Wolfgang Reitherman: Animator to Director

Like all Disney animators, Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, always liked to draw. But unlike Disney animators, Reitherman initially was reluctant to work at Disney. He had heard that every animator at the studio had to draw the same character all the time. Thankfully, he joined Disney anyway…and did some great work!

Born in Munich, Germany on June 26th, 1909, Woolie Reitherman relocated with his family to America when he was a kid. He went to Pasadena Junior College and briefly worked as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft before graduating from Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles. 

Wolfgang Reitherman started at Disney in 1933. After working on several shorts, including the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Band Concert (1935), he got his first major assignment as supervising animator of the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was a very challenging assignment, because he had to keep the face of the mirror in the exact same position for its entire appearance in the film. Four or five tries later, he finally came up with the final design for the film. Next he animated Monstro the Whale in Pinocchio (1940), the Dinosaur Fight Sequence in Fantasia (1940) and Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo (1941). In the 1950s he animated Tick-Tock the Crocodile in Peter Pan (1953) and Tramp in Lady and the Tramp (1955). The same year as “Lady and the Tramp,” he was officially promoted to director. 

His first directing assignment was a short called The Goofy Success Story (1955). He directed two other shorts after that called The Truth About Mother Goose (1957) and Aquamania (1961). The same year as “Aquamania,” he directed his first movie for the studio, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, co-directing the film with Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton Luske. Next he directed The Sword in the Stone (1963). His two older sons, Richard and Robert Reitherman shared the voice-over role of Wart/King Arthur with Rickie Sorensen in the film. 

He later cast his youngest son, Bruce, as the voice of Christopher Robin in the very first “Winnie the Pooh,” short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) and later as Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967). His direction of the second “Winnie the Pooh,” short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons. Reitherman was also a huge fan of frequent Disney voice-over artist, Sterling Holloway, whom he directed on “Winnie the Pooh,” “The Jungle Book,” and “The Aristocats.” 

Besides all the films he directed with his sons, Woolie Reitherman also directed The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and The Rescuers (1977), which he co-directed with Art Stevens and fellow “Nine Old Men,” member John Lounsbery. Reitherman was also an innovator, with the creative idea of reusing animation from earlier films produced at the studio. In “Robin Hood,” there is a moment where the Houndog Blacksmith in Nottingham asks Maiden Marian for a dance. If you look closely at the scene, you notice that as the Blacksmith is escorting Marian to the dance floor the movements resemble that of Dopey escorting Snow White to dance when the dwarfs celebrate Snow White’s visit to their house in “Snow White.” In “The Rescuers,” the scene where Penny makes an escape attempt from Madame Medusa, the movements resemble that of Mowgli escaping Baloo in “The Jungle Book.” 

Woolie Reitherman’s final contribution to the studio was co-producing The Fox and the Hound (1981) again with Art Stevens and Walt Disney’s son-in-law, Ron Miller. He passed away in an unfortunate car accident on May 22nd, 1985, at the age of 75.

In addition to being a close friend, Wolfgang Reitherman was also a huge fan of Walt Disney and deeply respected him as an individual. He appreciated the fact the Walt was imaginative and creative, but at the same time, he was also very complex and career-driven. And when Walt passed away, no one was more confident that Disney animation could live on than Reitherman himself. He was determined to keep the team of animators together and did the very best he could do as a directing animator. While he didn’t work on a lot of projects for Disney other than the movies, he always managed to “keep flying through the air,” as he stayed true to heart of Disney Animation. 

Dean Jones: The Love Bug Pilot 

Dean Carroll Jones was born in Decatur, Alabama on January 25th, 1931. He attended River Side High School where he hosted his own radio show, Dean Jones Sings. He also served in the United States Navy during the Korean War and after he was discharged, worked at the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It was there that Jones developed an interest in acting. He went to Asbury University as a college student in Wilmore near Lexington, Kentucky in 1953, though he did not graduate from the university. However, despite neither graduating nor receiving any formal training as an actor, he was fortunate enough to land bit roles in movies and television including Jailhouse Rock (1957) starring Elvis Presley and Imitation General (1958) with Red Buttons. And in 1960 he landed his first Broadway play at the age of 29, opposite Jane Fonda in There Was a Little Girl.

