Arthur Rankin Jr.
- Directing
- July 19, 1924 · New York City, New York, USA
- January 30, 2014
Biography
Arthur Rankin, Jr. (July 19, 1924 - January 30, 2014) was an American-born, Bermudian director, producer and writer, mostly working in animation. The son of actor Arthur Rankin, in the early 1960s he founded the film production company Videocraft International (now called Rankin/Bass) with Jules Bass. The two worked closely together for many years, co-directing and producing a wide array of stop motion animated features and cartoons, perhaps most famously the holiday-themed TV specials, such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974 TV special), and Jack Frost. He is also credited with devising the story for many Rankin/Bass productions, including the featurefilms The Daydreamer and Mad Monster Party?. In 1977 Rankin and Bass produced a version of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The pair also teamed on a wide variety of animated TV series, including ThunderCats and Silverhawks. The pair last teamed on the 1987 TV special based on The Wind in the Willows. Rankin's last producing credit was on the 1999 animated version of The King and I, in which Bass was not involved, since Arthur was a supervising animator in The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. Rankin's grandfather was Harry Davenport, perhaps best known as Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind (1939). Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur Rankin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Filmography
- The Rudolph, Frosty & Friends Sing Along · Director
- Snarf: Butterfly Blues · Consulting Producer
- ThunderCats · Consulting Producer
- Santa, Baby! · Executive producer
- The King and I · Adaptation, Producer
- TigerSharks · Executive producer
- SilverHawks · Producer
- SilverHawks: The Origin Story · Director
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus · Director, Producer
- ThunderCats · Producer, Executive producer
- The Wind in the Willows · Director, Producer
- The Coneheads · Producer, Director
- The Sins of Dorian Gray · Executive producer
- The Last Unicorn · Producer, Director
- The Flight of Dragons · Director, Producer
- The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold · Director, Producer
- The Bushido Blade · Producer
- Pinocchio's Christmas · Director, Producer
- The Return of the King · Production Design, Director
- The Ivory Ape · Producer, Executive producer
- Jack Frost · Director, Producer
- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July · Producer, Director
- The Stingiest Man in Town · Director, Producer
- The Bermuda Depths · Story, Producer
- Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey · Director, Producer
- The Hobbit · Director, Production Design
- The Last Dinosaur · Executive producer
- The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town · Director, Producer
- The Little Drummer Boy: Book II · Producer, Director
- Rudolph's Shiny New Year · Director, Producer
- Frosty's Winter Wonderland · Director, Producer
- The First Easter Rabbit · Director, Producer
- The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow · Director, Producer
- The Year Without a Santa Claus · Director, Producer
- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas · Director, Producer
- Marco · Producer
- Festival of Family Classics: Alice in Wonderland · Director
- That Girl in Wonderland · Director
- A Christmas Tree · Director
- The Red Baron · Producer, Director
- Jack O'Lantern · Director, Producer
- Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid · Director, Producer
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea · Producer, Director
- The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters · Producer, Director
- Festival of Family Classics · Director, Producer
- The Osmonds · Producer, Director
- The Emperor's New Clothes · Producer, Director
- Festival of Family Classics: Swiss Family Robinson · Cinematography
- The Jackson 5ive · Producer, Director
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail · Director, Producer
- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town · Director, Producer
- The Tomfoolery Show · Producer, Director
- The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians · Director
- Frosty the Snowman · Director, Producer
- The Smokey Bear Show · Producer, Director
- The Little Drummer Boy · Producer, Director
- The Mouse on the Mayflower · Director, Producer
- Cricket on the Hearth · Writer, Director
- The Wacky World of Mother Goose · Producer, Story
- King Kong Escapes · Technical Advisor, Executive producer
- Mad Monster Party? · Producer, Story
- Ballad of Smokey the Bear · Producer
- The King Kong Show · Executive producer
- The Daydreamer · Producer, Writer
- Willy McBean & His Magic Machine · Director, Producer
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer · Producer
- Return to Oz · Producer
- The New Adventures of Pinocchio · Creator
- The Cisco Kid and the Lady · Second Telegraph Operator
- Finders Keepers · Percy