Bud Luckey
Encyclopedia
William "Bud" Luckey is an American cartoonist
, animator
, singer, musician, composer and voice actor. He is best known for his work at Pixar
as a character designer for Toy Story
, Boundin'
, Toy Story 2
, A Bug's Life
, Monsters, Inc.
, Finding Nemo
, Cars
, The Incredibles
, and Ratatouille
. He is also beloved by generations of Sesame Street
viewers for his numerous short animated films on that program.
Bud Luckey is the father of writer/producer Andy Luckey
.
, Montana. He served in the United States Air Force
during the Korean War
. He later served as a graphics specialist with the NATO Allied Occupation Forces in Europe and North Africa from 1953 to 1954 and, finally, with the Strategic Air Command
from 1954–'57. He remained an Air Force reservist through the mid-1960s. After leaving active Air Force duty, he attended Chouinard Art Institute
(which later became California Institute of the Arts
) from 1957 to 1960. He was a Disney scholar, and received professional animation training at the University of Southern California
with Disney
veteran animator Art Babbitt
. After graduation Luckey worked for a time as Babbitt's assistant/apprentice at Quartet Films in Los Angeles.
He served as an animator for The Alvin Show
in 1961. He also worked as an animator and sequence director on a pilot for Mad
magazine television special produced by long time friends Jimmy Murakami
and Gordon Bellamy.
for Kellogg's
Frosted Flakes
(Tony the Tiger
), Froot Loops
(Toucan Sam), and Rice Krispies
(Snap, Crackle and Pop
) as well as Interstate Bakeries
' Dolly Madison
products featuring Charles M. Schulz
' Peanuts
characters. He created the "Bosco Dumbunnies" characters for the Best Foods 'Chocolate Flavor Milk Amplifier" product Bosco Chocolate Syrup
– the commercial spots were animated by renowned animators Fred Wolf
and Jimmy Murakami
. He won a Clio Award
in 1966 for the General Mills
commercial Betty Crocker
– "Magic Faucet."
Luckey also worked with animator Alex Anderson, who created the characters of Rocky the Flying Squirrel
, Bullwinkle
, and Dudley Do-Right
, as well as the more obscure Crusader Rabbit
. Anderson was the Vice President of Television at the Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency at that time.
The Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency, despite its San Francisco location, was also well known for its work on political campaigns. The agency's Creative Director, Maxwell "Bud" Arnold, was considered a foremost expert in the budding field of television advertising for politics and Arnold's expertise brought many key political figures to the agency's roster. In that regard Luckey also did work on the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy
, Robert F. Kennedy
and Hubert Humphrey
who were clients of that agency during his tenure.
Whilst working at the Guild Bascom & Bonfigli / Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
agency, Luckey first collaborated with copywriter Don Hadley. The two became lifelong friends until Hadley's death in 2007. After leaving the agency, Hadley and Luckey co-created numerous short films for the Sesame Street
television series. Hadley also worked with Luckey at PIXAR
in the early 2000s prior to his death. Their collaborative work at PIXAR had not been publicized by the studio as of February 2011.
Puppeteer Jim Henson
worked with Luckey on commercials during the mid-1960s. That meeting later resulted in Luckey's work on Sesame Street
and his illustration work featuring Henson's Muppet
characters in the 1970s.
and the Children's Television Workshop during the 1970s, often doing the voice work himself as well. Among them are "The Ladybugs' Picnic," "That's about the size of it", the Donnie-Bud Series (with co-writer Don Hadley) featuring numbers 2 to 6, "Penny Candy Man", "Martian Beauty", "#7 The Alligator King", "Lovely Eleven Morning", "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Nine" and the award-winning "Longie and Shorty the Rattlesnakes" mini series.Who Is Bud Luckey?, special features, The Incredibles
2-disc collector's edition DVD, 2004.
He returned to work on one more segment for Sesame Street
in 1990, called "Z - Zebu".
