William L. Hendricks (May 3, 1904 – March 29, 1992) was a former USMCR Colonel who was the key figure in setting up the "Toys for Tots" program. Aside from his USMCR career, he also worked in the film industry for many years, initially as a documentary producer for the United States Army, then as a production executive at Warner Bros., where he eventually became the final producer of the Looney Tunes series.
In 1947 Hendricks, then a Major in the USMCR, was asked by his wife Diane to donate some toys (including ones she had made herself) to an organization that gave out toys to needy children. However, his research found that no such organisation existed, and he resolved to start one himself. He led a toy collection in the Los Angeles area with several family and friends that eventually amassed some 5,000 toys. This pilot program proved so successful that the Marine Corps adopted it as an official campaign the following year, and Hendricks helped make it even more of a success by using his contacts through Warner Bros. to persuade many celebrities to support the charity.[1]
His career as a documentary producer saw him win an Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for his part in the Marine Corps documentary A Force in Readiness. In 1967 he was asked by Warner Bros. to take over as head of their newly reformed animation studio, as well as becoming overall head of the Looney Tunes franchise. The new animation studio lasted only two years and produced few cartoons of note before shutting down in 1969. However, Hendricks remained in a supervisory role, overseeing production on The Bugs Bunny Show and other television shows featuring Looney Tunes cartoons. He remained in this role until 1977, when he finally retired from the film industry at the age of 73.
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| Academy Honorary Award | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1928–1950 | Warner Bros. / Charlie Chaplin (1928) • Walt Disney (1932) • Shirley Temple (1934) • D. W. Griffith (1935) • The March of Time / W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson (1936) • Edgar Bergen / W. Howard Greene / Museum of Modern Art Film Library / Mack Sennett (1937) • J. Arthur Ball / Walt Disney / Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney / Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Devereaux Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren L. Ryder, Harry D. Mills, Louis Mesenkop, Walter Oberst / Oliver T. Marsh and Allen Davey / Harry Warner (1938) • Douglas Fairbanks / Judy Garland / William Cameron Menzies / Motion Picture Relief Fund (Jean Hersholt, Ralph Morgan, Ralph Block, Conrad Nagel)/ Technicolor Company (1939) • Bob Hope / Nathan Levinson (1940) • Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA Manufacturing Company / Leopold Stokowski and his associates / Rey Scott / British Ministry of Information (1941) • Charles Boyer / Noël Coward / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1942) • George Pal (1943) • Bob Hope / Margaret O'Brien (1944) • Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg, and the Republic Studio Sound Department / Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner (1945) • Harold Russell / Laurence Olivier / Ernst Lubitsch / Claude Jarman Jr. (1946) • James Baskett / Thomas Armat, William Nicholas Selig, Albert E. Smith, and George Kirke Spoor / Bill and Coo / Shoeshine (1947) • Walter Wanger / Monsieur Vincent / Sid Grauman / Adolph Zukor (1948) • Jean Hersholt / Fred Astaire / Cecil B. DeMille / The Bicycle Thief (1949) • Louis B. Mayer / George Murphy / The Walls of Malapaga (1950) | |
| 1951–1975 | Gene Kelly / Rashomon (1951) • Merian C. Cooper / Bob Hope / Harold Lloyd / George Mitchell / Joseph M. Schenck / Forbidden Games (1952) • 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation / Bell & Howell Company / Joseph Breen / Pete Smith (1953) • Bausch & Lomb Optical Company / Danny Kaye / Kemp Niver / Greta Garbo / Jon Whiteley / Vincent Winter / Gate of Hell (1954) • Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1955) • Eddie Cantor (1956) • Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers / Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson / Charles Brackett / B. B. Kahane (1957) • Maurice Chevalier (1958) • Buster Keaton / Lee de Forest (1959) • Gary Cooper / Stan Laurel / Hayley Mills (1960) • William L. Hendricks / Fred L. Metzler / Jerome Robbins (1961) • William J. Tuttle (1964) • Bob Hope (1965) • Yakima Canutt / Y. Frank Freeman (1966) • Arthur Freed (1967) • John Chambers / Onna White (1968) • Cary Grant (1969) • Lillian Gish / Orson Welles (1970) • Charlie Chaplin (1971) • Charles S. Boren / Edward G. Robinson (1972) • Henri Langlois / Groucho Marx (1973) • Howard Hawks / Jean Renoir (1974) • Mary Pickford (1975) | |
| 1976–2000 | Margaret Booth (1977) • Walter Lantz / Laurence Olivier / King Vidor / Museum of Modern Art Department of Film (1978) • Hal Elias / Alec Guinness (1979) • Henry Fonda (1980) • Barbara Stanwyck (1981) • Mickey Rooney (1982) • Hal Roach (1983) • James Stewart / National Endowment for the Arts (1984) • Paul Newman / Alex North (1985) • Ralph Bellamy (1986) • Eastman Kodak Company / National Film Board of Canada (1988) • Akira Kurosawa (1989) • Sophia Loren / Myrna Loy (1990) • Satyajit Ray (1991) • Federico Fellini (1992) • Deborah Kerr (1993) • Michelangelo Antonioni (1994) • Kirk Douglas / Chuck Jones (1995) • Michael Kidd (1996) • Stanley Donen (1997) • Elia Kazan (1998) • Andrzej Wajda (1999) • Jack Cardiff / Ernest Lehman (2000) | |
