Bob Baker
Bob Baker was a puppeteer who operated a popular marionette theater in his native Los Angeles for more than 50 years and also worked on several feature films and television productions.
Born in 1924, Baker was first captivated by puppetry when he attended a puppet show at age 6. He began taking puppetry lessons soon afterward, and he gave his first professional performance when he was just 8.
Bob Baker was a puppeteer who operated a popular marionette theater in his native Los Angeles for more than 50 years and also worked on several feature films and television productions.
Born in 1924, Baker was first captivated by puppetry when he attended a puppet show at age 6. He began taking puppetry lessons soon afterward, and he gave his first professional performance when he was just 8.
He continued to develop his skills as he grew up, and during the Depression, as a student at Hollywood High School, he performed with the WPA and sold his intricate handmade marionettes to department stores. Upon graduation, he went to work for animator and filmmaker George Pal, contributing his expertise to stop-motion productions, and within a year, Pal made him lead animator of Puppetoons, a company contracted to Paramount Studios.
In the years that followed, he also worked as an animation advisor for Disney Studios and other entertainment entities. In addition, he and his business partner, Alton Wood, designed and built puppets for movies, TV series, commercials and other productions.
His work appeared in commercials for such companies as Bob's Big Boy, McDonald's and Burger King; such TV programs as Hawaiian Eye, Star Trek, The Wild, Wild West and Land of the Giants; and such movies as A Star Is Born, G.I. Blues, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
He opened his pupper theater near downtown L.A. in 1962 and built it into one of the city's most beloved destinations for families and school groups. The theater was also home to the Academy of Puppetry and Allied Arts, where he taught high school students the art of puppetry. The theater was named a historic-cultural landmark by the Los Angeles City Council in 2009.
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater was the subject of this documentary short by J. Emilio Flores in 2013.
A longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Television Academy, Baker he served as a governor of the latter's animation peer group.
Baker died November 28, 2014, in Los Angeles. He was 90.
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