Friz Freleng so popular that United Artists, distributors of "The Pink Panther", had Freleng produce a short cartoon starring the character, "The Pink Phink" (1964). After "The Pink Phink" won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), Freleng and DePatie responded by producing a whole series of Pink Panther cartoons. Other original cartoon series, among them "The Inspector", "The Ant and the Aardvark", "The Dogfather", "Roland and Rattfink" and "Crazylegs Crane", soon followed. In 1969, "The Pink Panther Show", a Saturday morning anthology program featuring DePatie–Freleng cartoons, debuted on NBC. "The Pink Panther" and the other original DePatie–Freleng series would
The Ant and the Aardvark The Ant and the Aardvark The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971. The cartoon follows attempts of a blue aardvark named Aardvark (voiced by John Byner, impersonating comedian Jackie Mason), to catch and eat a red ant named Charlie (also voiced by John Byner, but impersonating Dean Martin), usually doing so by inhaling with a loud vacuum cleaner sound. The character is essentially unnamed; in the episode "Rough Brunch", he claims his name is simply "Aardvark." Charlie Ant gives his nemesis