Jules Bass, whose work as a producer and director of stop-motion and animated television specials such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and The Year Without A Santa Claus has become an integral part of the holiday season for generations, died today in Rye, New York, of age-related illnesses.
He was 87. His death was confirmed by publicist Jennifer Fisherman Ruff. Bass was working in advertising in New York City when, in 1960, he teamed up with an art director at ABC named Arthur Rankin Jr.
to form a film production company called Videocraft International. The company was launched with the 1960 series The New Adventures of Pinocchio, utilizing traditional animation, but found its breakthrough success in 1964 with the stop-motion classic Rudolph, featuring the voice of Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman.
Rankin died in 2014 at 89. Based on the Gene Autry hit song of 1949, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer would contribute a slew of original songs to the nation’s holiday playlist, including “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver and Gold” and “Jingle, Jingle, Jingle.” The immediate success of Rudolph placed the special firmly in league with other 1960s holiday fare that would become enduring holiday staples, including A Charlie Brown Christmas and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
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