Animator Doug Crane, who animated a variety of cartoons in the 1970s and ‘80s, passed away on Thursday, December 17, 2020 from cancer. He was 85 years old.

Crane’s credits include an impressive reel of cartoons, like the Spider-Man series in 1968-1970, which was the first version of Spider-Man to appear on TV. In the early ‘80s he worked on The Smurfs, then He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and BraveStarr.

Crane was born in Bronxville, New York and graduated from the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in Manhattan. His career began in 1956 as an animator for Terrytoons in the inking and painting department. He also served in the US Army and created the comic strip Tiptoe and Timber for military newspapers. Crane’s next move was to open and operate the Hanna-Barbera East studio at the request of William Hanna.

Some of Crane’s other credits include The Deputy Dawg Show and Mighty Thor in the ‘60s, and Challenge of the Superfriends and Godzilla in the late ‘70s. His final animation work was for the documentary Independent Lens in 2008.

Outside of his animation work, he taught classical animation at New York’s The School of Visual Arts.