Chuck Jones Honored

Back surgery kept four-time Academy Award-winning animator Chuck Jones from attending the Orange County Arts Awards April 19 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach. Jones was named a Cultural Legacy Award winner at the event where arts visionaries Don and Joan Beall and Mary M. Muth also were recognized. About 400 people attended the event, which was chaired by Catherine Thyen.

We caught up with Jones, 88, recuperating at home in Corona del Mar: “It’s great to be honored by local people,” he said. “The last international award I received was the Chevalier Arts and Letters Award from France. That was pretty fancy. But when somebody local thinks I’m nice, why, that’s really surprising and wonderful.”

What does the creator of beloved cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the Road Runner think of animation today? “It’s moving--but it’s not very alert,” he quipped.