian and Linda, and to the laughing denizens of Termite Terrace, wherever you are. Show less «
[on June Foray] One of the few misconceptions about June is to think of her wonderful talent as "voice-overl). Nothing could be further from...Show more »
[on June Foray] One of the few misconceptions about June is to think of her wonderful talent as "voice-overl). Nothing could be further from the truth. June is worthy of the gift-word: actress. She imbues a part with herself, be it a Mama Bear or the deadly cobra Nagaina in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975) . . . in fact--and I speak with the deepest respect for him--I can only compliment Mel Blanc by saying that he could be called a male June Foray. Show less «
It is hard to overstate how good Mel Blanc was. He was extraordinarily quick, able to transfer his personality instantly into a character. H...Show more »
It is hard to overstate how good Mel Blanc was. He was extraordinarily quick, able to transfer his personality instantly into a character. He would come in about an hour before recording, without having seen my story layouts, and not really knowing how he was going to play the character. I would go carefully over the layouts with him, then I would read the lines to show him what intonation I wanted, where the accents should fall and where I needed hesitates. And that was all he needed. Show less «
[his reaction to Space Jam (1996)] Oh, I thought it was terrible. As someone who worked with these characters for upwards of 40 years . . . ...Show more »
[his reaction to Space Jam (1996)] Oh, I thought it was terrible. As someone who worked with these characters for upwards of 40 years . . . I can tell you with the utmost confidence, Porky Pig would never say "I think I wet myself". On the off-chance that Bugs were to be faced with the situation of a basketball game standing between freedom and extraterrestrial domination, he wouldn't have needed anyone's help, and moreover it wouldn't have taken him an hour and a half. Those aliens, whether they were tiny or colossal, would've been dealt with in short order come the seven-minute mark. Show less «
[on Pepé Le Pew] Pepé is the individual I always wanted to be, so sure of his appeal to women that it never occurs to him that his attenti...Show more »
[on Pepé Le Pew] Pepé is the individual I always wanted to be, so sure of his appeal to women that it never occurs to him that his attentions might be unwelcome, or even offensive. I tried to make Pepé's confidence a part of my own personality, hoping to share in his sexual success. On screen it worked. Show less «
Chuck Jones's Photos
Mr. Jones
