Tex Avery

One of the most influential theatrical animators of the 20th century, Tex Avery shepherded Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes series from a second-tier interest for the studio to one of the most iconic franchises in animation history thanks to such enduring characters as Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. Avery's work was defined by a strong sense of visual and verbal anarchy, with characters gleefully breaking the fourth wall or the laws of nature in pursuit of a madcap ideal that married the lunacies of the Marx Brothers with the free-form structure and refusal to adhere to the sweetness and gentility that defined the work of their greatest competitor, Walt Disney Studios. Avery's shorts for Warner Bros. and later MGM, where he created the phlegmatic canine Droopy and the hot-blooded "Red Hot Riding Hood" (1943), had a profound influence on countless subsequent animated shorts and television, from Hanna-Barbera to John Kricfalusi's "Ren & Stimpy" (Nickelodeon 1991-95) to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Tex Avery continued to provide blueprints for animation writers and artists into the 21st century.