Arthur Rankin Junior, the director, producer and writer who helped establish the famous Rankin/Bass production house and animate The Hobbit in 1977 and The Return of the King in 1980 has died at his home in Harrington Sound, Bermuda. He was 89.
Rankin ran the successful Rankin/Bass production banner with business partner Jules Bass, putting out a many popular cartoon series and specials in a period spanning the early 1960s through to the late 1980s. The pair won a Peabody Award for their work on The Hobbit in 1977. Continue reading “Arthur Rankin Jnr, creator of the 1977 Hobbit and 1980 Return of the King films dies, aged 89”
