IWAO Takamoto, the animator who created the cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley and directed the classic film Charlotte's Web has died. He was 81.
Mr Takamoto, who began learning his craft in an American internment camp during the Second World War, died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angles on Monday, Gary Miereanu, a spokesman for Warner Bros Animation, said yesterday.
In a career spanning more than six decades, Mr Takamoto helped to design some of the biggest animated films and television shows, including Cinderella, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp and The Flintstones.