Two years later, Jones landed the title role of Ensign O’Toole in the NBC sit-com of the same name. The show caught the attention of Walt Disney because it happened to compete with ABC’s Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1961-1969). After having seen the show, and seeing him in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), the movie version of Jones’ Broadway role, Walt Disney signed him. Under contract from 1965 to 1977, Jones made his Disney debut in That Darn Cat! (1965) opposite Disney child star Hayley Mills who made her final Disney appearance in the film. 

Next, he made his first appearance with frequent co-star Suzanne Pleshette in The Ugly Dachshund (1966). After that, Monkey’s, Go Home! (1967) co-starring Maurice Chevalier and Yvette Mimieux. 1968 turned out to be Dean Jones’ busiest year throughout his time at the Walt Disney Studios, because it was the year he made the films: Blackbeard’s Ghost, which would be his first reunion with Suzanne Pleshette, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, with Kurt Russell, and he narrated the television special The Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show. 1968 would also be the year Dean Jones starred in what is arguably his most popular Disney film, The Love Bug. After “Love Bug,” Jones made The Million Dollar Duck (1971) which reunited him with “Love Bug,” co-star Joe Flynn. The following year, he made Snowball Express (1972) and four years later, The Shaggy D.A. (1976) which was his third pairing with Suzanne Pleshette. Dean Jones’ final Disney film was the third in the Disney studios series of “Herbie, the Love Bug” films, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977). Dean Jones also appeared in the short-lived Disney sit-com Herbie, The Love Bug (1982).

Besides making many beloved Disney films, in the later years of his career Dean Jones starred in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) with friend/fellow Disney Legend Angela Lansbury. A born again Christian, he created a one-man show on Broadway entitled St. John in Exile, which at one point was filmed live, in 1986. Jones also took on the role of the evil Dr. Herman Varnick in Beethoven (1992) which was one of the very few times in his career where he portrayed a villain. The film spawned a short-lived animated series of the same name where Jones provided the voice of the George Newton, the patriarch of the Newton family who adopt Beethoven as one of their own. (George Newton was played by Charles Grodin in the movie.) He also made bit appearances in Disney’s remakes of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995), The Love Bug (1997) and That Darn Cat! (1997).

Dean Jones passed away due to Parkinson’s disease at the age of 84 on September 1st, 2015. He played a great deal of nice guys on Television, Broadway, and Film, and he will forever be remembered as the man who piloted Herbie the Volkswagen.  

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 3

Our first two discussions about Oscar-winners covered some records of wins and nominations, but kept the winner of the most Oscars a secret. So, finally, that answer…the individual whom has won more Academy Awards than any other personality is none other than…Walt Disney.

Of an outstanding 59 total nominations throughout his career, Walt Disney received 22 Academy Awards!, No other individual has been nominated for or awarded as many Oscars!

Three of Disney’s wins were Honorary Oscars: in 1932 for the creation of Mickey Mouse, in 1937 for the distinguished achievement that was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and in 1940 for Fantasia to recognize an outstanding use of sound in a motion picture. (The award for “Snow White,” was one big statuette surrounded by seven miniature statuettes.) Disney’s twenty-second and final Oscar win came after his death in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons with the short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968).

Disney had always hoped that one of the films that he produced would win the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the only Best Picture Oscar Nomination that he would receive would be for Mary Poppins (1964) and he shared the nomination with the film’s co-producer, Bill Walsh. Sadly, they lost the award to Jack L. Warner for My Fair Lady (1964). Since then, three other Disney films have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but unfortunately they all lost as well: Beauty and the Beast (1991), which lost to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Up (2009) which lost to The Hurt Locker (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) which lost to The King’s Speech (2010). While no Disney film yet has won the Best Picture Oscar, Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo was awarded the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, two years after the Academy first created that award in 2001. Since then, that award has also been given to The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), Wall-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), Inside Out (2015), Zootopia (2016), and Coco (2017).        

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Meryl Streep had an amazing 20 nominations for acting Oscars. Interestingly, her 19th nomination was as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the Witch in Disney’s Into the Woods (2014). That made her the fourth of four actors who have all received Best Acting Oscar nominations for performances in Disney movies, along with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964), Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999) and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pear (2003). Andrews is the only winner in that group, however Hayley Mills won the Oscar for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor/Actress when she made her Disney/film debut in Pollyanna (1960). (Mills was the last recipient of that award. After that, the Academy began nominating child actors in the regular acting categories rather than having the separate “juvenile” category.)

