American-Czech illustrator, animator, director and producer Gene Deitch died on Thursday 16 April 2020 in his apartment, in Prague. The news was confirmed by his Czech publisher, Peter Himmel. The reason for his death is still unknown as no other details are revealed.
He was born on 8 August 1924 in Chicago. He went to Prague in 1959 intending to stay 10 days but there he met Zdenka( his second wife ) and stayed in Czechoslovakian capital. They both got married to each other in 1964 after divorcing their spouses as written in his book "For the love of Prague".
In 1960, Deitch won Oscar for "Munro" under the category of Best Animated Short film. In 1964, he was nominated twice under the same category for "Here's Nudnik" and "How to Avoid Friendship". "Sidney's Family Tree", a film that he co-produced was nominated for Oscars in 1958. He created and developed "Tom Terrific". He also directed 13 episodes of "Tom and Jerry" and "Popeye the Sailor". He wrote many books like Cat on a Hot Thin Groove, Nundik Revealed, For the Love of Prague to name a few.
In 2004, he was awarded Winsor McCay for his life long and legendary contribution in the world of animation. His career was embedded with not only one but many brilliant works. After the news of his death was confirmed Twitter overflew with uncountable tweets pouring love, gratitude and respect.
It is indeed a piece of sad news for all of us, we pray that his soul rests in peace.
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