Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator, director, and producer who in 1972 released Fritz the Cat, the first animated feature to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America and the highest-grossing independent animated film of its time. His subsequent work pushed adult themes, rotoscoping, and live-action compositing into a medium that Hollywood had largely surrendered to children's programming.

Born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine, to Krymchak Jewish parents from Karasubazar, he emigrated with his family at one to the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He attended the High School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, joined Terrytoons as a cel painter in 1956 at seventeen, and was promoted to director by 1965 and creative director by 1966.

After running Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1967, Bakshi formed Bakshi Productions in 1968 and partnered with producer Steve Krantz on a feature adaptation of Robert Crumb's underground comic. Fritz the Cat was followed by Heavy Traffic (1973), the controversial Coonskin (1975), the rotoscoped fantasy Wizards (1977), and his half-completed adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (1978).

Later projects included American Pop (1981), Hey Good Lookin' (1982), the live-action–animated Cool World (1992), and the HBO series Spicy City (1997). He turned increasingly to painting from his New Mexico studio in the 2000s while occasionally returning to short films, including the crowdfunded Last Days of Coney Island (2015). He has six children.

The name Ralph is an English form of the Old Norse Ráðúlfr, meaning "counsel-wolf," introduced to Britain by the Normans. He has used it on every film credit and gallery placard since his Terrytoons years.