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Sidney Marcus (October 14, 1897 - January 31, 1979) was an American director, screenwriter, and animator during The Golden Age of Animation. He is best known for co-creating The Tasmanian Devil with Robert McKimson, as well as writing and directing cartoons for Warner Bros., Screen Gems, Walter Lantz and DePatie-Freleng.

Career
Marcus began his career in animation in 1916 as an animator for William Randolph Hearst’s International Film Service, where he animated the Krazy Kat series. In 1925, he joined Associated Animators in order to work on Mutt and Jeff animations for Short Film Syndicate. After less than two years, Marcus left the later studio for Fleischer Studios.

In 1930, Marcus joined Charles Mintz Productions as a director. Marcus co-created two series for Mintz with Dick Huemer and Arthur Davis, Toby the Pup (1930-1931), distributed by RKO Pictures, and Scrappy (1931-1939). For years after he was hired, Marcus became involved with the new series, Color Rhapsodies, which was a direct emulation of Disney’s popular Silly Symphonies. He was first working on the series as an animator but in 1938 he was promoted to the position of series’ director. After Mintz was taken over by Columbia, and renamed Screen Gems in 1939, Marcus stayed at the studio and continued working as a director. From 1944 to 1946, he was also the head writer for the Fox and Crow series.

After Screen Gems shut down in 1946, Marcus joined Warner Bros. Cartoons, working as a writer for Art Davis, after Lloyd Turner left the studio. He wrote Bye, Bye Bluebeard (1949) and A Ham in a Role (1949), the later started by Davis but finished by Robert McKimson. When Davis’ unit was dissolved in 1947, Marcus left as well.

In 1954, Marcus returned to Warner Bros as McKimson’s head writer, creating such eccentric cartoons as The Oily American (1954) Lighthouse Mouse (1955), The Hole Idea (1955), and Devil May Hare (1954), the later being the debut of the Tasmanian Devil. He left the studio again after the shutdown occurred. At the end of the 1950s, he was hired as a storyman of the Felix the Cat (1958-1961) series by Oriolo Productions.

From 1962 to 1966, he worked as a director for Walter Lantz Productions, headlining such cult classics as Greedy Gabby Gator (1963) and Half-Baked Alaska (1965). Marcus was also worked as a director for Krantz Films’ various shows based on Marvel Comics, such as Spider-Man, The Hulk and Sub-Mariner. Marcus ended his career at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises as a writer/director, working for the studio from 1970 until his death in 1979.