Born in Williams, Arizona, Thomas Archer Ray (August 2, 1919 – April 6, 2010) was an American animator who got his start at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937. Over the first two decades of his career, he was a junior animator who received no screen credit until “Destination Earth” in 1956. In 1958, he became a master animator in the Robert McKimson unit before transferring to the Chuck Jones unit, where he co-directed “Adventures of the Road-Runner” and several “Bugs Bunny Show” episodes. He followed Jones to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1963 where he directed two “Tom and Jerry” compilation shorts, “Matinee Mouse” in 1966 and “Shutter Bugged Cat” in 1967.

Spanning over seven decades, Ray’s career is filled with notable credits including animation on “Pink Panther” shorts, Chuck Jones TV Specials, numerous Filmation and Hanna Barbera series, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Ray continued working through the 1980’s and 1990’s, directing many episodes of various television series including “Transformers” and “Garfield and Friends.” He eventually retired from animation in Los Angeles in 1998, only to found his own animation studio, Tomstone Animation, on the East Coast. First located in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Ray moved his studio to Virginia Beach, Virginia just before he died on April 6, 2010 at the age of 90.

Ray's wife, Brenda Ellen Ray, continues to live in Virginia Beach, while his son, Thomas G. "Greg" Ray, and daughter, Donna Mouliot, followed him into the animation business.