Oscar-winning animator Ernest Pintoff died Saturday Jan. 12 at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., from complications related to a stroke. He was 70.
Pintoff won the best animated short Oscar in 1964 for "The Critic," which featured voice work by Mel Brooks. He had previously been nominated in that category for "The Violinist."
Pintoff's live-action credits include numerous low-budget films, such as "Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?" starring Red Buttons, and television series including helming gigs on "Hawaii Five-O," "Kojak," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Bionic Woman," "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest."
In 1998 he received the Intl. Animated Film Society's Winsor McCay Award for distinguished lifetime contributions to the art of animation.
Pintoff also was a teacher at the School of Visual Arts, American Film Institute, Cal Arts, USC, and UCLA.
He is survived by his wife, Caroline, a son, daughter, and three grandsons.
Donations are suggested to the Motion Picture & Television Fund.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com