George Pal (born Gyorgy Pal Marczincsak; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer. He is best known for his classic Puppetoon replacement animation short films, as well as his association with the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres. Pal was nominated for Academy Awards (in the category Best Short Subject, Cartoons) in seven consecutive years (1942–1948). He received an honorary Oscar, for the development of novel animation methods and techniques, in 1944.