Three months after his long time friend and writing/business partner, Joe Ruby, had passed on, Ken Spears, who began his cartoon career as a sound editor at Hanna-Barbera in 1959, has passed away from Lewy's Body Dementia, the same disease that claimed radio & cartoon legend Casey Kasem six years ago.
Spears, with Ruby, had created Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? for Hanna-Barbera & CBS in 1969, kicking off a string of series for not only H-B, but also DePatie-Freleng (1972-5). Ruby & Spears' 1st foray into live-action came in 1974 when 20th Century Fox hired the duo to work as consultants on Planet of The Apes, a short-lived primetime adaptation of the movie series. A subsequent Saturday morning series co-produced by DFE & Fox for NBC the following year, strangely, didn't have Ruby or Spears credited, ending their run at the studio.
The team returned to Hanna-Barbera in 1976, and created Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, & Captain Caveman over a 2 year period, during which time they also developed the live-action components (most of them, anyway) of Krofft Supershow, most notably Electra Woman & DynaGirl. They launched their own production company in 1978 with Fangface, and contributed mightily to ABC's Weekend Special series. One such entry, "The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy", led to a weekly series, The Puppy's Great Adventures, a few years later. Their first sales to NBC, Mr. T & Alvin & The Chipmunks, followed in 1983.
The studio was, in fact, still active until recently. Now, we'll see how WarnerMedia, which owns most of the Ruby-Spears catalogue from the early years, honors the team.
Rest in peace.
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