Many of Disney’s nominations were in the category of Oscar short films—most, of course, animated. When he first came up with Mickey Mouse, he hatched the idea of creating Mickey Mouse cartoons with sound. Sound had never been produced in animation before! Steamboat Willie premiered on November 18th, 1928, at the Colony Theatre on Broadway and 53rd. The audience members in the theatre were completely blown away, and some of them even begged the projectionist to wait to start the movie and reshow “Steamboat Willie.” Six years later, in 1932, when Walt won his Honorary Oscar for the creation of Mickey Mouse, he won a second Oscar that year in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons for the short Flowers and Trees which was the first ever sound cartoon produced in Technicolor format. From then to the year 1939, Walt was awarded 8 other Oscars in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons for:The Three Little Pigs (1933), The Tortoise and the Hare (1935), Three Orphan Kittens (1935), The Country Cousin (1936), The Old Mill (1937), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), and The Ugly Duckling (1939).       

In 1954, Walt set a new record by being nominated for six different Academy Awards in the same year. He won four: Best Documentary, Features for The Living Desert (1953), Best Documentary, Short Subjects for The Alaskan Eskimo (1953), Best Short Subject, Two-reel for Bear Country (1953), and Best Short Subject for Toot Whistle Plunk and Bloom (1953).                

So as you can see, throughout the history of the Academy Awards there have been all kinds of talented people who have received recognition for all kinds of different/incredible achievements in film, many of whom have been recognized more than once. It probably will be a while before someone achieves or even surpasses the record that Walt Disney holds. And whether or not a new record will be formed next year, remains to be seen. But each of the people who already have formed these records will live on in the history of film forever.

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 2

When it comes to Oscars, let’s be honest…actors get most of the credit. But, composers, makeup artists, costume designers and other non-actors have achieved great things as well, and many of them in a record-setting fashion. They contribute to a movie’s appeal, and make the actors look better! In this blog, I would like to feature some of these important contributions to film…  

One of Oscar’s biggest winners is probably someone you’ve never heard of! Rick Baker is a Makeup Artist who has won seven of 12 nominations Oscars for transforming actors into a variety of human and non-human characters on screen. Wins: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Ed Wood (1994), The Nutty Professor (1996), Men in Black (1997), Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), and The Wolfman (2010). In addition to winning the Best Makeup Oscar for “The Nutty Professor,” with Eddie Murphy, Baker was also the makeup artist on several other “Eddie Murphy” comedies, including Coming to America (1988), Life (1999), The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (2000), and Disney’s The Haunted Mansion (2003). Baker also served as the Special Makeup Effects Artist on Enchanted (2007) and Maleficent (2014).

Alan Menken is a composer who won eight oscars in the categories of both Best Original Score and Best Original Song, and is credited for resurrecting both Disney’s beloved animated films, and perhaps even the American musical. Wins: Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Under the Sea,” in The Little Mermaid (1989), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Beauty and the Beast,” in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “A Whole New World,” in Aladdin (1992), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Colors of the Wind,” in Pocahontas (1995). Menken also wrote new songs for the Broadway adaptations of The Little Mermaid (2008) Beauty and the Beast (1993) Aladdin (2014) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2013), and Newsies (the film of that musical was released in 1992, the same year as “Aladdin,” and was readapted for Broadway in 2012) as well as this year’s live-action film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (2017).

Despite never winning, Thomas Newman is a composer who received 13 Best Original Score nominations for writing the music for a variety of classic films. He was very fortunate to land his first job with John Williams, who has been a close family friend of the Newman family for years. Williams gave Newman the job of orchestrating some music for Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi (1983). His primary work in the film can be heard in the scene where Darth Vader dies. Newman’s nominations include: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Little Women (1994), Unstrung Heroes (1995), American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), The Good German (2006), Wall-E (2008), Skyfall (2012), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Passengers (2016). Newman also co-wrote the song from “Down to Earth,” from “Wall-E,” which earned him an additional nomination for Best Original Song. Newman’s cousin, Randy Newman, has also written music for great films including The Natural (1984), Parenthood (1989), and the Toy Story Franchise (1995-2019).

