Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Bud Luckey, the Academy Award-nominated animator who is credited with coming up with the cowboy design of Woody from Toy Story, has died at the age of 83. He passed away at a hospice facility in Newtown, Connecticut on Saturday after an extended illness.
Along with being credited for designing the iconic Toy Story character, Luckey also had an extensive voice acting career — providing the voices of Rick Decker in The Incredibles, Chuckles the Clown in Toy Story 3, and Eeyore in 2011’s Winnie the Pooh — and wrote and animated many short films for Sesame Street.
“He’ll be deeply missed by his friends, family and colleagues to whom he was just ‘Bud,'” the late animator’s son, Andy Luckey, posted on Facebook. “His kind and easy going demeanor led his PIXAR colleagues to dub him ‘Bud Low-Key.'”
Andy also noted that his father “loved his work but got even greater satisfaction from seeing others enjoy it.”
In addition to the Toy Story franchise, Luckey’s character designs are also featured in A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. He received an Oscar nomination in 2004 for his five-minute animated short film Boundin‘, which was released theatrically as the opening cartoon for The Incredibles.
In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to The California Institute of The Arts — Bud Luckey Scholarship Fund.
