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Leo Dan Sullivan (c. 1940, Lockhart, Texas -- March 25, 2023)1 was an American animator, director, and writer widely recognized as a pioneer in Black animation. Over a career spanning more than fifty years,2 he worked for nearly every major animation studio in Hollywood and contributed to dozens of iconic television series. He served as a timing director on Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, the DIC Entertainment spinoff that ran from 1988 to 1990.
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Sullivan was born in Lockhart, Texas, around 1940 and relocated with his family to Los Angeles in 1952.2 He entered the animation industry as a teenager, beginning as an errand runner for animator Bob Clampett and soon advancing to animation cel polisher on Clampett's Beany and Cecil.1 It was during this period that he met Floyd Norman, who would become a lifelong creative partner. Norman would later be recognized as Disney's first Black animator.3 Sullivan's own career would follow a parallel path of breaking barriers in animation at a time when Black artists had few footholds in the industry.
In the 1960s Sullivan and Floyd Norman co-founded Vignette Films, later renamed Vignette Multimedia.1 The company focused on producing educational short films aimed at high school audiences, centering the lives and legacies of historic African American figures.1 In 1969 Sullivan produced the Bill Cosby special Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert for NBC,1 an early vehicle for what would become one of animation's most recognizable franchises.
His most enduring cultural contribution came in 1971, when he animated the iconic locomotive and opening title graphics for Soul Train, the landmark music and dance program.2 The sequence ran for decades and is among the most recognized animated title cards in American television history.
Sullivan went on to work as a timing director and animator for virtually every major Hollywood animation studio of the era, including Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., Filmation, DePatie-Freleng, DIC Entertainment, and Marvel Productions.4 His credits across those studios encompass a broad sweep of beloved series: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, SuperFriends, The Incredible Hulk, Flash Gordon, Pac-Man, My Little Pony, The Transformers, BraveStarr, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle, and Tiny Toon Adventures, among many others.4
In 1992 Sullivan received a Daytime Emmy Award for his work as a timing director on an animated series.5 The Emmy recognized a craft discipline that is rarely spotlighted publicly: timing directors coordinate the pacing of animation against dialogue and musical tracks, ensuring that performance and motion land on the precise frames the director intends.
Beyond his studio work, Sullivan taught digital and 2D animation at the Art Institute of California-Orange County.2 Together with his wife Ethelyn, he spent decades working to improve the representation of Black children in animated content. He co-founded AfroKids, described as a website and streaming service providing entertainment for the whole Black family,2 and launched Leo Sullivan Multimedia Inc. to house his independent projects.2 He also published a video game honoring the Tuskegee Airmen.4
Sullivan and Norman were both featured in the 2016 documentary Floyd Norman: An Animated Life,1 which documented Norman's pioneering career and the broader landscape of Black artists in Hollywood animation. Sullivan's artwork was displayed at the San Francisco Cartoon Museum and the Los Angeles African American Museum. Their collaborative work with Vignette Films was honored by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in both 1979 and 1991.4
Sullivan served on the crew of Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, the animated spinoff produced by DIC Entertainment that followed Slimer as the primary character with the Ghostbusters in a supporting role. The series aired from 1988 to 1990. His contribution fell in the timing direction capacity, the role for which he received his Emmy Award and which he performed across numerous DIC and Marvel Productions series throughout the late 1980s.
Leo D. Sullivan died on March 25, 2023, from heart failure at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.1 He was 82 years old. He was survived by his wife Ethelyn Sullivan, daughter Tina Coleman, and son Leo D. Sullivan Jr.1
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
The Hollywood Reporter, "Leo D. Sullivan, Pioneering Black Animator, Dies at 82" (March 29, 2023). https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/leo-sullivan-dead-animator-1235363671/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
Variety, "Leo D. Sullivan Dead: 'Flash Gordon' Animator Was 82" (2023). https://variety.com/2023/tv/people-news/leo-d-sullivan-dead-flash-gordon-1235575175/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
"Floyd Norman," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Norman ↩
Deadline, "Leo D. Sullivan Dies: Emmy-Winning Animation Artist Created 'Soul Train' Opening, Was 82" (April 2023). https://deadline.com/2023/04/leo-d-sullivan-dies-emmy-winning-animation-artist-created-soul-train-opening-82-obituary-1235319177/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Television Academy, "Leo D. Sullivan Emmy Awards and Nominations," accessed 2026-06-13. https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/leo-d-sullivan ↩