Edith Head won eight academy awards for costume design in black-and-white and color films, many of which are considered classics. Wins: The Heiress (1949), Samson and Delilah (1949), All About Eve (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), Sabrina (1954), The Facts of Life (1960), and The Sting (1973). Besides all these special accomplishments, Head designed the costumes for the holiday movie-musical classic, White Christmas (1954). She was also Brad Bird’s inspiration for creating the character of Edna “E” Mode, the designer of hero/heroine costumes in Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). (Brad Bird wrote and directed the film and also was the voice of Edna Mode.)

John Ford is a director who won four Best Director Oscars. Before Orson Welles produced Citizen Kane (1941), he was randomly asked who his top three favorite directors were and replied “John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.” Welles watched Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) 40 times as a way of preparing to produce “Citizen Kane.” Wins: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952). Interestingly, in each of his first three films John Ford directed an actor in an Oscar-winning performance: Victor McLaglen as Best Actor in “The Informer,” Jane Darwell as Best Supporting Actress in “Grapes of Wrath,” and Donald Crisp as Best Supporting Actor in “How Green Was My Valley.” Victor McLaglen was also nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor in Ford’s “The Quiet Man,” but he did not win. (He was beaten by Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)).

Dennis Muren is a Visual Effects Supervisor who has won nine Academy Awards for designing “imaginary” characters and worlds, making them seem real on screen—many of which have been beloved by the entire world. Wins: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Innerspace (1987), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Jurassic Park (1993). Muren also won two Technical Achievement Awards for the effects he designed for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi (1983) as well as a Special Achievement Award for the development of a Motion Picture Figure Mover for animation photography in 1982.

We still have yet to talk about the individual who won the most Oscars ever. That unfortunately will have to come next week. Hope you have enjoyed this series so far. Please stay tuned. If you know of any interesting or surprising statistics that I haven’t acknowledged, please feel free to comment.    

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 1

Every movie fan knows that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives away awards each year. As they’re more commonly known, the “Oscars,” are a series of annual awards recognizing distinguished achievement in film. The Oscar will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2018. The first awards were presented on May 16th, 1929, honoring the films of both 1927 and 1928. The Academy Awards consists of 24 different award categories, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and many others. In the next series of three blogs, I’d like to acknowledge some record-breaking statistics highlighting wins (or lack thereof) and nominations. We’ll start with the low-down on acting nominations.

Meryl Streep is an actress who has won three Oscars out but has an outstanding 20 nominations! (Interestingly she is NOT the person with the most total nominations…more on that in a future blog…) Streep won Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Best Actress in Sophie’s Choice (1982), and Best Actress in The Iron Lady (2011). Her first two consecutive nominations for The Deer Hunter (1978) and “Kramer vs. Kramer,” both also won the Oscar for Best Picture of the year.  

Walter Brennan is an actor recognized with as many acting awards as Streep, but achieved three wins with only four nominations: Best Supporting Actor in Come and Get It (1936), Best Supporting Actor in Kentucky (1938), and Best Supporting Actor in The Westerner (1940). He was also nominated for Sergeant York (1941). Walter Brennan was the very first actor in the history of movies to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (He won for “Come and Get It,” as a result of the “supporting” category being created by the Academy that year. In the later years of his career, Brennan made three films for the Walt Disney Studios, each of which were produced in the later years of Walt Disney’s life, Those Calloways (1965), The Gnome-Mobile (1967), and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968). 

And now for the “lack thereof” recognitions. Deborah Kerr, Glenn Close, and Thelma Ritter have each been nominated six times, but disappointingly never won. Nominations for Kerr: Best Actress in Edward, My Son (1949), Best Actress in From Here to Eternity (1953), Best Actress in The King and I (1956), Best Actress in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Best Actress in Separate Tables (1958), and Best Actress in The Sundowners (1960). Coincidentally, Deborah Kerr was presented an Honorary Oscar by Glenn Close in 1994. Nominations for Close: Best Supporting Actress in The World According to Garp (1982), Best Supporting Actress in The Big Chill (1983), Best Supporting Actress in The Natural (1984), Best Actress in Fatal Attraction (1987), Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and Best Actress in Albert Nobbs (2011). In 2004, Glenn Close won a Golden Globe for her performance as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (2004), a made-for-television remake of the 1968 film of the same name that starred Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn who won her third Oscar for her performance as Eleanor. 

