Courage the Cowardly Dog

Dilworth created the Courage animated short with his studio, Stretch Films, for Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon! showcase, which was executive produced by Hanna-Barbera.

Dilworth graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1985.

He became an art director and founded his own animation studio, Stretch Films, in 1991, and incorporated in 1994.

The character of Courage grew out of an earlier character of Dilworth's called Hamilton, who appeared in Smart Talk with Raisin, a pilot Dilworth created for MTV.

The animated short was shown as one of the episodes of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons in 1996, a Hanna-Barbera Cartoons innovation by then-president Fred Seibert.

The short served as a de facto pilot for the future series.