AUSTRALIAN film producer Yoram Gross, who helped create and bring loveable animated characters Blinky Bill and Dot And The Kangaroo to the big screen, has died at the age of 88.

Guy Gross told Inside Film that his father died quietly on Monday.

He said he “was a wonderfully inappropriate jokester”.

Yoram was Australia’s leading animation producer and director, who was internationally acclaimed for his films and TV shows.

He received the prestigious Order of Australia in 1995 for his outstanding achievements and for his contribution to the Australian film industry.

Born in Krakow, Poland to a Jewish family, Yoram endured World War II under the Nazi regime. His family was on Oskar Schindler’s infamous list, but escaped.

According to his official website, he once said: “If you watch my films carefully you will see the history of my life.”

He studied music and musicology at Krakow University.

In 1950, Yoram moved from Poland to Israel, where he worked as a newsreel and documentary cameraman before becoming an independent film producer and director.

He now holds more than 80 international awards for his various films.

In 1968 Yoram, his wife Sandra and young family migrated to Australia, and live in Sydney. Here, they set up Yoram Gross Film Studios, and first produced film clips for “Bandstand”.

Yoram also wrote a book and film on making animated films titled “The First Animated Step” (1975), which have become education materials for those studying animation.

Yoram Gross Film Studio produced its first film called “Dot and the Kangaroo” in 1977.

The film won Best Children’s Film in Tehran and also won a Sammy Award for the Best Animated Film at the 1978 Australian Film and Television Awards.

Since then, Yoram has produced, directed and scripted a total of sixteen feature films including “Dot and the Kangaroo”, “Dot and the Bunny” (1982) and “Dot and Keeto”.

In 1992, Yoram released “Blinky Bill”, based upon the Australian children’s classic by Dorothy Wall.

He released his memoir titled ‘My Animated Life’ in 2011.