Lantz, Walter (1899–1994)

US animator and cartoon-film producer. His main contribution to popular culture is Woody Woodpecker, a disruptive bird with a piercing laugh, who featured in a total of 194 cartoons made by Lantz's studio 1940–1972.

Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York State. As a teenager, he worked for the press magnate William Randolph Hearst, who had opened an animation studio to promote the characters in his newspapers' comic strips. Lantz moved on to Bray Studios, working among other projects on a Mutt and Jeff series, then moved to Hollywood, where he briefly provided jokes for the slapstick-film producer Mack Sennett. Lantz worked for Walt Disney and Universal Studios before founding his own animation studio. His Swing Symphonies, using well-known vocalists on the soundtrack, were popular during World War II, but his greatest success came with Woody Woodpecker, who first appeared as an incidental character in a cartoon featuring an earlier Lantz figure, Andy Panda. The woodpecker was the brainchild of Ben Hardaway (1897–1957), who before joining Lantz's staff had created Daffy Duck for Warner Bros. Woody's voice, initially by Mel Blanc (1908–1989), was subsequently provided by Grace Stafford (1903–1992), Lantz's second wife.

Lantz received an honorary Academy Award in 1979 for his contribution to animation.