# Tuck Tucker

William Osborne "Tuck" Tucker III (August 20, 1961 – December 22, 2020) was an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter, and director who worked on Hey Arnold! and SpongeBob SquarePants. He directed Hey Arnold!: The Movie in 2002.

## Early life and education

Tucker was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. He attended Virginia Episcopal School and Virginia Commonwealth University. He would spend most of his time at home watching cartoons with his father and cites these experiences as being very special to him. He married Connie Dyste in 1990 and had one daughter, Gina Tucker. The family resided in La Cañada Flintridge. Connie Tucker died of a rare cancer in 2015 and Tucker moved home to Virginia to teach art to students at Longwood University.

## Career

While in animation class, his instructor moved him to Los Angeles after graduation for work at Disney to work on films like The Little Mermaid as his first animation job. Afterwards, he left to work on shows like The Simpsons from Fox, and then going to Nickelodeon while switching from storyboard work on Rugrats and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters to directing on Hey Arnold!. After that, he moved on to SpongeBob SquarePants. He went from being a storyboard artist on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie to being a writer and storyboard director, and then a supervising storyboard director. During his time on SpongeBob, he won the 38th Annual Annie Award in 2011 for Best Music in a Television Production alongside Jeremy Wakefield, Sage Guyton, and Nick Carr. Afterwards, he went to direct on The Fairly OddParents during its ninth season. In January 2015, Tucker began teaching graphic and animation design at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

## Death

Tucker died in Lynchburg on December 22, 2020, at age 59. His cause of death was not publicly disclosed.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1987 | Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night | Animation Breakdown Artist |
| 1988 | BraveStarr: The Movie | Assistant Animator |
| 1989 | Back to Neverland | Assistant Animator (uncredited) |
| 1989 | The Little Mermaid | Breakdown/Inbetween Artist |
| 1990 | Flower Planet | Concept Developer & Animator |
| 1992 | Tom and Jerry: The Movie | Layout Artist (uncredited) |
| 1996 | "Arnold" | Layout Artist, Storyboard Artist, & Supervising Director |
| 1999 | Curbside | Storyboard Artist |
| 2002 | Hey Arnold!: The Movie | Director |
| 2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Animator |
| 2004 | Party Wagon | Character Designer, Prop Designer, Additional Sheet Timer, Storyboard Artist, & Director |
| 2004 | Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas | Storyboard Artist |
| 2004 | The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour | Creative Consultant |
| 2004 | Jimmy Neutron: Win, Lose and Kaboom! | Creative Consultant |
| 2004 | The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | Production Storyboard Artist |
| 2006 | The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide! | Creative Consultant |
| 2006 | The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators! | Creative Consultant |
| 2022 | The Bob's Burgers Movie | Storyboard revisionist (posthumous release) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1987–1988 | BraveStarr | Assistant Animator |
| 1988–1989 | ALF Tales | Storyboard Clean-Up (Season 1) |
| 1988–1989 | ALF: The Animated Series | Storyboard Clean-Up (Season 2) |
| 1990–1993; 1995 | The Simpsons | Character Layout Artist (1990-1993) Storyboard Artist ("Dancin' Homer") Animation Timer ("Principal Charming") Background Layout Artist ("A Star Is Burns") |
| 1991; 1994–1995 | Rugrats | Character Layout Artist ("Tommy's First Birthday," "Barbecue Story/Waiter, There's a Baby in My Soup," and "Baby Commercial/Little Dude") Storyboard Artist (1994–1995) Assistant Director (1994) |
| 1992–1993 | The Ren and Stimpy Show | Layout Artist |
| 1993 | 2 Stupid Dogs | Storyboard Artist |
| 1994–1995 | Aaahh!!! Real Monsters | Storyboard Artist |
| 1994–1996 | Duckman | Storyboard Artist |
| 1996–2004 | Hey Arnold! | Creative Director Supervising Director (1999–2004) Storyboard Director (1996–1999) Storyboard Artist ("24 Hours to Live") Storyboard Supervisor ("The Journal") Sheet Timer (1997) Director (1996–1998; 2001) |
| 1997 | What a Cartoon! | Layout Artist ("Tales of Worm Paranoia") |
| 1998 | Oh Yeah! Cartoons | Storyboard Artist ("Planet Kate") |
| 2002–2006 | The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | Creative Consultant Storyboard Artist (2003) |
| 2005 | Camp Lazlo | Writer & Storyboard Artist |
| 2005-2006 | Family Guy | Storyboard Artist ("PTV") Assistant Director ("Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story") |
| 2005–2006 | Drawn Together | Director |
| 2006–2014 | SpongeBob SquarePants | Writer & Storyboard Director (2006–2007) Supervising Storyboard Director (2007–2014) Songwriter ("The Inmates of Summer" and "Pest of the West") Special Thanks ("Truth or Square") |
| 2006 | Squirrel Boy | Storyboard Artist |
| 2008 | The Mighty B! | Storyboard Revisionist |
| 2013–2014 | The Fairly OddParents | Director (Season 9) |
| 2013–2014 | Clarence | Sheet Timer ("Pretty Great Day with a Girl") Storyboard Supervisor Storyboard Revision Supervisor ("Belson's Sleepover") |
| 2015 | All Hail King Julien | Storyboard Artist ("The Really Really Big Lie") |