Animation legend Arthur Rankin, Jr., died 30 January 2014 following “a bout of illness,” according to the Royal Gazette of his retirement home, Bermuda. Born 19 July 1924 in New York City, he shared a Peabody Award with his producing partner Jules Bass in 1978 for The Hobbit (that same production earned them a Hugo nomination the same year). They also garnered an Emmy nomination in 1977 for The Little Drummer Boy Book II.

Rankin’s parents, Arthur Rankin and Marian Manfield, were both actors, and his grandfather, Harry Davenport, played Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind (1939). The young Rankin started as an usher in movie theaters as a child, and by the late 1940s, he was an art director at ABC. In a 1996 interview, he said, “These were days when no one knew anything about television. I painted sets and did graphic design.”

In 1960, he and Jules Bass (who survives him) formed Videocraft International — which later became known as Rankin/Bass Productions. Their studio quickly became known for its stop-motion animation work, producing the iconic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970), and The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974). In 1996, Rankin remarked, “Christmas has been good to me.”

In later years, they were also responsible for Thundercats (1985-89), The Last Unicorn (1982), and many more films and television shows.

He is survived by his wife Olga, a Greek-born actress who in 2010 became the oldest newly graduated lawyer called to the Bermuda Bar — as well as sons Todd and Gardner.

For more on Rankin, see his Hollywood Reporter obituary and his IMDb listing.