Gene Deitch, ‘Popeye’ and ‘Tom and Jerry’ Director, Died at 95

Eugene Merill Deitch passed away in his apartment In Prague on 19th April 2020, and his publisher, Petr Himmel, announced that he died ‘unexpectedly’. He was born on 8th August 1924 and left the world at the age of 95, being one of the biggest contributors to the cartoon world. He was an illustrator, animator, as well as a director, and was one of the reasons why your parents would tell you to eat spinach to be as strong as the fictional character named Popeye.

Deitch was born in Chicago and moved to Prague in 1959, with his first wife, Marie Deitch, and their 3 children, Kim, Simon, and Seth, all of whom are cartoonists as well. And, he met his second wife, Zdenka Deitchova in Prague.

Gene had worked as a draftsman for North American Aviation, and then got drafted for the military and entered pilot training. But he was let go due to medical complications, after which his career took off in the creative sector.

Deitch co-produced ‘Sidney’s Family Tree’ and it got nominated for an academy award in 1958. Then, in 1960, Gene’s movie named ‘Munro’ won the Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film. He was again nominated for the same title for ‘Here’s Nudnik’ and ‘How to Avoid Friendship’ in 1964.

‘Tom Terrific’ was adapted from a comic strip of Deitch, which was a black-and-white video of 5 minutes modelled on children’s drawing. It was displayed as a part of ‘Captain Kangaroo’, which was on air from 1955 to 1984.

Later, in 2004, Deitch was given the Winsor McCay Award for his lifelong contribution to the animated world, and people of many generations will always be grateful to him for directing cartoon shows like ‘Tom and Jerry’ that is a big part of all of their childhood.