Tedd Pierce

Who was Tedd Pierce?

Tedd Pierce was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at Fleischer Studios from 1939 to 1941. Jones credited Pierce in his 1989 autobiography Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist as being the inspiration for the character Pepé Le Pew, the haplessly romantic French skunk due to Pierce's self-proclamation that he was a ladies' man.

In early credits he was shown as "Ted Pierce". He was said to have added an extra "d" to his name as a way of lampooning puppeteer Bil Baird when he dropped one of the Ls from his first name.

He contributed the story of the 1962 Tom and Jerry cartoon Tall in the Trap, directed by Gene Deitch. Originally the cartoon would have starred Sylvester the cat and Speedy Gonzales and would have been directed by Robert McKimson. However, McKimson disapproved of the storyline, and decided not to use it. Instead, Pierce sold it to Danch and Deitch, who were desperately looking for suitable storylines for Tom and Jerry.