On Thelma Ritter’s fifth nominations, Best Supporting Actress in Pillow Talk (1959) instead of going to the Oscars, Ritter threw a “Come watch me loose again,” party at her house. Her co-star in “Pillow Talk,” Doris Day, was also nominated in the category of Best Actress that year, but she lost as well. Ritter and Day were reunited four years later in the romantic comedy, Move Over, Darling (1963). Other nominations for Ritter: Best Supporting Actress in All About Eve (1950), Best Supporting Actress in The Mating Season (1951), Best Supporting Actress in With a Song in My Heart (1952), Best Supporting Actress in Pickup on South Street (1953), Best Supporting Actress in Pillow Talk (1959), and Best Supporting Actress in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).

Katharine Hepburn won four Oscars out of 12 nominations, all of which were in the category of Best Actress. Wins: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) (tied that year with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968), one of six times in Oscar history where the awards has had a tie. It is the only time for the category of Best Actress) and On Golden Pond (1981). Hepburn’s tenth nomination became her second win in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” She had been nominated that year against Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967). 

“Wait Until Dark,” was Audrey Hepburn’s fifth and final career nomination. Three years prior to that, Audrey Hepburn had been neglected by the Oscars to be nominated for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964) and the winner that year was Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964), who ironically, had played Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady,” on Broadway. As a result of that, Katherine Hepburn wrote Audrey a message that said “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get it one day for a part that doesn’t rate it.” Despite that, Katharine beat her in ‘67 and Audrey was unfortunately never nominated for an Oscar again.

Peter O’Toole is an eight-time nominated actor all in the category of Best Actor, but he also never won. Nominations: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and Venus (2006). In “Lawrence of Arabia,” he and co-star Omar Sharif became good friends and both received Oscar nominations for their performances in the movie, though neither won. (O’Toole was beaten by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Sharif was beaten in the category of Best Supporting Actor by Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)). O’Toole and Sharif were, however, reunited in four other films, including The Night of the Generals (1967), The Rainbow Thief (1990), Gulliver’s Travels (1996) and One Night with the King (2006). O’Toole was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2003.

Daniel Day-Lewis is currently the only Academy-Award-Winning actor ever to win three Oscars in the category of Best Actor. Wins: Best Actor in My Left Foot (1989), Best Actor in There Will Be Blood (2007) and Best Actor in Lincoln (2012). Day-Lewis was also the very first actor ever to win an Oscar for a performance in a Steven Spielberg film with “Lincoln.” Since then, one additional actor won for a role in a Spielberg film: Mark Rylance in the category of Best Supporting Actor in Bridge of Spies (2015).

Like Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson has also won three Oscars, two in the category of Best Actor and one in the category of Best Supporting Actor. (His nominations totaled 12). Wins: Best Actor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Best Supporting Actor in Terms of Endearment (1983), and Best Actor in As Good as It Gets (1997). The first two also won the Best Picture Oscar. Nicholson also appeared under the direction of James L. Brooks in “Terms of Endearment,” and “As Good as It Gets,” as well as Broadcast News (1987) and How Do You Know (2010).

There are some Oscar-winners who “finally” won, but not until after losing several others: Kate Winslet, Shirley MacLaine, and Geraldine Page. Winslet won her one and only Oscar in the category of Best Actress for The Reader (2008), after having lost the award five times. Nominations: Best Supporting Actress in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Best Actress in Titanic (1997), Best Supporting Actress in Iris (2001), Best Actress in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and Best Actress in Little Children (2006). She was also nominated again in the category of Best Supporting Actress in Steve Jobs (2015). 

Shirley MacLaine also won her only Oscar in the category of Best Actress in Terms of Endearment (1983), but also lost the award five times. Nominations: Best Actress in Some Came Running (1958), The Apartment (1960), Best Actress in Irma la Douce (1963), Best Documentary, Features in The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), and Best Actress in The Turning Point (1977). 

Geraldine Page won her Oscar for Best Actress for The Trip to Bountiful (1985) after having lost seven previous nominations. Nominations: Best Supporting Actress in Hondo (1953), Best Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961), Best Actress in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Best Supporting Actress in You’re a Big Boy Now (1966), Best Supporting Actress in Pete “n” Tillie (1972), Best Actress in Interiors (1978), and Best Supporting Actress in The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). 