| 2001–present | Sidney Poitier / Robert Redford (2001) • Peter O'Toole (2002) • Blake Edwards (2003) • Sidney Lumet (2004) • Robert Altman (2005) • Ennio Morricone (2006) • Robert F. Boyle (2007) • Lauren Bacall / Roger Corman / Gordon Willis (2009) • Kevin Brownlow / Jean-Luc Godard / Eli Wallach (2010) • James Earl Jones / Dick Smith (2011) • D. A. Pennebaker / Hal Needham / George Stevens Jr. (2012) • Angela Lansbury / Steve Martin / Piero Tosi (2013) • Jean-Claude Carrière / Hayao Miyazaki / Maureen O'Hara (2014) • Spike Lee / Gena Rowlands (2015) • Jackie Chan / Lynn Stalmaster / Anne V. Coates / Frederick Wiseman (2016) • Charles Burnett / Owen Roizman / Donald Sutherland / Agnès Varda (2017) • Marvin Levy / Lalo Schifrin / Cicely Tyson (2018) • David Lynch / Wes Studi / Lina Wertmüller (2019) | |
| Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Studios | Harman-Ising Productions (1930–1933) • Leon Schlesinger Productions (1933–1944) • Warner Bros. Cartoons (1944–1964) • DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1964–1967, 1979–1980) • Format Films (1965–1967) • Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969) • Chuck Jones Enterprises (1976–1980, 1994–1997) • Warner Bros. Animation (1980–present) | |
| People | Tex Avery • Bea Benaderet • Mel Blanc • Bernard B. Brown • Arthur Q. Bryan
• John Burton • Daws Butler • Bob Clampett • Cal Dalton • Arthur Davis • David H. DePatie • Earl Duvall • Milt Franklyn • Stan Freberg • Friz Freleng • June Foray • Ben Hardaway • Hugh Harman • Ken Harris • William L. Hendricks • Cal Howard • Rudolf Ising • Chuck Jones • Jack King • William Lava • Abe Levitow • Michael Maltese • Frank Marsales • Norman McCabe • Robert McKimson • Tom Palmer • Hawley Pratt • Virgil Ross • Leon Schlesinger • Rod Scribner •Edward Selzer • Norman Spencer • Carl Stalling • Frank Tashlin • Ben Washam | |
| Characters | Major characters | Bugs Bunny • Daffy Duck • Elmer Fudd • Foghorn Leghorn • Granny • Lola Bunny • Marvin the Martian • Pepé Le Pew • Porky Pig • Speedy Gonzales • Sylvester the Cat • Taz • Tweety • Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner • Yosemite Sam |
| Recurring characters | Babbit and Catstello • Barnyard Dawg • Beaky Buzzard • Beans • Bosko • Buddy • Cecil Turtle • Charlie Dog • Claude Cat • Clyde Bunny • Colonel Shuffle • Conrad the Cat • Cool Cat • Egghead Jr. • Foxy • Goofy Gophers • Goopy Geer • Gossamer • Hector the Bulldog • Henery Hawk • Hippety Hopper • Hubie and Bertie • Hugo the Abominable Snowman • Inki • Marc Antony and Pussyfoot • Merlin the Magic Mouse • Michigan J. Frog • Miss Prissy • Nasty Canasta • Penelope Pussycat • Petunia Pig • Piggy • Playboy Penguin • Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog • Slowpoke Rodriguez • Sniffles • Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier • Sylvester Jr. • The Three Bears • Willoughby • Witch Hazel | |
| Shorts | 1929–1939 • 1940–1949 • 1950–1959 • 1960–1969 • 1970–present • Featuring Bugs Bunny • Featuring Daffy Duck • Featuring Sylvester • Featuring Porky Pig • Blue Ribbon reissues • Censored Eleven | |
| Television | Compilations | The Bugs Bunny Show • The Porky Pig Show • The Road Runner Show • The Merrie Melodies Show • Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends • Bugs 'n' Daffy |
| Originals | Tiny Toon Adventures • Taz-Mania • The Plucky Duck Show • The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries • Baby Looney Tunes • Duck Dodgers • Loonatics Unleashed • The Looney Tunes Show • Wabbit/New Looney Tunes • Looney Tunes Cartoons • Tooned Out • Specials | |
| Feature films |
Compilations | The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie • The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie • Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales • Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island • Daffy Duck's Quackbusters • The Looney Tunes Hall of Fame |
| Live-action/ animation |
Who Framed Roger Rabbit • Space Jam • Looney Tunes: Back in Action • Space Jam: A New Legacy | |
| Made for video | Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation • Tweety's High-Flying Adventure • Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs-traordinary Adventure • Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas • Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run • Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam • King Tweety | |
| Documentaries | Bugs Bunny: Superstar • Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons • Chuck Amuck: The Movie | |
| Music/Songs | "Camptown Races" • "Dance of the Comedians" • "The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)" • "Merrily We Roll Along" • "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" • "Powerhouse" | |
| Other | Video games | |
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