Obits: Veteran Animator; Munsters Actress

The commentaries on the Hong Kong Phooey DVD, which came out back in August, may be the last work that veteran Hanna-Barbera and Disney animator Iwao Takamoto did before he died on Monday at age 81.

To be honest, his list of credits on the Internet Movie Data Base reads like a list of H-B's cheesiest shows of the 70's, from Inch High, Private High to Kwicky Koala, but there are some gems in there, as well, such as Hong Kong Phooey. He also directed what I consider the best thing Hanna-Barbera ever did and one of the great animated films of all time, the original film version of Charlotte's Web.

In other passages, Yvonne De Carlo also died on Monday. There are 122 items on Yvonne De Carlo's IMDB page stretching all the way back to 1941, but the only one anyone remembers, and ever will remember, is her two years as Lily on The Munsters.

Personally, in the horror/comedy TV show category, I've always preferred The Addams Family (the animated version of which Iwao Takamoto worked on) to The Munsters, but you've got to admit that De Carlo looked pretty hot all gothed out as Lily. (There's a touching tribute: Her show sucked, but she was sexy. I should write sympathy cards for Hallmark.)