Iwao Takamoto first learned animation skills during his teenage years, as a prisoner in the Manzanar internment camp, which held over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. At the end of the war, he joined the Disney animation studio where he became the key assistant to Milt Kahl. In 1961, Takamoto became an employee of Hanna-Barbera where he worked as an animator and character designer before assuming the role of Creative Producer, which allowed Takamoto to help shape the future of the company. Takamoto continued in that role at Hanna-Barbera until his retirement in 2001.
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