Born in Hanson, Kentucky on March 2, 1918, Givens was one of twin boys. His family moved to southern California, hoping the climate would improve the poor health of his father, who was a horse breeder and rancher. He attended Alhambra High School, graduating in 1936. He then worked as a freelance artist for the following year, before joining the Walt Disney Studio in 1937 on the recommendation of school classmate and Disney staffer Hardie Gramatky.\n', '

After joining Disney, he worked as an animation checker on several of their short subjects (mostly involving Donald Duck), before working on their first feature-length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).\n', '

He subsequently joined Warner Bros. for his first stint at the studio, which was spent working mostly under Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. For the cartoon A Wild Hare (1940), Avery asked Givens to redesign a rabbit character previously designed by director Ben Hardaway and character designer Charles Thorson, which Avery thought had potential, but was "too cute" in his existing design. Givens, therefore, created the first official design for the rabbit, now named Bugs Bunny. Givens\' design was subsequently refined by fellow animator Robert McKimson (under whom Givens would frequently work in the decades ahead) two years later.\n', '

Return to Bob Givens Autograph Profile