Bobby Driscoll: The Boy Who Never Grew Up

Robert Cletus Driscoll was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 3rd, 1937. He and his family moved to Des Moines not long after his birth, but relocated again to Los Angeles because his father constantly suffered from lung issues due to asbestos at his work. In L.A., Driscoll’s parents were encouraged to get him into movies. The local barber who immediately saw the potential of Driscoll and helped to land him an audition for a bit role in the MGM movie Lost Angel (1943). Driscoll won the role, and after that starred in Twentieth Century Fox’s Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944), and in Republic Pictures’ The Big Bonanza (1944) and Identity Unknown (1945). He ultimately caught the attention of Walt Disney, and became the Walt Disney Studio’s first 7-year-contract player ever.

His very first role for Disney was that of Johnny in Song of the South (1946). Two years later, he played Jeremiah “Jerry” Kincaid in So Dear to My Heart (1948) and portrayed himself in Melody Time (1948). Next, he played Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island (1950) and voiced Goofy Jr., Goofy’s son, in the cartoon shorts Fathers Are People (1951) and Father’s Lion (1952). His final and most popular role for Disney was serving as the voice and model for Peter Pan in Peter Pan (1953). At the age of 16, Bobby Driscoll unfortunately caught a severe case of acne, making him look conspicuously unattractive on screen. So sadly and his contract with Disney was terminated. He had been attached to play roles in the Disney films Johnny Tremain (1957) and The Light in the Forest (1958), but was replaced by other actors.

After leaving Disney, Driscoll fell into narcotics as he struggled to find other work. He on occasion found some small work in films like The Scarlett Coat (1955) and television shows like The Millionaire (1955-1960), but his illicit drug use consistently got him in trouble with the law, and he was arrested in 1961. When he was released on parole in 1962, he discovered that no one in the movie/television industry wanted to hire him at all because of his reputation as an addict. He attempted to revive his career on the Broadway stage by traveling to New York, only to discover that his reputation had made him infamous there also. Overwhelmed with depression and completely broke, he disappeared and turned up dead on March 30th, 1968, barely a month after his 31st birthday. Two children discovered his body in a deserted East Village tenement but his identity wasn’t officially determined until a year later, thanks to fingerprints. The cause was declared as heart failure

It is tragic that Bobby Driscoll is best known as the original voice of “Pan,” the boy who didn’t want to grow up considering that he did a grow up to be a young adult, though he didn’t get the chance to live what one would consider a full life. Despite a short and sad life, he leaves a wonderful legacy that lives on in Peter Pan—the character who encouraged us all to have faith, trust, and a little pixie dust! 

AFI’s Top 100 Movie Facts Part 4

At last readers, I am ready to share with you the 100th story in my blog! With it, we conclude our tribute to AFI’s Top 100 films, which was released in 2007, and films ranked 1 through 25. I hope you have enjoyed this 4-part series as much as I enjoyed doing research for it. Once again, please feel free to comment on your favorite facts.  

25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) — Gregory Peck and Mary Badham (Scout) became very close during the filming of this movie and remained in contact until Peck’s death on June 12th, 2003. They always called each other by their character names “Scout” and “Atticus.”

24. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) — Harrison Ford originally filmed a cameo as Elliot’s schoolmaster in this film, but unfortunately the scene ended up on the cutting room floor.

23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) — The truck that the Joad family uses in this film is the same model from the book; a 1926 Hudson “Super Six.” There also was a sequel to this film in-development at Fox, but it was never produced. It would have been called “Highway 66.”

22. Some Like It Hot (1959) — Tony Curtis’s voice for “Josephine” was dubbed by an actor named Paul Frees as Curtis couldn’t speak high enough. Paul Frees is best known at the Walt Disney Studios for being the original voice of Donald Duck’s uncle, Professor Ludwig Von Drake.

21. Chinatown (1974) — The line “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown,” is ranked #74 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of all time.

20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) — The scene where Clarence saves George’s life on the bridge was filmed on a backlot at RKO Radio Pictures when the temperature was 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you look closely at the scene, you will see Jimmy Stewart sweating on camera.

19. On the Waterfront (1954) — Ten years before Fred Gwynne became well known throughout the world as Herman Munster in The Munsters (1964-1966), he made his Hollywood debut in the bit role of “Slim” in this movie.

