Comedian and voice actor Dayton Allen died on Nov. 11, 2004 at age 85. Animation fans will remember him most as the voices of Heckle and Jeckle. Born Dayton Allen Bolke, he was a native of New York and he got into show business, following the path of his boyhood friend, Art Carney. Both broke into radio in their teens as disc jockeys and specialists in funny voices. Dayton used his skills on early children's TV shows, dubbing in voices for puppets and often appearing on camera.

Alexandra Tholance, press attaché for CARTOON, passed away Nov.7, 2004, after a long battle with breast cancer.

Alexandra Tholance, press attaché for CARTOON during the past decade, passed away Nov.7, 2004, after a long battle with breast cancer.

Her family has organized a religious ceremony Nov. 10 at 3:00 pm at the Notre Dame Church in Villerupt, the little village east of France near the Belgium/Luxembourg border where she lived with her companion Alain Berberi.

Ivor Wood, the animator who worked on some of the best-loved children's television programs, including THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, THE WOMBLES, PADDINGTON and POSTMAN PAT, has died in London, reports THE TIMES. He was 72 years old.

Animation checker and actress Kathrin Victor, who was also known as Kathrin Leichliter, died on Oct. 22, 2004 in Los Angeles from complications after a stroke at the age of 81. From 1960 until her retirement in 2000 she worked for Graphic Arts, Snowball, DeTiege, Eagle, Creston, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Filmation, Don Bluth, Box Office Originals and Disney TV Animation.

Actor Christopher Reeve, star of four SUPERMAN films and real life hero after becoming paralyzed from the neck down, died Oct. 10, 2004, in Bedford, New York, from heart failure at the age of 52.

The great-looking lead of four SUPERMAN films, THE BOSTONIANS, SOMEWHERE IN TIME and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY became a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair when he broke his neck and injured his spinal cord when he was thrown from a horse in an equestrian event in 1995.

Famed comedian Rodney Dangerfield passed away on Oct. 5, 2004. He was 82. The "I don't get no respect" funnyman had fallen into a coma after undergoing heart surgery on Aug. 25. His publicist said in a statement that Dangerfield suffered a small stroke after the operation and developed infectious and abdominal complications. But in the past week he had emerged from the coma.

"When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand and smiled for his doctors," Dangerfield's wife, Joan, said in the statement.

Bob Scarabelli, Rainmaker Income Fund president/ceo, has passed away from natural causes. Scarabelli worked for Rainmaker for the past 25 years, growing it into one of North America's leading post-production facilities.

Joel Schneider, a pioneering force in educational programming, died of cancer on Sept. 12, 2004 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He was 61 years old.

Schneider served as content director for CRO, an animated science series broadcast by ABC on Saturday mornings. Recently, he served as vp for education and research at Sesame Workshop, where he focused on activities in China, including the development of a new planetarium show with a SESAME STREET theme. In addition, he was instrumental in the development of Kami, the first HIV-positive Muppet.

Frank Thomas, who helped pioneer the animated art form as a member of Walt Disney’s elite “Nine Old Men,” passed away Wednesday night at his home in Flintridge, California. He celebrated his 92nd birthday on Sunday with family and friends, including director Brad Bird, who honored Thomas and lifelong friend and colleague Ollie Johnston – the last of the “Nine Old Men – with cameo appearances in both THE IRON GIANT and Disney/Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES.

Prolific composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote music for more than 250 film and television productions, including Disney’s animated feature, THE BLACK CAULDRON, died Aug. 18, 2004, during his sleep at his home in Ojai, California, at the age of 82.