Pixar Studios animator Bud Luckey, designer of Toy Story's Woody, dies aged 83

February 27, 2018 On Saturday, William Luckey, also known as, US animator who designed Pixar Animation Studios'  character , died in a hospital in Newton, Connecticut; his son Andy Luckey announced the death via a Facebook post. Bud Luckey was 83 years old.

Luckey was born in, Montana on July 28, 1934. He was known for animating counting songs for Sesame Street in collaboration with music of and lyrics by Donald Hadley. In 1992, Luckey joined Pixar. "He was the fifth animator hired here at Pixar", Pixar's animating chief John Lasseter once noted.

He designed Sheriff Woody for Pixar's first feature film  which was released in 1995. He also voiced Rick Dicker in Pixar's 2004 movie ' and Chuckles the Clown in 2010's '. Luckey had also designed characters for other Pixar movies including ', ' and . He also voiced, the donkey, in 2011's Disney movie .

In 2004, Bud Luckey was nominated for an for , a short film he wrote, directed, narrated, and sang. He received the for that five-minute short. Luckey retired as an animator in 2008, but kept working as a voice artist until 2014.

Pixar's official Twitter handle tweeted: "Thank you, Bud Luckey, to infinity and beyond. (July 28, 1934 – February 24, 2018)". , director of Toy Story 3 and , tweeted, "So sad to hear that Bud Luckey passed away today. He voiced Chuckles in Toy Story 3, but that was the least of his many amazing accomplishments. A tweet is not sufficient to sing his praises."