From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Arthur Rankin Jr July 19 1924 January 30 2014 was an Americanborn Bermudian director producer and writer mostly working in animation The son of actor Arthur Rankin in the early 1960s he founded the film production company Videocraft International now called RankinBass with Jules Bass The two worked closely together for many years codirecting and producing a wide array of stop motion animated features and cartoons perhaps most famously the holidaythemed TV specials such as Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer Santa Claus is Comin to Town Rudolphs Shiny New Year The Year Without a Santa Claus Frosty the Snowman Twas the Night Before Christmas 1974 TV special and Jack Frost He is also credited with devising the story for many RankinBass productions including the featurefilms The Daydreamer and Mad Monster Party In 1977 Rankin and Bass produced a version of J R R Tolkiens The Hobbit The pair also teamed on a wide variety of animated TV series including ThunderCats and Silverhawks The pair last teamed on the 1987 TV special based on The Wind in the Willows Rankins last producing credit was on the 1999 animated version of The King and I in which Bass was not involved since Arthur was a supervising animator in The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron Rankins grandfather was Harry Davenport perhaps best known as Dr Meade in Gone with the Wind 1939 Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur Rankin licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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