Phil Monroe, 71; TV Commercial, Cartoon Animator
Phil Monroe, a film animator whose credits began in the 1930s with the “Buddy” cartoon series and extended into the 1980s with his drawings for the Charley Tuna and Tony the Tiger television commercials, has died of pancreatic cancer.
Monroe was 71 when he died July 13 in a Los Angeles-area hospital, said a spokesman for Warner Bros., where Monroe and his cohorts gave movement to Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, Pepe LePew, Yosemite Sam and many more of that studio’s best-known cartoon characters.
Monroe was 17 when he helped sketch the Buddy strips. He was honored in 1985 for his lengthy career with an Annie Award by ASIFA/Hollywood, a branch of the international animation society.
Monroe, survived by his wife, Beverly, a son, two grandchildren and a sister, had been drawing commercials since the 1950s.
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