Tissa David Dies at Age 91

Tissa David

New York animation legend Tissa David passed away last night at age 91.

Tissa David was New York’s master animator for over five decades. Born in Transylvania, Tissa moved to Paris in 1950, where she worked for producers Jean Image and Paul Grimault. In 1955, she moved to New York where she worked as Grim Natwick’s assistant at UPA. Her work for John Hubley included commercials, shorts and features. Tissa may be best known to the public for developing and animating “Raggedy Ann” in Richard Williams’ 1977 feature Raggedy Ann and Andy. In 1978, she began a long stint animating for R. O. Blechman, including Simple Gifts and A Soldier’s Tale.

ASIFA-East Board Member Michael Sporn visited Tissa frequently over the last few weeks and has included John Canemaker’s 1975 interview for Millimeter Magazine on his splog [1] today. Check his blog in the next week or so for more information and reflection about his dear friend.

Ace & Son’s Richard O’Connor‘s eloquent and personal tribute can be found here [2].

On David Nethery‘s blog [3] you can find John Canemaker‘s tribute from 2006.

ASIFA-Hollywood’s Jerry Beck posted a piece on Cartoon Brew [4], which features one of Tessa’s pencil tests from the “Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers” scene in Raggedy Ann and Andy:

Source: ASIFA-East