Cartoon Animator. Isadore, better known as “Friz,”  left his hometown of Kansas City for Hollywood in the 1920s and went to work for Walt Disney.  After several months, he left the Disney studio to work on the “Krazy Kat” cartoon series, then joined Warner Bros. in 1930. In 1933 Friz was made a director. He oversaw Porky Pig’s debut in “I Haven’t Got a Hat” in 1935. He eventually worked closely with well known Warner Bros. animators Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Robert McKimson and Tex Avery.  He won Academy Awards for four of his Warner Bros. cartoons: “Tweety Pie” in 1947, “Speedy Gonzalez” in 1955, “Birds Anonymous” in 1957 and “Knighty Knight Bugs” in 1958. He won another Oscar for “The Pink Phink,” which featured the Pink Panther. Friz was a self-taught artist who specialized in frenetic action, worked on more than 300 cartoons. His most classic, loved and memorable animated characters are Sylvester and Tweety, Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzalez, Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and last but not least Yosemite Sam, the one he admitted to serving as the model for. When Warner Bros.’s animated studio closed, Friz established Depatie-Freleng Enterprises, which made television and theatrical short films. He directed some television specials for Warner Bros. in the 1980s and helped assemble some compilation features. He was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992. He died at the Medical Center of the University of California at Los Angeles. (bio by: Shock)  Family links:  Spouse:  Lily Freleng (1913 – 2003)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Natural causes