Luckey founded his own animation studio, The Luckey-Zamora Picture Moving Company, in the early 1970s and merged its operation with Colossal Pictures in the late '80s before joining PIXAR
in 1992. Initially Luckey's studio was in his family's home, until it outgrew that small townhouse and Bud's own 6'x8' (mini)"house" in the back yard (in which he worked long hours). The company then took studio space in the Produce District of San Francisco. In the 1970s and 1980s it was the largest animation studio in the San Francisco bay area.
His film credits include the 1974 animated feature The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child.
He worked on a 1990 television special, Betty Boop
's Hollywood Mystery, and did character design for Back to the Future: The Animated Series
from 1991 to 1992.
's The Incredibles
, in addition to Bud Luckey's Oscar-nominated short Boundin'
, the studio included a short biography of Luckey entitled "Who is Bud Luckey?" In that video biography, Pixar (and now Disney's) Creative Executive Vice President John Lasseter
declared: "Bud Luckey is one of the true unsung heroes of animation."
Luckey joined Pixar in 1990 as a character designer, storyboard
artist and animator
for Toy Story
. He was Pixar
's fifth artist/animator
. John Lasseter
credits Bud Luckey with the creation and design of the star of Toy Story
, Woody
, a cowboy
. Originally the character was a ventriloquist's dummy like Edgar Bergen
's character Charlie McCarthy. He evolved into a talking doll with a pull string and a gun-less holster.
According to Toy Story
producer Ralph Guggenheim
, John Lasseter
and the story team for the first Toy Story
film reviewed the names of Pixar employees' children looking for the right name for the film's boy child character. "Andy", (Andy Davis) was ultimately named after and based on Luckey's son, animator Andy Luckey
. The character's last name, "Davis", was named after the nearby college town of Davis
, California, which is home to University of California, Davis
, the alma mater of a number of Pixar engineers.
Luckey's character designs can also be seen in A Bug's Life
, Toy Story 2
, Monsters, Inc.
, Finding Nemo
, Cars
, Ratatouille
, WALL-E
, Up
, and in Toy Story 3
, in which he also voices a clown named Chuckles.
In 2003 Luckey gained attention for the short film Boundin'
, which was released theatrically as the opening cartoon for The Incredibles
. It was nominated for an Academy Award
for Best Animated Short in 2003. Luckey wrote and designed the short, and also composed the music and lyrics, and sang and performed banjo
on the soundtrack for the cartoon. Boundin won the ASIFA Hollywood Annie Award
that same year.
In The Incredibles, Bud Luckey voiced the role of National Supers Agency (NSA) Agent Rick Dicker. In the film's DVD commentary, director Brad Bird
jokes that he had an idea to start Boundin' with Rick Dicker coming in to his office late at night, pulling out a bottle of "booze" and a banjo to start singing the song about the dancing sheep who is sheared and has his confidence restored by the Jackalope
.
He also lent his voice to Chuckles in Toy Story 3
and Hawaiian Vacation.
Mater and the Ghostlight featuring the Cars character Mater.
Luckey also featured in the film Winnie the Pooh as the voice of Eeyore
.
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
, singer, musician, composer and voice actor. He is best known for his work at Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
as a character designer for Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, Boundin'
Boundin'
Boundin' is a 2003 Pixar short film, shown at the start of the film The Incredibles. The film was written, directed, narrated and featured the musical composition and performance of PIXAR animator Bud Luckey.-Plot:...
, Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer animated film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon. It is the sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures and the third film to be produced by Pixar...
, A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 25, 1998. A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film after Toy Story, and the third American computer-animated film after Toy...
, Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett...
, Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
, Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
, The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
, and Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
. He is also beloved by generations of Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
viewers for his numerous short animated films on that program.
Bud Luckey is the father of writer/producer Andy Luckey
Andy Luckey
Andrew A. Luckey is an American writer, director and producer, primarily of animated works...
.
Early career
Luckey was born and raised in BillingsBillings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...
