Claim: William Hanna befriended Joseph Barbera.

William Denby `` Bill '' Hanna -LRB- July 14 , 1910 -- March 22 , 2001 -RRB- was an American animator , director , producer , voice actor , and cartoon artist , whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century .   After working odd jobs in the first months of the Depression , Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 . During the 1930s , Hanna steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids . In 1937 , while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -LRB- MGM -RRB- , Hanna met Joseph Barbera . The two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry and live action/animated hybrid films . In 1957 , they co-founded Hanna-Barbera , which became the most successful television animation studio in the business , producing programs such as The Flintstones , The Huckleberry Hound Show , The Jetsons , Scooby-Doo , The Smurfs , and Yogi Bear . In 1967 , Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $ 12 million , but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991 . At that time , the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System , which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996 ; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors .   Hanna and Barbera won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards . Their cartoons have become cultural icons , and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films , books , and toys . Hanna-Barbera 's shows had a worldwide audience of over 300 million people in their 1960s heyday , and have been translated into more than 28 languages .