Art Chowder September | October 2017, Issue 11 | Page 20

Ron Campbell at the
Marmot Art Space Gallery in
Spokane, Washington
Art Chowder: Amazing artists, all. I must
admit, I have wonderful memories
of sitting in front of the television on
Saturday mornings and enjoying your
cartoons. My kids have also grown up
loving the characters you’ve created and
directed. You’ve given us, as parents,
something to share with our kids; thank
you for that.
Ron:  Ah well, I was just trying to have
some fun in life.
Art Chowder: Speaking of fun, which char-
acter or story line did you have the most
fun with?
Ron: I can’t really differentiate between
James Bond Jr., Rugrats or Smurfs—they
were all so different, and I enjoyed them
all. I don’t think I could name a character
or a show that I didn’t like. I’m proudest
of my work on Big Blue Marble, and I’m
proud of Sesame Street. I honestly en-
20 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
joyed the Smurfs, and the Rugrats too. So
yeah, the whole load was great.
Art Chowder: Yes they were. So Ron, did
you ever incorporate voice actors’ facial
expressions into your animation?
Ron: Never. The key facial expressions we
do absolutely relate to what the actor has
imparted vocally to the script’s dialogue,
but you don’t actually hearken back to
the expression on the face of the actor.
In any case, the actors would record their
lines in a studio, then go away. We would
play the tapes as we went over the story
boards, and fit certain expressions to their
tone. Never, did we hearken back to the
expressions on their face as they spoke
the lines.
Art Chowder: Occasionally, your cartoons
included famous guest voices. Did you
meet any of them, and if so, were you
ever starstruck?
Ron: No. When I worked in Hollywood,
I was never really starstruck. I suppose
I could have been if I’d met Errol Flynn
or Clark Gable. I did meet many famous
actors, but starstruck? No, certainly not.
Art Chowder: I saw on your website beat-
lescartoonartshow.com, that years after
The Beatles movie, you met Ringo Starr.
Tell me about that.
Ron: He bought a couple of my paintings.
One of them he hung in his recording stu-
dio. He did a 60 Minutes interview once,
and I saw my painting of him hanging
on the wall over his shoulder. That was
amusing.
Art Chowder: Wow, I bet! You’ve worked
on so many amazing shows. Was there
ever a project that you wanted to be a part
of, that you didn’t have a chance to work
on?