Born: Volodymyr Peter Tytla
Birthday: October 25, 1904
Location: Yonkers, NY, U.S.
Alma mater: New York Evening School of Industrial Design
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1920-1968
Died: December 30, 1968

9 year old Bill Tytla, saw Winsor McCay’s animated vaudeville act Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914. It left an indelible impression on his young mind.

Later, Bill dropped out of high school, though he continued to attend the New York Evening School of Industrial Design. By the age of 16, He was employed at the Paramount animation studio lettering title cards for movies in 1920 earning the nickname, “Tytla the Titler.”

Tytla’s first animation jobs were for the Mutt and Jeff short films at the studio of Raoul Barré and the Joy and Bloom Phable for John Terry’s studio. John Terry’s brother Paul, soon hired Bill to work at Terrytoons on the Aesop’s Fables cartoons.

Within three years, Tytla resumed his studies at the Art Students League of New York. Pushing his art further, he travelled to Europe In 1929 to study painting in Paris. Bill also studied sculpture during his stay in France.

Upon his return to the United States, Paul Terry immediately rehired Bill at Terrytoons. There, Tytla met and befriended animator Art Babbitt, who would eventually leave to work for Walt Disney for the exciting assignments and better working conditions. After two years of Babbitt’s enticements, Bill Tytla also flew to Hollywood in 1934 to accept a job at Disney despite the lower pay than he’d been earning at Terrytoons.

The quality of Bill’s early work on shorts was recognized by Walt Disney who rapidly increased Tytla’s duties and pay. He was one of the first animators Walt assigned to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and over the course of his Disney career, his animation is featured in Pinocchio, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Night on Bald Mountain segments of Fantasia, and Dumbo.

The floundering global economy caused by the war in Europe, halved Disney revenues, leading to layoffs and a loss of raises, and bonuses. Over 300 Disney studio employees went on strike, demanding union representation, and Bill Tytla joined the strike line.

Bill returned to the studio after the strike ended and worked for a time on films like Saludos Amigos and Victory Through Air Power, but the memories of the acrimonious strike carried over into every interaction. Grudges over those memories, his wife’s long term illness, and tensions over the war led Tytla to resign from the Disney studio in 1943.

After leaving the Disney studio Tytla returned to Terrytoons as a director for time. Bill soon left Terrytoons but would continue to act as a director for the rest of his animation career at studios like Famous Studios, Tempo Productions, Transfilm Inc., Harvey Films, Warner Bros., and Hanna-Barbera.

He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1998.