Irven LeRoy Spence was an Americananimator. He is best known for his work on MGM'sTom and Jerry animated shorts. Spence has been credited variously as Irven Spence, Irvin Spence, and Irv Spence. Spence interest in drawing began in his youth, when he provided cartoons for his high school newspaper as an animator in Tex Avery's animation unit. There, he brought an eccentric drawing/animation style to already irreverent animated films. He later moved to Metro Goldwyn Mayer's cartoon department in 1938, starting with the Captain and the Kids cartoons, some of which were directed by Bill Hanna and Friz Freleng. Spence animated for Milt Gross, Hugh Harman, and for the Bill Hanna/Joe Barbera unit. Spence also animated Tex Avery's first four cartoons following Avery's arrival at the studio in 1942, before moving over to the Hanna/Barbera unit again. Though working for previous cartoons uncredited, Spence's first Tom and Jerry credit was on The Yankee Doodle Mouse, which received an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Spence left MGM in August 1956 for Animation, Inc., a commercial production studio, before joining his former bosses at Hanna-Barbera Productionsseven years later. He provided animation for many animated television series, including Jonny Quest, Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles, and The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. In addition to his work for Hanna-Barbera, Spence also worked for Chuck Jones, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and Ralph Bakshi. Spence's last animation credit was on . Spence also conducted a workshop for animators under the auspices of the Association of Motion Picture and TV Producers and Cartoonists Local 839. He received the 1986 Winsor McCay Award from the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, for his lifetime contributions to the field of animation. Spence married Alice Amelia Hossfeld in a Latter Day Saints ceremony on January 15, 1931. He was managing a Standard Oil station in Compton, California at the time. They had one daughter. Alice died in 1984 and Spence remarried. Spence died of a heart attack on September 21, 1995, in Dallas, Texas.
