bass was born in philadelphia. educated at new york university, he first worked at an advertising agency in new york until the early 1960s, when he founded the film production company videocraft international (now called rankin/bass) with his partner arthur rankin, jr. he is known for his collaborations with arthur rankin, jr., co-directing and producing a wide array of stop motion animated features and cartoons, notably the hit cartoon thundercats (1985-1989). he composed the score for some of these films, collaborating with maury laws. bass also served as lyricist for several songs. he has also solo directed some rankin/bass features, such as "mad monster party" (1967) and "the daydreamer" (1966).