Animator Myron Waldman dead at 97

BETHPAGE, N.Y., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Animator Myron Waldman, who worked with Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman and Casper the Friendly Ghost among others, has died in New York at age 97.

Waldman died of congestive heart failure Saturday at New Island Hospital in Bethpage, N.Y., The New York Times reported Monday.

The New York native was employed by Fleischer Studios in 1930 and his first job as animator was the 1931 follow-the-bouncing-ball short "By the Light of the Silvery Moon."

He helped develop a number of cartoons for Fleischer including Betty Boop. He moved with the company from New York to Miami in 1938 and was instrumental in its feature-length "Gulliver's Travels."

Among the characters Waldman worked on during his long career were Superman, Popeye, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Little Lulu and Casper.

In his later years, he painted for galleries and traveled doing lectures.

New York's Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of the Moving Image and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art honored Waldman with retrospectives in the 1990s.

He is survived by his wife, Rosalie, two sons and three grandchildren.