, Montana. He served in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. He later served as a graphics specialist with the NATO Allied Occupation Forces in Europe and North Africa from 1953 to 1954 and, finally, with the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
from 1954–'57. He remained an Air Force reservist through the mid-1960s. After leaving active Air Force duty, he attended Chouinard Art Institute
Chouinard Art Institute
The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 in Los Angeles, California, by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard .-Founder:...
(which later became California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
) from 1957 to 1960. He was a Disney scholar, and received professional animation training at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
with Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
veteran animator Art Babbitt
Art Babbitt
Arthur Harold Babitsky , better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company. He received over 80 awards as animation director and animator, but is most famous for creating Goofy...
. After graduation Luckey worked for a time as Babbitt's assistant/apprentice at Quartet Films in Los Angeles.
He served as an animator for The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show is an American animated television series. It was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, although a series with a similar concept The Nutty Squirrels Present had aired a year earlier...
in 1961. He also worked as an animator and sequence director on a pilot for Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
magazine television special produced by long time friends Jimmy Murakami
Jimmy Murakami
Teruaki "Jimmy" Murakami, , is a Japanese American animator and director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books When the Wind Blows and The Snowman...
and Gordon Bellamy.
Television commercials
As an advertising agency Art Director and Producer from 1961 to 1969 at the Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli (Advertising)Agency (merged with Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, now Saatchi & Saatchi, in 1967), Bud Luckey worked on TV commercialsTelevision advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
for Kellogg's
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...
Frosted Flakes
Frosted Flakes
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes is a breakfast cereal first introduced by the Kellogg Company. It consists of corn flakes "frosted" or coated with sugar. The "Frosted Flakes" name is used by Kellogg's in United States and Canada. The cereal was first introduced in 1951 as Sugar Frosted Flakes...
(Tony the Tiger
Tony the Tiger
Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. More recently, Tony has also become the mascot for Tony's Cinnamon Krunchers and Tiger Power...
), Froot Loops
Froot Loops
Froot Loops is a brand of breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's and sold in Hungary, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Germany, The Middle East, The Caribbean, South Africa, Latin America, Sweden and Finland...
(Toucan Sam), and Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies
Rice Krispies is a breakfast cereal that was created by Clayton Rindlisbacher for the Kellogg company, and later marketed by Kellogg's in 1927 and released to the public in 1928...
(Snap, Crackle and Pop
Snap, Crackle and Pop
Snap, Crackle, and Pop! are the cartoon mascots of Kellogg's breakfast cereal Rice Krispies -History:The elf characters were originally designed by illustrator Vernon Grant in the early 1930s...
) as well as Interstate Bakeries
Interstate Bakeries Corporation
Hostess Brands, Inc. is the largest wholesale baker and distributor of fresh bakery products in the United States, and is the owner of the Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Butternut Breads, and Drake's brands. For many years it was based at 12 East Armour Boulevard, Kansas...
' Dolly Madison
Dolly Madison
Dolly Madison is a U.S. bakery brand owned by Hostess Brands, marketing pre-packaged baked snack foods. Bakeries are located throughout the U.S.- Marketing :...
products featuring Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
' Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
characters. He created the "Bosco Dumbunnies" characters for the Best Foods 'Chocolate Flavor Milk Amplifier" product Bosco Chocolate Syrup
Bosco Chocolate Syrup
Bosco Chocolate Syrup is a brand of chocolate syrup first produced in 1928. The company that produces it is based in New Jersey, and it is sold throughout the United States, Western Europe, Asia and the Middle East.-Production process:...
– the commercial spots were animated by renowned animators Fred Wolf
Fred Wolf
Fred Wolf is an American animator. His works include the 1967 short subject The Box, for which he won an Academy Award; television specials such as The Point! and Free to Be... You and Me, and television series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, James Bond Jr., and Sarah Ferguson's Budgie the...
and Jimmy Murakami
Jimmy Murakami
Teruaki "Jimmy" Murakami, , is a Japanese American animator and director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books When the Wind Blows and The Snowman...
