Charles Martin Jones
11 min read
Reading time
2,058
Words
Published
33
Film credits
9
Books
7
Awards
Chuck Jones directed three films selected for the National Film Registry: Duck Amuck 1953, One Froggy Evening 1955, and What’s Opera, Doc? 1957. He created characters including Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, and Marvin the Martian. Starting as a cel washer at Warner Bros., he rose to director within five years. He won an Academy Honorary Award and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Chuck Jones — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Chuck Jones by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Chuck Jones — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Chuck Jones started as a cel washer at Leon Schlesinger’s studio, rising to director within five years. Born September 21, 1912, in Spokane, Washington, he attended North Hollywood High School and the Chouinard Art Institute, which later became CalArts.
Jones began at Warner Bros. as a cel washer and became a director by 1938. He created Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner in 1949, Pepé Le Pew in 1945, and Marvin the Martian in 1948. Writing partner Michael Maltese helped produce Duck Amuck 1953 and One Froggy Evening 1955. In 1962, Jones directed Gay Purr-ee for UPA, violating his contract and leading to his firing. After his firing, he moved to MGM, where he worked on Tom and Jerry. Cameo appearances included Gremlins 1984 and Innerspace 1987. Jones won an Academy Honorary Award in 1966 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995.
Jones married twice: first to Dorothy Jones from 1935 to 1978 and then to Marian Dern from 1983 until his death in 2002. His daughter Linda Jones Clough is his only child. For over 50 years, he counted Theodore Geisel Dr. Seuss and Ray Bradbury as close friends. He had three grandchildren, three step grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. Daffy Duck’s voice originated from Mel Blanc imitating Leon Schlesinger’s lisp, as Jones later explained.
The National Film Registry includes three of Jones’ shorts: Duck Amuck 1953, One Froggy Evening 1955, and What’s Opera, Doc? 1957. His characters Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner remain widely known. Jones received an Academy Honorary Award in 1966 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995. He earned the title The Father of Contemporary Animation. His autobiography Chuck Amuck details his life. Jones’ work continues to inspire animators today.
The complete filmography of Chuck Jones — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Chuck Jones — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Chuck Jones's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Chuck Jones — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Animation Isn’t the Illusion of Life; It Is Life!
If You Want to Draw Bugs Bunny, Just Learn to Draw a Carrot and Hook a Rabbit on to It.
The Road Runner Is Really a Force. He’s the Coyote’s Holy Grail. You Don’t Have to Put a Personality on the Holy Grail; You Only Need Somebody Pursuing It.
Bugs Is an Aspiration. Daffy Is a Realization. You Know That Daffy Is Within You And, If Allowed to Get Loose, You Would Be Just Like Daffy. but with Bugs…you Hope to Be Like That.
We Are All Daffy Ducks, Woody Allens, Charles Chaplins and Wile E. Coyotes Inside. We Are All Haplessly and Hopelessly Hopeful. We Are All to Some Extent Avaricious, Mean, Traitorous, Envious, Jealous but Most of These Charming Characteristics We Manage to Keep Fairly Well Buried and Under Control.
I Believe That All Children Will Learn the Joy of Drawing If Encouraged by Ample Materials, and Love Strong Enough from Their Parents and It Must Be Very Strong to Refrain from the Well Intended but Deadly Use of Unqualified Criticism or Excessive Praise During the Very Early, Very Critical, Very Creative Years of Childhood.
If We Are Not All of Us Incipient Comedians, Why Do We Laugh at Comedy? Why Do We Love Great Comedians? Not for What They Look Like, but for What They Do… They Are Mirrors of What We Do, Or, in the Case of the Comic Hero, What We Would Like to Be Able to Do.
You Must Love What You Caricature. You Must Not Mock It Unless It Is Ridiculously Self Important. You Must Respect the Impulsive Thought and Try to Implement It. You Cannot Perform as a Director by What You Already Know. You Must Always Remember That Only Man, of All Creatures, Can Laugh, or Needs To; and That If You Are in the Trade of Helping Others to Laugh and to Survive by Laughter, Then You Are Privileged Indeed. and Remember Always That Character Is All That Matters in the Making of Great Comedians, in Animation and in Live Action.
If Your Story Calls for Human Beings, Use Live Action. It Is Cheaper, Quicker and More Believable. If, as a Director, I Could Train a Live Coyote and a Live Road Runner to Act, I Would Use Them. I Am an Animator and an Animation Director; Therefore, I Look for Characters That Cannot Be Done in Live Action.
The Older I Get, the More Individuality I Find in Animals and the Less I Find in Humans.
Walt Disney, Along with Many Other Producers, May Have Had the Political Acumen of a Squid, but to Me He Is the Patron Saint of All Animators.
Once You Have Heard a Strange Audience Burst into Laughter at a Film You Directed, You Realize What the Word Joy Is All About.
There Is No Such Thing as Sympathy Without Believability; There Is No Such Thing as Real Laughter Without Sympathy.
Developing an Animated Character Is Very Much Like Getting Married. You Must Learn How to Get Along Together, and You Must Show Great Patience and Understanding About What You Can and Can’t Do to Bring the Individual Best Out in Each Character.
It Is Hard to Overstate How Good Mel Blanc Was. He Was Extraordinarily Quick, Able to Transfer His Personality Instantly into a Character. He Would Come in About an Hour Before Recording, Without Having Seen My Story Layouts, and Not Really Knowing How He Was Going to Play the Character. I Would Go Carefully Over the Layouts with Him, Then I Would Read the Lines to Show Him What Intonation I Wanted, Where the Accents Should Fall and Where I Needed Hesitates. and That Was All He Needed.
Little-known facts about Chuck Jones — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
At age 85, Jones signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. to supervise the animation department, remarking that at that age he could only think ahead for the next 50 years.
The National Film Registry includes three films directed by Jones: Duck Amuck 1953, One Froggy Evening 1955, and What’s Opera, Doc? 1957.
Jones received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7011 Hollywood Blvd on February 13, 1995.
He counted Theodore Geisel Dr. Seuss and author Ray Bradbury as close friends for more than 50 years.
Hired at Leon Schlesinger’s studio, Jones advanced from assistant animator to director in five years.
Jones died on the same date February 22 as longtime collaborator Michael Maltese, but 21 years later.
Daffy Duck’s voice came from Mel Blanc impersonating Leon Schlesinger’s lisp, as Jones recalled.
Warner Bros. fired Jones after discovering his work on Gay Purr-ee 1962 for UPA, which violated his exclusive contract.
He had three grandchildren, three step grandchildren, six great grandchildren, a stepson, and a stepdaughter.
Peter Bogdanovich interviewed Jones for his book Who the Devil Made It 1997.
His brother was Richard Kent Jones.
He attended Chouinard Art Institute, now known as CalArts.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Chuck Jones.
Celebrities similar to Chuck Jones — same craft, ranked by reach.
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