Guitarist, animator Pete Kleinow dead at 72

Posted:
Jan 7, 2007

Stop-motion animator "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, who had a legendary second career as a steel guitar player with the Flying Burrito Brothers, died Saturday in California of Alzheimer's disease. He was 62.

Kleinow had been living in Pleasant View, a nursing facility in Petaluma, Calif. Musician and record producer Michael Johnstone, writing in the online Steel Guitar Forum, announced his death.

Before becoming a country-rock musician and songwriter known as "Sneaky" Pete, Kleinow was a special effects artist and stop-motion animator for movies and TV. He was an animator for Art Clokey's 1957 NBC series The Gumby Showand, in fact, is credited with writing its theme song.

Also for Art Clokey Productions, he was an animator, animation supervisor and studio coordinator for the Davey and Goliath TV series for five seasons.

Kleinow also worked on The Outer Limits, as well as such classic cult movies as The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964).

He did stop-motion animation for the Pillsbury Doughboy and produced a stop-motion prologue and epilogue for 1987's The Puppetoon Movie, in which Gumby and Pokey learn from Arnie the dinosaur about the wonderful animated films of George Pal.

Born on August 20, 1934 in South Bend, Indiana, Kleinow worked since 1981 creating special effects for such movies as The Empire Strikes Back, Gremlins, The Right Stuff, The Terminator and Terminator 2.

In 1983, he shared a prime-time Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Special Visual Effects in connection with the mini-series The Winds of War.

Kleinow was the co-owner and partner (with Gene Warren Jr. and Leslie Huntly) of Fantasy II Film Effects in Burbank, California. He shared studio management and all facets of a full -service effects house.

He was involved in the production of numerous animated commercials for such clients as Kroger Stores, United Parcel Service, Mattel, Velveeta, Keebler and Purina. In more recent years, he animated music videos for Master P & Silkk, Z.Z. Top and Manhattan Transfer.

As a steel guitarist, Kleinow recorded with such performers as Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, Linda Ronstadt, the Steve Miller Band and Frank Zappa. He would play the pedal steel guitar with Bakersfield Sound-oriented combos and early country-rock groups at night.

He became friends with Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of the Byrds. After the two left the Byrds in 1968, Parsons and Hillman invited Kleinow to join their new band, the Flying Burrito Brothers. He became a professional musician for 13 years, leaving his career in visual effects in abeyance for some time.