Born: Preston Blair
Birthday: October 24, 1908
Location: Redlands, CA, U.S.
Nationality: American
Alma mater: Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute
Occupation: Animator, Director, Producer
Years active: 1930–1995
Died: April 19, 1995

Preston Erwin Blair was born on October 24, 1908 in Redlands California. As a student at Polytechnic High School, he and his brother Lee were encouraged by a teacher to pursue the arts. He enrolled in Pomona College, attended Otis Art Institute, and studied Illustration at Chouinard Art Institute. As a fine artist, Preston exhibited in the California Watercolor Society and the American Watercolor Society in New York, but with the onset of the Great Depression, he paid ten dollars a week to learn to animate while working at the Romer Gray Studio in the Spring of 1930.

When Romer Gray Studio failed to pay his salary, Blair moved on to Walter Lantz Productions. He’d change over to Charles Mintz’s Screen Gems studio for a time before finally getting on at the Walt Disney Animation Studios after several unsuccessful attempts.

At Disney’s, Preston was the first animator to animate Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice segment of Fantasia where Mickey wakes up after his dream, falls in the water & runs though it towards the broom as well as the Whirlpool scene. He also designed and animated the hippos for the hippo-alligator Dance of the Hours sequence.

He contributed to other Walt Disney features Pinocchio and Bambi, and the cartoon shorts The Whalers, Beach Picnic, and Sea Scouts along with his brother Lee and his sister-in-law Mary Blair.

After the Disney animators’ strike in 1941, Preston went to work for the Metro Goldwyn Mayer animation department in Tex Avery’s unit where he made his mark as animator of the titular female character “Red” in Red Hot Riding Hood. Blair continued to animate “Red” in Swing Shift Cinderella, Little Rural Riding Hood, Uncle Tom’s Cabana, and the Droopy cartoons The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild and Woolfy. He teamed with Avery animator Michael Lah to direct several Barney Bear shorts, but their unit was dissolved after only completing three shorts.

In 1948, Preston authored Animation, his first animation instruction book published through Walter Foster Publishing. Blair’s book is still considered one of the most popular book on animation to this day.

He moved to Westport, Connecticut to form Preston Blair Productions. For over 30 years he make animated commercials and industrial films for his brother Lee in New York and Zander’s Animation Parlor. He also produced educational films, and half-hour cartoons like the Flintstones for Hanna-Barbera before returning to California in 1984. Preston Blair remained in California until his death on April 19, 1995 in the city of Santa Cruz.