Ken Spears | |
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Born | Charles Kenneth Spears March 12, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Died | November 6, 2020 Brea, California, U.S. | (aged 82)
Occupation(s) | Animator, writer, television producer, sound editor |
Years active | 1959–2020 |
Children | 2 |
Charles Kenneth Spears (March 12, 1938 – November 6, 2020)[1][2] was an American animator, writer, television producer and sound editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Joe Ruby. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions.[3][4] Spears along with Ruby would create many other shows such as Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Fangface.[5] Spears would also work on the shows Sectaurs, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.[6]
Spears career would begin in 1959 when he started to work for Hanna-Barbera becoming a sound editor, at Hanna-Barbera Spears would meet Ruby when Life Magazine was interviewing members at the studio,[7] they would start to work together on animated projects. Spears would work for several other companies before Ruby-Spears such as DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Sid and Marty Krofft.
In 2020, Ruby died on August 26, and Spears would pass away on November 6, 2020, from Lewy body dementia three months later.[8]