Media & Arts
Tex Avery
Taylor-born, Dallas-raised Tex Avery helped redefine theatrical animation through elastic timing, self-aware gags and characters including Daffy Duck and Droopy, carrying pieces of his Texas youth into some of American animation's most influential comedy.
- Roster rank
- #221
- Category
- Media & Arts
- Subject type
- Person
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Life and career
Frederick Bean 'Tex' Avery was born in Taylor, Texas, in 1908 and grew up in Dallas, graduating from North Dallas High School in 1926. After art study and a brief return to Dallas, he moved to Los Angeles and entered the young animation industry, eventually working at Warner Bros., MGM, Universal and commercial studios.
At Warner Bros. Avery directed cartoons that introduced or decisively developed Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and related characters; at MGM he created Droopy and pushed timing, visual exaggeration and fourth-wall comedy far beyond conventional cartoon realism. The Handbook of Texas also records specifically Texan creative echoes, including Avery's recollection that Daffy Duck was conceived while hunting at White Rock Lake and that 'What's up, Doc?' echoed slang he heard at North Dallas High School.
Defining work
What to know
- A Wild Hare
- Porky's Duck Hunt
- Red Hot Riding Hood
- Droopy
- Warner Bros. and MGM theatrical cartoons
Timeline
Key milestones
- 1908Born in Taylor, Texas.
- 1926Graduates from North Dallas High School.
- 1935Begins directing for Leon Schlesinger's Warner Bros. cartoon unit.
- 1942Moves to MGM, where his most expansive theatrical-animation period begins.
- 1980Dies in Burbank, California.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Birthplace in Williamson County.
Dallas
Childhood home and high-school city.
White Rock Lake
Dallas setting Avery associated with the conception of Daffy Duck.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Avery helped establish a fast, self-aware comic language that influenced generations of animation and live-action visual comedy.
His Texas connection is unusually concrete for a Hollywood animator: Taylor birth, Dallas upbringing, White Rock Lake memories and North Dallas High School slang all appear in the documented origin story of his work.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles