Bill Plympton

Bill Plympton

Born: April 30, 1946
in Portland, Oregon, USA
Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946; Portland) is an American animator, director, graphic designer, cartoonist, screenwriter and producer best known for his 1987 Academy Award-nominated animated short Your Face and his series of shorts Guard Dog, Guide Dog, Hot Dog and Horn Dog.

Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and the weekly newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon. His political cartoon strip Plympton, which began in 1975 in the SoHo Weekly News, eventually was syndicated and appeared in over 20 newspapers. In 1988, his animated short Your Face was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He also became known for other animated short films, including 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989) and Enemies (1991), the latter of which was part of the Animania series on MTV, where many of his other shorts were shown.

In 1992, his self-financed, first feature-length animated film, The Tune debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge. In 1993, he made his first live action film, J. Lyle. In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot. He also published a comic book in 2003, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels presented by Terry Gilliam, had no dialogue. Plympton directed the segment "On Eating and Drinking" in the 2014 animated film The Prophet, adapted from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. In 2020, Plympton released a Kickstarter for his new animated comedy western, Slide. The funding was successful and Plympton had planned on finishing the film by 2022.

Movies for Bill Plympton...

Claydream
Title: Claydream
Character: Self
Released: August 5, 2022
Type: Movie
A modern day Walt Disney, Will Vinton picked up a ball of clay and saw a world of potential. Known as the “Father of Claymation,” Vinton revolutionized the animation business during the 80s and 90s. But after 30 years of being the unheralded king of clay, Will Vinton’s carefully sculpted American dream came crumbling down. Structured around interviews with this charismatic pioneer and his close collaborators, the film charts the rise and fall of the Academy Award and Emmy winning Will Vinton Studios.
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Animation Outlaws
Title: Animation Outlaws
Character: Himself
Released: September 27, 2019
Type: Movie
Walt Disney said “We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.” Outside of Walt himself there are few people who have brought together and united more animators in the history of the genre than Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble, known to all as Spike & Mike. They created an animation festival that helped launch the careers of John Lasseter, Peter Lord, Will Vinton, Bill Plympton and Mike Judge to name just a few. Their Spike & Mike festival had an enormous impact on animation that was felt the world over. The festival was known as much for the breakthrough animation it presented as the outrageous antics of the founders.
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Hitler's Folly
Title: Hitler's Folly
Character: Nazi Soldier
Released: June 3, 2016
Type: Movie
"Hitler's Folly" explores what might have happened if Adolf Hitler's art career had been more successful and instead of becoming an evil dictator, he was inspired to become an animator like Walt Disney.
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The Ornaments
Title: The Ornaments
Character: Ornament #1
Released: December 17, 2013
Type: Movie
Well, it's that wonderful time of the year again... Merry Christmas, everyone!
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King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution
Title: King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution
Character: Himself
Released: October 16, 2012
Type: Movie
Focuses on how the legend of animation, Tex Avery, revolutionized cartoons.
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Adventures in Plymptoons!
Title: Adventures in Plymptoons!
Character: Himself
Released: May 30, 2011
Type: Movie
A documentary film about Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton. This is a portrait piece that includes interviews with family, friends, colleagues, critics, and fans.
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Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation, 1921-1930
Title: Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation, 1921-1930
Released: November 3, 2008
Type: Movie
A documentary about the early days of animation.
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Mutant Aliens
Title: Mutant Aliens
Character: Guard (voice)
Released: June 14, 2002
Type: Movie
An unlikely crew – an astronaut, his intrepid daughter, and a quintet of sympathetic, albeit violent, alien creatures – seek revenge against a space industry baron.
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Godass
Title: Godass
Character: Self
Released: March 12, 2000
Type: Movie
An off-beat comedy about how having a gay father can be the least of a punk girl's problems.
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Mondo Plympton
Title: Mondo Plympton
Released: March 28, 1997
Type: Movie
A compilation of animator Bill Plympton's classic shorts, including "Your Face", "How to Kiss", "One of Those Days", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", "Plymptoons", "Nosehair" and "How to Make Love to a Woman". In between, an animated version of Bill answers questions about his life and career.
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Twisted Toons
Title: Twisted Toons
Character: Himself
Released: March 28, 1997
Type: Movie
Interviews with Bill Plympton and others in the field of animation follow his development as an independent animator.
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Guns on the Clackamas
Title: Guns on the Clackamas
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
Nigel Nado, the notable documentary filmmaker, is trying to make a movie about some people trying to make a movie. But everything is going wrong. The subject of his documentary, the western 'Guns on the Clackamas' is plagued with problems. The lead actress has a severe stutter. And since she also happens to be the Executive Producer's mistress, there's not much that can be done to remedy the situation. Unsuccessful in turning the movie into a yodeling extravaganza, they decide to fire the actress. This results in having her irate beau pull the plug on the film's financing. The beginning of the end is marked by cast members dropping like flies due to any number of reasons. Bad macaroni salad. Bad chili. Bad caterer. A camera dolly runs over a crew member, severing some key limb or another. Then since no cast member has survived, and the film's producers can't hire replacements, the 'Guns on Clackamas' makers must resort to solutions at once startling and hilarious.
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Title: Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: June 1, 1989
Type: TV
Animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. This collection of short films—some as brief as 15 seconds—made between 1985 and 1991, showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous feature films. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", and the 15-second shorts made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker.
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Title: Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton
Character: Young Man
Released: June 1, 1989
Type: TV
Animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. This collection of short films—some as brief as 15 seconds—made between 1985 and 1991, showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous feature films. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", and the 15-second shorts made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker.
bee
Title: Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton
Character: (voice)
Released: June 1, 1989
Type: TV
Animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. This collection of short films—some as brief as 15 seconds—made between 1985 and 1991, showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous feature films. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", and the 15-second shorts made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker.
bee
Title: Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton
Character: Lucas (voice)
Released: June 1, 1989
Type: TV
Animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. This collection of short films—some as brief as 15 seconds—made between 1985 and 1991, showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous feature films. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", and the 15-second shorts made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker.
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25 Ways to Quit Smoking
Title: 25 Ways to Quit Smoking
Character: Narrateur / Homme (voix) (Non crédité)
Released: June 1, 1989
Type: Movie
The perilous road to kicking the habit is explored in twenty-six vignettes that include various professionals and contraptions.
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Lucas, the Ear of Corn
Title: Lucas, the Ear of Corn
Character: Lucas
Released: January 1, 1977
Type: Movie
The story of Lucas, a young ear of corn, from his days in the cornfield with his mother to the moment he ultimately meets his fate as a meal for a young boy.