Chuck Jones Profile

"I'm still astonished that somebody would offer me a job and pay me to do what I wanted to do."

From the early 1930s, films studios found it well worthwhile to pay Chuck Jones to do what he loved, and millions around the world have laughed themselves sore at Jones's work with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

In 1931, Chuck Jones was a penniless art school graduate, struggling to hang on to the lowest rung in the fledgling animation industry. He worked at first as a cel washer, diligently scrubbing transparencies clean of the art that collectors pay thousands of dollars for today. Jones bounced from studio to studio, until at last he found a niche working on the Merrie Melodies series of cartoons for Warner Brothers. At Warner Brothers, he advanced from "in-between" artist to animator and director, creating some of the most memorable cartoons and characters of all time, and collecting an armload of Academy Awards in the process.

Through his diligence, superb draftsmanship, brilliant comic timing and resolute dedication to the highest standards of excellence, Chuck Jones became a legend in the field of animated cartoons, a medium he raised to the level of delirious, side-splitting, fine art.