LOS ANGELES -- Cartoonist Bob Clampett, who developed the Beany and Cecil characters and created Tweety Bird for Warner Bros., has died of a heart attack, it was learned Thursday. He was 70.
A family spokesman said Clampett died Wednesday at the Detroit, Mich., Receiving Hospital, several hours after he was stricken during a media tour to promote a new cartoon series on video cassettes.
Clampett won three Emmys for his 'Time for Beany' TV show, which featured hand puppets of characters including Beany Boy, Cecil the Sea Sick Sea Serpent, Capt. Huffenpuff, Dishonest John, Tear-a-Long the Dotted Lion and Carless the Mexican Hairless.
He also did the animated 'Matty's Friday Funnies' and 'Beany & Cecil' shows on ABC in the 1960s.
'As a writer-director at Warner Bros. studios,' spokesman Bob Merrin said, 'Bob played a key role in the development of the Warner style of humor and of such classic characters as Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.'
He said Clampett modeled the Tweety character in part on his own nude baby picture, and drew some of the earliest 'Merrie Melodie' and 'Looney Tunes' cartoons in the early 1930s.
He also designed the first Mickey Mouse doll for Walt Disney.
Merrin said several of Clampett's cartoons are considered classics, including 'A Tale of Two Kitties,' 'Tin Pan Alley Cats,' 'Corny Concerto' and 'The Great Piggy Bank Robbery.'
He was chosen as one of the eight great animators of all time by Mediascene Magazine, and was honored by the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.
Clampett is survived by wife, Sody; and three children, Robert, Ruth and Sherry. Funeral arrangements were to be handled by Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif.
