‘Pinky & The Brain’ Animator Barry Caldwell Dies at 68
From ‘The Smurfs’ to ‘Animaniacs,’ the New York-born artist worked on some of the most beloved series of the 1980s and 1990s.
Photo from Paul Dini's obituary post of Barry Caldwell, Facebook.
Barry Caldwell, esteemed animator of popular 1990s kids fare like Pinky & The Brain and Animaniacs, has died at age 68. Caldwell’s longtime friend and colleague, writer-producer-animator Paul Dini, confirmed the news in a Facebook post last week. Born in New York City, Caldwell would build his career working on some of the most popular animated series of the 1980s and 1990s before going on to work on films like The Tigger Movie (2000), Osmosis Jones (2001), and DreamWorks' Dragons (2012).
Caldwell trained at the School of Visual Arts. He worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Walt Disney Television Studios and DreamWorks during his storied career, which began with an episode of The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in 1980. He subsequently worked as a regular storyboard artist on The New Adventures of Zorro, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Smurfs and Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers.
Dini posted a lengthy statement on Facebook about Caldwell’s passing. Like Caldwell, Dini worked extensively on animated shows, including Batman: The Animated Series.
“Barry Caldwell was one of the first animation artists I met when I started my career fresh out of school way back around 1980,” Dini shared. “He was also one of the finest artists I ever met, and easily one of the best people. The man’s talent as a cartoonist, designer and director was revered throughout the industry and I’ll get to that,” he began in his Facebook post.
“When Dan Haskett told me today Barry had passed, it was like a silent cannonball blowing away a piece of my world. A lot of people’s worlds, actually. Barry was admired, celebrated and loved by just about everyone, myself included, for many more reasons than I can list here. Gonna miss you, pally. He knew more about cartoons than you or I ever will (trust me on this) yet he was incredibly generous with his time and his talent. And my God, could he make you laugh! When it comes to humor, it takes a special kind of genius to be both dry and warm. Barry was both. No artist ever mocked the insanity of the Hollywood cartoon system with such devastating incisiveness, and yet loved its creative output so much. At least, I believe he did. You don’t last too long in the cartoon business unless you have some true affection for the characters and the people you work with to bring them to life. That spirit was on display for as long as I knew him, and in all the places we worked together, Filmation, Ruby-Spears, Warner Bros, Disney, so many others. Barry knew how to make a blah assignment sing and turn a good one into something wonderful.”
