Irven Spence

Irven LeRoy Spence (April 24, 1909 – September 21, 1995) was an American animator. He is best known for his work on MGM's Tom and Jerry animated shorts. Spence has been credited variously as Irven Spence, Irvin Spence, and Irv Spence. Spence interest in drawing began in his youth, when he provided cartoons for his high school newspaper (along with classmate William Hanna. Spence's earliest animation work was for Charles B. Mintz's Winkler Pictures, and then for Ub Iwerks, where he worked on the "Flip the Frog" series.After Iwerks Studio folded in 1936, Spence worked at Leon Schlesinger Productions (also known as Warner Bros. Cartoons) as a animator of Tex Avery's animation unit. Spence migrated to Warners, where he animated in Tex Avery’s unit, and brought an eccentric drawing/animation style to already irreverent animated films. He later moved to Metro Goldwyn Mayer's cartoon department in 1938, starting with the Captain and the Kids cartoons—some of which were directed by Bill Hanna and Friz Freleng. Spence animated for Milt Gross (on the Count Screwloose cartoons), Hugh Harman, and for the Bill Hanna/Joe Barbera unit. Spence also animated for Tex Avery in his first four cartoons (Blitz Wolf, The Early Bird Dood It, Dumb-Hounded and Red Hot Riding Hood) when he arrived at the studio. Spence provided animation for Avery's first three shorts at MGM, but soon moved over to the Hanna-Barbera unit. Spence's first Tom and Jerry credit was on The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), which received an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Spence left MGM in August 1956 for Animation, Inc., a commercial production studio, before joining his former bosses at Hanna-Barbera Productions seven years later. He provided animation for many animated television series, including Jonny Quest (1964), Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles (1966), and The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971). In addition to his work for Hanna-Barbera, Spence also worked for Chuck Jones (1970's adaptation of Horton