Jules Bass Obituary

Jules Bass was a director, producer, composer, lyricist, and author from the United States.

Bass was born on September 16, 1935, in Philadelphia, and attended New York University.  He worked at a New York advertising agency until 1960 and then co-founded a film production company in New York.

He became a member of ASCAP in 1963 and worked musically with Edward Thomas and James Polack. Bass went on to write children’s books after retiring from producing and filmmaking in 1987.

Bass was best known for his long-running creative collaboration with director Arthur Rankin Jr., who died in 2014 at the age of 89.

The two were known for their laborious cel-animated, stop-motion films that took long periods to turn into full-length features under their banner Rankin/Bass Productions.

The syndicated television series “The New Adventures of Pinocchio,” which premiered in 1960, was Bass and Rankin’s first production.

Jules Bass died on October 25, 2022, in Rye, New York, of age-related illnesses. He was 87.