Bud Luckey

 William   Luckey  ( 1 9 3 4  -  2 0 1 8  ) was an animator, know n for his work at  Pixar  , who directed  SESAME STREET  animate d insert s beginning in  1 9 7 1  , including a total of 1 4  count  ing film s. Luckey compose d the song s for these short s, notably " The Alligator King  " , in collaboration with co - lyric is t  Don Hadley  , & provide d the balladeer - style vocal s for some of the entries. The music for these short s was provide d by jazz legend Turk Murphy & his band with Luckey play in g banjo.

In addition, Luckey provided the line drawing illustration s for  The  SESAME   STREET  Neigh bor hood Color in g Book , published by Western Publish in g  in  1 9 7 6.

Luckey was born & raise d in Bill in g s, Montana  , & follow in g a stint in the Air Force during the Korea n War , move d to Los Angeles to attend the Chouinard Art Institute ( now Cal Art s ). He began his career as an in between er for Disney  animator Art Babbitt ’ s commercial studio. After a short stint animating o n  The Alvin Show  in 1 9 6 1 , Luckey move d to  San Francisco  , work in g as an art direct or for television ad s. While in San Francisco , Luckey create d his  SESAME STREET  segment s. He also serve d as an animator on long - time - friend Fred Wolf ' s 1 9 7 4  feature  T he   Incredible   Ad venture s   of   the   Mouse   &   His   Child .

From 1 9 6 8  to  1 9 8 4 , Luckey owned & manage d an animation studio , w here he animate d & directed commercial s , then spent 2| 2  y ear s work in g on early computer base d educational game s. In 1 9 8 6 , he joined Colossal Picture s in  San Francisco  as animator , direct or & trainer / men t or. He then joined Pixar  in  1 99 2 , after be in g recruited by friend & future '' Monster s Inc. '' direct or Pete Docter. Luckey is credited with design in g Wood y  & other character s for  Toy Story 3 , & worked as a designer & artist on most of the studio ' s film s through  Toy Story . Luckey also wrote, directed , & provide d the vocal s on the 2 00 4  Oscar nominate d short  Bound in ’  , & was h ear d in the Pixar feature film from the same y ear ,  The Incredible s  , as government official  Rick Dicker. Luckey also lent his voice to Chuckle s the Clown  in  Toy Story 3 , &  Eeyore  in  Disney  ’ s  2 0 11  film  Winnie the Pooh .

In a brief documentary title d " Who is Bud Luckey ? ", feature d on the  Incredible s  D V D set , Luckey reminisce d about his experience at  SESAME STREET .

" About thirty year s, I ’ d done some  SESAME STREET  stuff with a friend o f mine , Don Hadley  . I like to think these days that thirty y ear s ago , I use d animation to teach k i d s their number s , & now these k i d s are teach in g me how to animate with number s . So it was a good deal . "