. He won a Clio Award
Clio Awards
The Clio Awards are annual awards bestowed to reward innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication. The categories include work in nearly all types of media, and the judges are advertising professionals from around the world....
in 1966 for the General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
commercial Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker AKA: batter witch is a cultural icon, as well as brand name and trademark of American Fortune 500 corporation General Mills. The name was first developed by the Washburn Crosby Company in 1921 as a way to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. The name Betty was...
– "Magic Faucet."
Luckey also worked with animator Alex Anderson, who created the characters of Rocky the Flying Squirrel
Rocky the Flying Squirrel
Rocket J. Squirrel, usually called by the nickname "Rocky", is the name of the flying squirrel protagonist of the 1959-1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show , produced by Jay Ward. Rocky's sidekick is the cartoon moose, Bullwinkle...
, Bullwinkle
Bullwinkle J. Moose
Bullwinkle J. Moose is a fictional character in the 1959–1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, often collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle, produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott...
, and Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right, created by Alex Anderson, is the eponymous hero of a segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show which parodied early 20th century melodrama and silent film in the form of the Northern genre....
, as well as the more obscure Crusader Rabbit
Crusader Rabbit
Crusader Rabbit is the first animated series produced specifically for television. The concept was test marketed in 1948, while the initial episode - Crusader vs. the State of Texas - aired on KNBH in Los Angeles, California on August 1, 1950....
. Anderson was the Vice President of Television at the Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency at that time.
The Guild-Bascom-Bonfigli Agency, despite its San Francisco location, was also well known for its work on political campaigns. The agency's Creative Director, Maxwell "Bud" Arnold, was considered a foremost expert in the budding field of television advertising for politics and Arnold's expertise brought many key political figures to the agency's roster. In that regard Luckey also did work on the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
and Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
who were clients of that agency during his tenure.
Whilst working at the Guild Bascom & Bonfigli / Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample was a top tier Madison Avenue advertising agency during the 20th century originally founded in Chicago in 1923. It was acquired and merged into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in the 1980s.-History:...
agency, Luckey first collaborated with copywriter Don Hadley. The two became lifelong friends until Hadley's death in 2007. After leaving the agency, Hadley and Luckey co-created numerous short films for the Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
television series. Hadley also worked with Luckey at PIXAR
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
in the early 2000s prior to his death. Their collaborative work at PIXAR had not been publicized by the studio as of February 2011.
Puppeteer Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
worked with Luckey on commercials during the mid-1960s. That meeting later resulted in Luckey's work on Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
and his illustration work featuring Henson's Muppet
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
characters in the 1970s.
Sesame Street
Luckey wrote and animated many short films for Sesame StreetSesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
and the Children's Television Workshop during the 1970s, often doing the voice work himself as well. Among them are "The Ladybugs' Picnic," "That's about the size of it", the Donnie-Bud Series (with co-writer Don Hadley) featuring numbers 2 to 6, "Penny Candy Man", "Martian Beauty", "#7 The Alligator King", "Lovely Eleven Morning", "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Nine" and the award-winning "Longie and Shorty the Rattlesnakes" mini series.Who Is Bud Luckey?, special features, The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
2-disc collector's edition DVD, 2004.
He returned to work on one more segment for Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
in 1990, called "Z - Zebu".
Luckey founded his own animation studio, The Luckey-Zamora Picture Moving Company, in the early 1970s and merged its operation with Colossal Pictures in the late '80s before joining PIXAR
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
in 1992. Initially Luckey's studio was in his family's home, until it outgrew that small townhouse and Bud's own 6'x8' (mini)"house" in the back yard (in which he worked long hours). The company then took studio space in the Produce District of San Francisco. In the 1970s and 1980s it was the largest animation studio in the San Francisco bay area.
