American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The main character, Abraham Jebediah “Abe” Simpson II, better known as Grampa Simpson on the animated TV series The Simpsons was named after Levitow.
He first received animation credit in 1953 while at Warner Brothers working under the direction of Chuck Jones. He worked steadily for Jones over the remainder of the 1950s, and directed several cartoons for release in 1959, including the Pepé Le Pew cartoon “Really Scent”. While working under Jones, he made characters’ joints more angular than most other animators. Those characters with fur (Wile E. Coyote, for example) looked especially shaggy in Levitow’s scenes.
In 1961, he moved to UPA and directed a series of Dick Tracy cartoons. Then in 1962, he directed the first feature-length animated television special, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. 1962 also saw the release of his theatrical feature Gay Purr-ee, with the voices of Robert Goulet, Judy Garland, and others. By 1965, he was working with Jones at MGM as an animator and a director in the Tom and Jerry series. He co-directed the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth with Chuck Jones at MGM. In addition, he worked with UPA on more Mr. Magoo cartoons, including The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.
Abe Levitow was the executive vice president and partner in the Hollywood firm of Levitow and Hanson Films, Inc. He died in Los Angeles on 8 May 1975 at age 52.
Link to Wikipedia biography