He also served on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors representing short films and animation from 1988 to 2001.
[2] In either 1931 or 1934 (sources differ on the date), he began working in animation at the Van Beuren Studio in New York.
"[3] While at Van Beuren, he worked on Toonerville Trolley (1936), The Parrotville Fire Department (1934) and two animated Amos 'n' Andy shorts, The Rasslin' Match (1934) and The Lion Tamer (1934).
[3] When Van Beuren closed its doors in 1935 (or 1936), Littlejohn moved to Los Angeles, completed a degree in aeronautical engineering, and worked for a time at Lockheed.
[3] Littlejohn was one of the few people (alongside Jack Zander) who worked on the two unrelated Tom and Jerry series at both Van Beuren and MGM.
[4] In 1938, Littlejohn worked on Milt Gross' Jitterbug Follies and was responsible for animating the two dancing penguins.
"[2] Sorrell and Littlejohn began organizing animation workers, and MGM, Walter Lantz and George Pal quickly recognized the union.
His animated commercial for Uniroyal's "Tiger Paws" tires remains a popular and often-played piece.
His most popular scenes from the Peanuts specials and films included the one in A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) where Snoopy dances on the piano while Schroeder plays a jazz riff, the Snoopy-Lucy prizefight in Snoopy Come Home (1972) and the Snoopy-Red Baron air battle in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966).
[3] In 1962, Littlejohn was the principal animator on the Hubleys' Oscar-winning short The Hole, where two New York construction workers (one voiced by jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie) use improvised dialogue to debate the possibility of nuclear war.
At the after-party, Gillespie told Littlejohn "Man, I'm glad you did that section yourself, because I can't dance!
"[2] Littlejohn also worked with the Hubleys in 1977 on A Doonesbury Special, which won a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar.
Littlejohn did initial test animation of Zonker Harris putting flowers in the muzzles of National Guardsmen's rifles.
In his later years, Littlejohn also worked on several other feature films, including The Phantom Tollbooth (1970), Watership Down (1978), Heavy Metal (1981), R.O.
[4][8] In 1957, he joined with Ward Kimball and Les Goldman in founding ASIFA-Hollywood,[5][8] a non-profit organization formed to promote and preserve the art of film animation.
In 1984, Littlejohn and his wife, Fini, helped organize the Olympiad of Animation for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival.
[10][11] From 1988 to 2001, Littlejohn was also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors representing short films and animation.
[4][14] In October 1981, ASIFA presented Littlejohn with a special Annie Award, "honoring his 50 years as an animator.