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Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor, and marine biology educator.
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Nov 27, 2018 · Stephen Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher who created a children’s show that ballooned into an unlikely cultural phenomenon, “ SpongeBob SquarePants ,” died on Monday at his home in...
Nov 27, 2018 · LOS ANGELES — Stephen Hillenburg, who used his dual loves of drawing and marine biology to spawn the absurd undersea world of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” has died, Nickelodeon announced Tuesday.
Nov 27, 2018 · Stephen Hillenburg, who created SpongeBob SquarePants, has died at 57. Inhabited by a good-natured pineapple-dwelling yellow sponge and a motley crew of sea creatures, the Nickelodeon...
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Stephen McDannell "Steve" Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 - November 26, 2018; aged 57) was the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. He was an American artist and teacher of marine science, and developed the idea for the series while working at the Ocean Institute in California.
The character of SpongeBob was based on an educational book he had illustrated titled The Intertidal Zone, and the character of Pearl was inspired by his time as a supervisor of whale watches at the Ocean Institute. He named Karen Plankton after his wife, Karen Hillenburg.
Hillenburg was a strong supporter of balancing on-model and off-model animation; he felt that overusing exaggerated animation made it lose its impact. According to Jay Lender, Hillenburg "had impeccable taste-one of the great lessons I learned from him was about not going to excess. If the paintings and off-model takes were going to have any punch, they needed to NOT be the norm."
He served as the showrunner during seasons 1 to 3 from 1999 until 2004. Paul Tibbitt took over the showrunner position in 2005 after the first movie was completed. Stephen Hillenburg was the original voice of Potty the Parrot before the role was passed onto Paul Tibbitt and Doug Lawrence.
In 1984, Stephen Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University with a bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on Marine Resources. He became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute—now known as the Ocean Institute—in Dana Point, California. Hillenburg's love for the sea and its creatures inspired him to create teaching tools for his students with characters that would later become the main characters of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Speaking about his years as a marine biology teacher, Hillenburg explained: "We taught tide-pool ecology, nautical history, diversity and adaptation. Working there, I saw how enamored kids are with undersea life, especially with tide-pool creatures."
In 1987, Stephen Hillenburg pursued a degree in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and earned his Master of Fine Arts in 1992. Also during the same year, he won an award for Best Animated Concept at the Ottawa International Animation Festival for his animated short "Wormholes," which was shown at several international animation festivals. From 1993 to 1996, he worked on the Nickelodeon animated series Rocko's Modern Life; during this time, he continued to fine-tune the aquatic series concept that he had begun in the 1980s. It would eventually be pitched to Nickelodeon as SpongeBoy Ahoy! and subsequently renamed SpongeBob SquarePants.
In 2007, a man named Troy Walker filed a failed lawsuit against Nickelodeon and Hillenburg for copyright infringement, demanding $1.6 billion. Walker claimed to have created a four-panel comic page called Bob Spongee, The Unemployed Sponge in 1991, but he did not copyright it until 2003, years after SpongeBob first aired. As noted by the court, Walker did not provide evidence for his declarations (instead providing details "from memory"). On the other hand, Nickelodeon "submitted extensive and undisputed evidence of [Hillenburg's] independent creation of SpongeBob SquarePants" in the late 1980s as an educational book about ocean animals. The case did not go to trial because the court quickly granted a summary judgment in Nickelodeon's favor.
In March 2017, Hillenburg revealed that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal illness that affects and causes the death of neurons that control the brain and the spinal cord. He tried to work on the series as best as he could from then on.
On November 26, 2018, Hillenburg passed away from ALS-related complications, at the age of 57. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered across the coast of California, close to where Bikini Bottom resides. The series has continued to go on since then, as Vincent Waller stated on Twitter.
•He was sometimes referred to as "Steven and Steve Hillenburg."
•Stephen Hillenburg drew inspiration from his own life while designing the main characters. Mr. Krabs was based on Hillenburg's former manager at a sea-themed restaurant. Pearl was inspired by his regular supervision of whale watches while working as a marine science educator. SpongeBob's design was influenced by Hillenburg's appearance as a young child, with "nerdy gapped teeth."
•Vincent Waller has confirmed on Twitter that Stephen Hillenburg was alive during the storyboard and writing phases of the episode "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout." However, he did not contribute to the episode's boarding or script.
•Additionally, a thank you and in memory of message for Stephen Hillenburg appears in the endings of "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run as a dedication to him.
•According to Vincent Waller, he was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall.
•According to "Everybody's Talking: The Voices Behind SpongeBob SquarePants," while Tom Kenny was practicing the voice of SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenburg read several of Squidward's lines since his voice actor, Rodger Bumpass, had not been cast yet.
1.^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/1544670041240506368
2.^ Veromi: Stephen Hillenburg.
3.^ 4.^ 5.^ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-hillenburg-dead-spongebob-squarepants-creator-dies-at-57-1164132
6.^ a b https://twitter.com/JayLender1/status/1150455295740485632
7.^ "Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants"
8.^ https://twitter.com/VincentWaller72/status/839237394159149056
Nov 27, 2018 · LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stephen Hillenburg, who used his dual loves of drawing and marine biology to spawn the absurd undersea world of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” has died, Nickelodeon announced Tuesday.
Nov 27, 2018 · Stephen Hillenburg died on Monday at 57. He created the wildly popular SpongeBob SquarePants for Nickelodeon, that appealed to kids and young adults alike.
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