Dean Elliott (1925–1999) was an American television and film composer. Educated at the University of Wisconsin, Elliot's first composing work was for Four Star Revue an early comedy program which debuted in 1950. From here, he went on to compose for various cartoon series, most prominently Mr. Magoo in the 1950s, but later he struck an alliance with master Animation director Chuck Jones and went on to compose the scores for many of his Tom and Jerry cartoons between 1965 and 1967. He also composed a few film scores, including College Confidential (1960), Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) and The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966).

In 1962, Elliott released an LP on Capitol Records entitled Zounds! What Sounds!, credited to "Dean Elliott and His Swinging Big, Big Band." The LP header read "Music and Sound Effects in a Stereo Spectacular!" and captured the basic goals, sound, and feel of the album as a sonic Spectacular with special effects. The LP was made with the assistance of Phil Kaye, a sound effects virtuoso who worked with Elliott on the Tom and Jerry cartoons. This set is now firmly ensconced in the pantheon of "Space Age Pop" or Lounge classics.

After this Elliott went on to compose for a number of Dr. Seuss' cartoon's before joining DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1975 to commence work on their Return to the Planet of the Apes series for which he provided incidental music. He also wrote all the music for the cult animated New Fantastic Four series in 1978 before moving to Warner Brothers with Chuck Jones where he provided all the music for Jones' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie in 1979, and later for Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century and Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over in 1980, the latter of which was nominated for an Emmy. He also was musical director for Ruby-Spears Productions from 1978–1987, where he was contracted to contribute music for the likes of such shows as Fangface, Plastic Man, Heathcliff, Saturday Supercade, and Alvin and the Chipmunks series.

In 1980, he again teamed up with Chuck Jones to score Jones' television special (for WB!) Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over, in which the "Merrie Melodies" short "Soup or Sonic" (now in syndication) was derived. His musical score has distinctive Elliott themes, similar to his previous work in the 1960s for Tom and Jerry cartoons during the Chuck Jones Productions era, however in this cartoon he employed Milt Franklyn-esque overtones with a little William Lava-ish influence.

His music has re-appeared in various productions including: The Bugs n' Daffy Show, That's Warner Bros!, Merrie Melodies: Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends, and The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show.

He died from Alzheimer's disease in 1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Elliott