Heavy Metal assistant animator Judy Niver dies, 71
Layout artist and animator Judith M. "Judy" Niver, an assistant animator on the "Taarna" segment of the 1981 movie Heavy Metal, died December 14. She was 71.
From 1965 until 1994, she worked for DePatie-Freleng, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, UPA, Ed Love, Ruby-Spears, Encore, Hyperion, Cool Productions, DreamQuest and Rich Animation.
Niver was a key assistant animator on the 1987 Filmation theatrical feature Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. In addition, she was an assistant animator on 1991's Rover Dangerfield.
She was an inbetween artist for the "Puffin," "Horses," "Guards" and "Animals" characters in the 1994 movie The Swan Princess. A key clean-up artist on the partly animated Cool World (1992), Niver was a character clean-up artist on Rock-A-Doodle, released the previous year. She was an additional layout artist on the 1995 theatrical short The Tale of Tillie's Dragon.
In television, she was an animator for Blackstar and The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (both 1981). She was an assistant animator on the 1978 TV series Fangface and two ABC Weekend Specials: The Puppy's Great Adventure (1979) and P.J. Funnybunny, released a decade later.
Niver was a layout artist on The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (1979), The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980), Pac-Man and Smurfs (both 1982), The Biskitts (1983) and Snorks (1984). In 1990, she was a cleanup artist on five episodes of The Simpsons.
Direct-to-video feature films where she was an assistant designer included Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle and Cinderella (both 1994) and Alice in Wonderland, Heidi, Jungle Book and Magic Gift of the Snowman (all 1995). In addition, she was an assistant designer on the 1994 video short Happy, the Littlest Bunny.
Niver did storyboard revisions and cleanup on the 1996 video Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible.
