{"id":86632,"date":"2014-02-01T08:09:19","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T13:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=86632"},"modified":"2014-02-01T08:09:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T13:09:19","slug":"arthur-rankin-jnr-creator-of-the-1977-hobbit-and-1980-return-of-the-king-films-dies-aged-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2014\/02\/01\/86632-arthur-rankin-jnr-creator-of-the-1977-hobbit-and-1980-return-of-the-king-films-dies-aged-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Arthur Rankin Jnr, creator of the 1977 Hobbit and 1980 Return of the King films dies, aged 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bilbo Arthur Rankin Junior, the director, producer and writer who helped establish the famous Rankin\/Bass production house and animate The Hobbit<\/i> in 1977 and The Return of the King<\/i> in 1980 has died at his home in Harrington Sound, Bermuda. He was 89.<\/p>\n

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<\/A> for their work on The Hobbit in 1977.<\/p>\n

The company was a pioneer in the use of stop-motion animation. Their cel-animated features were painstaking to make and known for their doll-like characters such as seen in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer<\/i> (1964). Rankin also produced the classic 1980s animated series Thundercats, and worked on its 2011-12 revival as a consulting producer for 11 episodes.<\/p>\n


\nWatch Smaug in the Rankin\/Bass version of The Hobbit<\/b>
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