Born: Wolfgang Reitherman
Birthday: June 26, 1909
Location: Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Alma mater: Chouinard Art Institute
Occupation: Animator, Director, Producer
Years active: 1933-1981
Died: May 22, 1985

Though born in Germany, Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman was raised in Sierra Madre, California. Driven by a love for airplanes and flying, he studied aviation engineering at Pasadena Junior College and briefly took a job at as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft. However, in 1931 Woolie decided to become an artist instead and attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles to study watercolor.

Reitherman’s artwork impressed Philip L. Dike, a drawing and painting instructor at the school who also taught classes at the Walt Disney Studio. Dike showed Woolie’s paintings to Walt who offered Reitherman a job as an animator, not a watercolorist.

Joining the studio’s animation department in 1933, his first project was working on the Silly Symphonies short, Funny Little Bunnies. His other shorts included The Band Concert, Music Land, and Elmer Elephant.

Once Disney began producing feature films, Woolie animated the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Monstro in Pinocchio, the dinosaur’s fight in the Rite of Spring segment of Fantasia, and several scenes of Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo.

During World War II, Reitherman left the Disney studios in 1942 to joined the United States Army Air Forces as a pilot serving in Africa, China, India, and the South Pacific. By the time he was discharged in February 1946 after the war’s end, he’d become an Ace, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, and been promoted to Major.

Woolie rejoined the Disney studio in April 1947, where he animated the characters of Mr. Winky, Brom Bones, Gunpowder, and the Headless Horseman chase scene in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. He was the directing animator for Jaq and Gus’ scene taking the key up the stairs in Cinderella, the White Rabbit and the Dodo for Alice in Wonderland, Captain Hook’s attempt to escape the crocodile on Peter Pan, and the dog fight sequences in Lady and the Tramp.

He was the sequence director of the battle between Prince Phillip and Maleficent’s dragon in Sleeping Beauty, and he directed the “Twilight Bark” sequence of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. It was Disney’s typical practice to assign several directors over an animated feature, but in 1963, Woolie became the first sole director of an entire animated feature; The Sword in the Stone.

Walt Disney’s death from lung cancer in 1966 ushered in an uncertain period at the studio. Reitherman emerged as a strong creative leader for Walt Disney Productions’ feature animated films, unifying the various egos and talents, and focusing on profitability by producing only family-friendly projects.

Even while serving the studio as a whole, he still continued to direct animated features such as The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, and The Rescuers. Woolie also directed several animated shorts like Goliath II and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. His Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day short earned an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1969.

Beginning with The Jungle Book, Reitherman oversaw the controversial practice of reusing or “recycling” animated scenes from earlier animated films. Ostensibly, to keep production costs down, the method sharply divided opinions among the studio’s animators.

After The Rescuers, Reitherman was tapped to co-direct The Fox and the Hound with Art Stevens, but was taken off the project over creative differences in 1979. He moved on to work on several projects that never came to completion; Catfish Bend, Musicana (a Fantasia (sequel), and an adaptation of the children’s novel The Little Broomstick in 1980. The following year, after nearly 50 years with the studio, Woolie Reitherman retired.

Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1989.