His film credits include the 1974 animated feature The Extraordinary Adventures of the Mouse and His Child.
He worked on a 1990 television special, Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
's Hollywood Mystery, and did character design for Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Back to the Future: The Animated Series is an animated series for television based on the Back to the Future trilogy of feature films. The series lasted two seasons, each featuring 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 7, 1991 to November 28, 1992. It reran until August 14, 1993...
from 1991 to 1992.
Pixar Animation Studios
In the 2005 DVD release of Disney/PixarPixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
, in addition to Bud Luckey's Oscar-nominated short Boundin'
Boundin'
Boundin' is a 2003 Pixar short film, shown at the start of the film The Incredibles. The film was written, directed, narrated and featured the musical composition and performance of PIXAR animator Bud Luckey.-Plot:...
, the studio included a short biography of Luckey entitled "Who is Bud Luckey?" In that video biography, Pixar (and now Disney's) Creative Executive Vice President John Lasseter
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....
declared: "Bud Luckey is one of the true unsung heroes of animation."
Luckey joined Pixar in 1990 as a character designer, storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
artist and animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
for Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
. He was Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's fifth artist/animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
. John Lasseter
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....
credits Bud Luckey with the creation and design of the star of Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, Woody
Sheriff Woody
Sheriff Woody Pride, or simply Woody, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Toy Story franchise . He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films, and by Jim Hanks in most other media.-Toy Story:...
, a cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
. Originally the character was a ventriloquist's dummy like Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
's character Charlie McCarthy. He evolved into a talking doll with a pull string and a gun-less holster.
According to Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
producer Ralph Guggenheim
Ralph Guggenheim
Ralph Guggenheim is a video graphics designer, working for Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Electronic Arts. He won a Producers Guild of America Award in 1995 for his contributions to the film Toy Story.-Life:...
, John Lasseter
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....
and the story team for the first Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
film reviewed the names of Pixar employees' children looking for the right name for the film's boy child character. "Andy", (Andy Davis) was ultimately named after and based on Luckey's son, animator Andy Luckey
Andy Luckey
Andrew A. Luckey is an American writer, director and producer, primarily of animated works...
. The character's last name, "Davis", was named after the nearby college town of Davis
Davis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, California, which is home to University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, the alma mater of a number of Pixar engineers.
Luckey's character designs can also be seen in A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 25, 1998. A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film after Toy Story, and the third American computer-animated film after Toy...
, Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer animated film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon. It is the sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures and the third film to be produced by Pixar...
, Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett...
, Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
, Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
, Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
, WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
, Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...
, and in Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
, in which he also voices a clown named Chuckles.
In 2003 Luckey gained attention for the short film Boundin'
Boundin'
Boundin' is a 2003 Pixar short film, shown at the start of the film The Incredibles. The film was written, directed, narrated and featured the musical composition and performance of PIXAR animator Bud Luckey.-Plot:...
, which was released theatrically as the opening cartoon for The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
. It was nominated for an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Animated Short in 2003. Luckey wrote and designed the short, and also composed the music and lyrics, and sang and performed banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
on the soundtrack for the cartoon. Boundin won the ASIFA Hollywood Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...
that same year.
In The Incredibles, Bud Luckey voiced the role of National Supers Agency (NSA) Agent Rick Dicker. In the film's DVD commentary, director Brad Bird
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers...
jokes that he had an idea to start Boundin
Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail . The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus...
.
He also lent his voice to Chuckles in Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
and Hawaiian Vacation.
Other works by Bud Luckey
Luckey has designed and illustrated more than 100 children's books containing his characters, recently including the Golden BookGolden Book
There are several series of books sharing the title Golden Book, to include* Golden Books was the children's book imprint of Western Publishing* Little Golden Books children's series* Golden Book Encyclopedia...
Mater and the Ghostlight featuring the Cars character Mater.
Luckey also featured in the film Winnie the Pooh as the voice of Eeyore
Eeyore
Eeyore is a character in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh....
.