Eugene Poddany was born to Czech parents in Hardin, China on December 30, 1919. His family arrived in the US in 1923. He began working in music for animated cartoons in the early 1950's at Warner Bros., followed by work at the John Sutherland and Walter Lantz studios, and with Chuck Jones at MGM on How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Tom & Jerry cartoons. He died March 10, 1984 in an attempted murder/suicide in which a retired surgeon was seriously injured.