Dean Elliott (11 May 1917 - 31 December 1999) was a musical composer and arranger. He worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons.
Biography[]
Elliott was born William Lorenzo Bunt in Sioux City, Iowa, to George Leroy Bunt and Odessa Rouine Bolyard.
Career[]
Educated at the University of Wisconsin, Elliott's first composing work was for Four Star Revue, an early comedy program, which debuted in 1950. From here, he went on to compose for various cartoon series, most prominently Mr. Magoo in the 1950s, but later he struck an alliance with master animation director Chuck Jones and went on to compose the scores for many of his Tom and Jerry cartoons between 1965 and 1967, starting with "Duel Personality" and finishing with "Advance and Be Mechanized", Chuck Jones' second-to-last Tom and Jerry cartoon in 1967.
After this, Elliott went on to compose for a number of Dr. Seuss' cartoons before joining DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1975 to commence work on their Return to the Planet of the Apes series for which he provided incidental music. He also wrote all the music for the cult animated New Fantastic Four series in 1978 before moving to Warner Brothers with Chuck Jones where he provided all the music for Jones' The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie in 1979, and later for "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century" and Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over in 1980, the latter of which was nominated for an Emmy. His musical score has distinctive Elliott themes, similar to his previous work in the 1960s for Tom and Jerry cartoons during the Chuck Jones Productions era; however, in this cartoon he employed Milt Franklyn-esque overtones with a little William Lava-ish influence.
Death[]
Elliott died from Alzheimer's disease in Incline Village, Nevada, at the age of 82.
Looney Works[]
- The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie (1979)
- Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980)
- "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century" (1980)