Texas Originals

Tex Avery

February 26, 1908–August 26, 1980

Frederick Bean Avery’s middle name honored his ancestor, notorious "Judge" Roy Bean. His nickname, "Tex," was bestowed by fellow animators in Hollywood, where Avery helped create the modern art of cartooning.

Born in Taylor, Texas, in 1908, Avery graduated from North Dallas High School and followed his love of cartoons to California. After learning the trade in various studios, Avery landed at Termite Terrace, the dilapidated office of Warner Brothers Cartoons. There, Avery and his team pioneered a style of animation that defied convention.

Avery’s characters departed sharply from the romantic realism of Walt Disney’s popular films. They spoke directly to the audience, offered sarcastic asides, and made irreverence an art form. Avery asked his team, "What do you think the audience would least expect?" The resulting gags defined Looney Toons, making a star of the character Porky Pig and leading to the 1940 creation of the world’s most famous rabbit: Bugs Bunny. Avery gifted the wisecracking Bugs with the catchphrase "What’s up, Doc?"—a greeting that had been popular at his high school.

After Warner Brothers, Avery created classic characters for MGM and later animated TV commercials. He died in 1980, but his influence endures today. Avery was, as one film historian put it, "the King of Cartoons: a free-wheeling anarchist whose distinctive sense of humor changed the face of U.S. animation forever."

For More about Tex Avery

In 2014, the city of Taylor, Texas, unveiled a historical marker dedicated to Avery’s achievements and influence, which concludes: "Tex Avery’s influence on his craft is difficult to overstate. He created some of the most enduring characters and compositions in history and directed cartoons that were funnier, faster and wilder than anyone had ever seen. An enormously talented writer, artist and director, Tex Avery left his stamp not just on the world of animation, but on the wider universe of American popular culture."

Shortly after Avery’s death in 1980, the Los Angeles Tribune published a tribute to Avery that Chuck Jones had written several years earlier. Jones begins the piece by explaining that he learned from Avery "the most important truth about animation. Animation is the art of timing, a truth applicable as well to motion pictures. And the most brilliant masters of timing were usually comedians: Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Langdon—and Fred (Tex) Avery." Jones continues by listing other lessons that he learned from his mentor, including: "You must love what you caricature. You must not mock it—unless it is ridiculously self-important, like the solemn live-action travelogues of that day."

Tex Avery Screwball Classics, Volume 1, a collection of restored Technicolor shorts, was released on Blu-ray in 2020.

Cartoon Research is a website devoted to animation history, run by expert Jerry Beck. The site emphasizes Hollywood studio animation and has extensive information on the works of Tex Avery.

Selected Bibliography

Adamson, Joe. Bugs Bunny: Fifty Years and Only One Grey Hare. New York: Holt & Co, 1990.

Bailey, John. "The Unhinged Animator: "Tex' Avery." American Cinematographer, November 18, 2012.

Canemaker, John.  Tex Avery: The MGM Years, 1942–1955. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1996.

Jackson, Frank. "Avery, Frederick Bean (Tex)." Handbook of Texas Online.

Jones, Chuck. "Farewell to a Genius of Funny." Los Angeles Tribune, August 31, 1980.

Kalat, David. "Tex Avery." In 501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, 2007.

Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New York: New American Library, 1980.

Schneider, Steve. That’s All Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. New York: Holt & Co, 1988.