Animator Sam Cornell has passed away.
Samuel Miller (Sam) Cornell
June 1939 – May 1, 2021
From Pegboard, the Animation Guild’s newsletter:
Sam Cornell d. 5/01/2021 – Industry veteran Sam Cornell is known for his varied work on Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rugrats Movie, The Wuzzles, and Shinbone Alley. His many roles included Storyboard Artist, Layout Artist, and Title Designer. He also directed numerous commercials with classic characters such as Tony the Tiger and the Keebler Elves.
Mark Kausler remembers his friend Sam:
Sam loved to talk old cartoons and cartoon history and gave me a lot of ideas for study. He was one of the first adults I met who made it OK to really enjoy old cartoons and really appreciate what made the drawings good and appealing. Look at the control he had with Pentel felt pens, he could get a good approximation of steel point inking and could draw Krazy and Ignatz in his own way, while paying tribute to Herriman at the same time.
Sam talk[ed] about his involvement with the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962 and the creation of the Unisphere with Harper Goff, a Disney Imagineer. Harper said that Sam drew with a “Funny Pencil”, and that really sums up Sam’s approach to drawing. He just couldn’t help being a clown with cartooning.
While still in high school Sam’s talent was being showcased in an L. A. newspaper
and had already taken professional art work.
The part about Sam appearing in Harvey Kurtzman’s Humbug was not as impressive as it sounded. Sam’s column was partially reproduced as part of a subscription/promo page.
Though in the early 1960s Sam had placed a couple gag panels in Kurtzman’s Help!
And in 1965 he got the final three pages in the final issue (# 26) of Help!
But his career was animation.
