Robert Clampett, Jr. was introduced to the family business when he had to turn over his bedroom every morning to the animation department during the making of the Beany and Cecil pilot. Rob later voiced the characters Buffalo Billy and the baseball playing octopus Lil’ Homer.
Rob was later trained by his dad and became a principal puppeteer for Bob Clampett Productions on live performances and local, regional and national commercials for companies including, Santa Anita Racetrack, California Avocado Board and Underwood Deviled Ham.
Since 1984 Rob has managed the Bob Clampett Collection and has provided images of the artwork and film clips for books and documentaries, and also curated film screenings and exhibitions. Some of these include “The Museum of the Moving Image” in Queens, New York and Warner Bros. flagship Studio Store on 5th Avenue in New York City where Rob curated three themed exhibits of Warner cartoon art in their gallery space. There was also an exhibit and screenings at the El instituto de Estudios Americanos in Barcelona Spain and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney. The Smithsonian Institution included the original Beany and Cecil puppets and the earliest prop Leakin’ Lena in a traveling exhibition of Children’s Television. Rob spoke and screened cartoons at the Museum of American History in Washington D.C. as part of this exhibition.
Rob also served as the Creative Consultant on the 1988 reboot of Beany and Cecil on the ABC TV Network.
In the early 1990’s Rob co-wrote and directed a series of interstitals titled, “Shut Up and Drive” for the USA Network show Up All Night.
In the mid 1990’s Rob produced and did design work for the videogames Dinotopia and Fairytale Adventure II.
In the late 1990’s Rob successfully pitched the series Jay Jay the Jet Plane to Porchlight Entertainment, supervised the production of interstitials of a motion capture articulated Groundhog character for the Fox Network during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and the Vanna White character named Cyber Lucy for a children’s series reboot of Wheel of Fortune on CBS.
Rob produced both DVD volumes of Beany and Cecil: The Special Edition, released in 2000 and 2009 which were loving tributes to the Beany and Cecil characters and the legacy of their creator, Bob Clampett.
Since the early 2000’s, Rob has shot and edited video in the digital medium for a variety of assignments. These have included, musical performances, awards shows and even on-scene crime recreations in which he later testified at trial.
Rob is presently directing and editing a documentary about the Duke Ellington 1941 play Jump For Joy.
Rob has also shot extensive interviews with Bob Clampett’s co-workers, celebrity fans, family and close friends for a future docu and book project. Rob resides in Los Angeles and is married with two grown sons.