Jones began his career in the early 1930's as a cel washer at Ub Iwerks studio. Advancing to animator at Warner Bros., under the direction of Tex Avery, Jones worked on the earliest Porky Pig cartoons. Promoted to Director in 1938, Jones was instrumental in developing Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Daffy Duck as well as setting the fast-paced tone of Warner Bros. cartoons in general. Among his other creations, Jones is well-known for the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, Michigan J. Frog and Marvin The Martian.

Academy Award-winning animator Chuck Jones animated and directed such beloved cartoon characters in hundreds of animated films. He died at his home on 2/22/02 at the age of 89.

Jones worked on more than 300 animated films in a career that spanned more than 60 years. Three of his films won Academy Awards and he was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996 for lifetime achievement. He also received an honorary life membership from the Directors Guild of America.

Working at Warner Bros., Jones helped bring to life some of the studio's most recognizable characters. In addition to Bugs and Daffy, he worked on the fast-moving, beep-beeping Road Runner and his hapless pursuer, Wile E. Coyote. He also drew Pepe le Pew, the romantic-minded skunk with a French accent.

Jones also produced, directed and wrote the screenplay for the animated television classic "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

The animator's work won him admirers throughout the entertainment business. "Chuck Jones' originality, his humor and his pacing still have no peer today," director Steven Spielberg once said. Speilberg called Jones’ “One Froggy Evening” the ‘Citizen Kane’ of animated film when interviewd by PBS for an hour-long special on the life of Jones called “Extremes & Inbetweens: A Life In Animation”.

Three of Jones' films won Academy Awards: "Frigid Hare," "So Much, So Little" and "The Dot and the Line," for which Jones also received a directing Oscar.

One of Jones' most popular films, "What's Opera, Doc?" was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992 for being "among the most culturally, historically and aesthetically significant films of our time." In the book “The World’s Fifty Greatest Cartoons”, Jones’ “What’s Opera, Doc?” was voted number one by filmmakers, historians and critics.

Born in 1912 in Spokane, Wash., Jones moved to Hollywood with his family, finding work there as a child extra in Mac Sennett comedies. After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of Arts), he began making a living drawing pencil portraits on Olvera Street, a historic Los Angeles marketplace.

He landed his first job washing animation cels in 1932, working for legendary Disney animator Ub Iwerks. A few years later, he became an animator at the Leon Schlesinger Studio, which was later sold to Warner Bros. He headed up his own unit at the Warner Bros. Animation Dept. until it closed in 1962.

He also worked for MGM Studios, creating episodes for the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon series. Jones opened his own company, Chuck Jones Enterprises, in 1962, producing nine 30-minute animated films.