Ed Benedict (August 23, 1912 – August 28, 2006) was an American animator and layout artist. He is best known for his work with Hanna-Barbera Studios, where he helped design Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, and Ruff and Ready.
Benedict began his animation career in 1930 at Walt Disney Studios. He left in 1933 to work at Universal Studios as an animator on Walter Lantz's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts (Coincidentally, Oswald was created by Walt Disney Studios for Universal). He briefly returned to Disney in the 1940s, receiving his only Disney credit on the animated film Make Mine Music. He then spent several years creating animation for television commercials.
In 1952, Benedict was contacted by Tex Avery, who'd worked with him at Universal Studios. Avery invited Benedict to work on Avery's animation unit at MGM. Benedict performed lead animation and layout duties for Avery, and later for Michael Lah after Avery's departure from the studio. Benedict's work can be seen in Dixieland Droopy, The First Bad Man, and Deputy Droopy.
In the late 1950s, Benedict was recruited by former MGM animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to provide character designs for their new animated television series, The Ruff & Ready Show. Benedict eventually became the primary character designer at Hanna-Barbera, designing Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, the various characters on The Flintstones, and many others.
Benedict left Hanna-Barbera in the late 1960s, but continued providing freelance work until his retirement in the early 1970s. Still, he served as one of the advisors on Cartoon Network's original series Johnny Bravo. He is cited as a major inspriraton by animator John Kricfalusi, among others.
Benedict died in his sleep at his home in Auburn, California[1] He was 94. According to his request, his ashes were scattered in Carmel Bay, California.