Milestones

DIED. WALTER LANTZ, 93, animator; in Burbank, California. "Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha! Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha!" The maniacal chortle of Lantz's Woody Woodpecker is probably the most universally recognized laugh since Santa Claus first ho-ho-hoed -- an enduring, if somewhat annoying, piece of Americana. Lantz, known more for his craftsmanship than his originality, ran his own animation studio by the late 1920s, where he produced the first Technicolor cartoon and a host of characters like Andy Panda and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. None came close to the success of Woody Woodpecker, who first hit the screen in 1940. Lantz reveled in the probably apocryphal tale of a woodpecker who disturbed his honeymoon but inspired his best-known creation. (Mrs. Lantz was Woody's voice for most of his career.)