18. The General (1927) — This was Buster Keaton’s favorite movie out of all of his movies out of his 57 movies.

17. The Graduate (1967) —2017 is the 50th anniversary for “The Graduate.” It was released on December 22nd, 1967.

16. Sunset Boulevard (1950) — This film spawned a Broadway musical in 1994 with Glenn Close in the role of Norma Desmond, opening on November 17th, 1994 and playing for 977 performances at the Minskoff Theatre. The famous line, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” is ranked #7 on American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of all time.  

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — Long before Anthony Daniels became known throughout the world as C-3PO in Star Wars, he went to see this movie. He hated it so much, that he left the theater after only ten minutes and demanded his money back.

14. Psycho (1960) — Grace Kelly and Deborah Kerr were both considered for the role of Marion Crane in this film before Janet Leigh was cast. Janet Leigh made this film the same year she made the Romantic Comedy Who Was That Lady? (1960) which was the fifth film she made with her then-husband, Tony Curtis. (Their other films include: Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings (1958), and The Perfect Furlough (1958)). Leigh was impersonated by Scarlett Johansson in the movie Hitchcock (2012) which depicts what went on behind the scenes during the making of “Psycho.”

13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) — George Lucas, who created the Star Wars universe, was so confident that “Star Wars,” would flop that he didn’t even attend this film’s premiere. Instead, he went on vacation with pal Steven Spielberg where they began developing Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

12. The Searchers (1956) — John Wayne considered this film to be his favorite, of all his films as well as the character of Ethan Edwards to be the best character he ever played on screen. Because of that, he named his youngest son Ethan Wayne.

11. City Lights (1931) —  Charlie Chaplin said that this was his favorite of all his movies. When the film opened in America on January 31st, 1931, he invited Albert Einstein to the film’s premiere, and when it premiered in England, Chaplin invited George Bernard Shaw. Both Einstein and Shaw accepted the invitations.

10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) — Judy Garland won the Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, for her performance as Dorothy in this film. Five years later, Garland made the film Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) under the direction of future husband Vincente Minnelli and starring opposite Margaret O’Brien, who won an Oscar in the same category for her performance as Garland’s youngest sister, “Tootie” Smith. Both “Wizard of Oz,” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” share the theme of “There’s no place like home.”  

9. Vertigo (1958) — This Hitchcock classic was a critical and commercial failure at the box office. Alfred Hitchcock blamed it on Jimmy Stewart “looking too old” to appeal to young audiences anymore. As a result, Hitchcock never worked with Stewart again, even though Stewart had originally been one of his favorite collaborators.

8. Schindler’s List (1993) — When Steven Spielberg showed frequent collaborator John Williams the cut of the film before it had been scored, Williams was so overwhelmed with emotion that he had to walk outside in order to compose himself. When he came back, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied “I know, but they’re all dead.”

7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) — David Lean, who won his second Best Director Oscar for his direction of this film, makes a cameo in the movie as a motorcyclist at the Suez canal. (His first Best Director Oscar was for The Bridge on River Kwai (1957) which is ranked #36 of AFI’s Top 100).

6. Gone With the Wind (1939) — George Cukor was originally slated to direct the film but was fired due to consistent creative differences with producer David O. Selznick. Cukor was later hired to be the director for “The Wizard of Oz,” but unfortunately was dismissed from that film before too long as well. Ironically, he was replaced by Victor Fleming on both films and Fleming directed the final cuts of each. (Fleming won his one and only Best Director Oscar for “Gone With the Wind.”)

5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) — In addition to playing the role of Don Lockwood, Gene Kelly served as co-director and choreographer of this classic film. He also had two choreography assistants who didn’t receive any screen credit in the film, Carol Haney and Gwen Verdon (future Mrs. Bob Fosse). Kelly at one point recommended Haney for the role of Kathy Selden in the film, and was dismayed when Louie B. “L.B.” Mayer chose to cast Debbie Reynolds in the role.                                               

4. Raging Bull (1982) — Robert De Niro trained extensively with the real Jake LaMotta in order to play him on screen in this film and they did 1000 rounds together. LaMotta thought De Niro had exactly what it took to be a professional boxer. De Niro also entered three boxing matches in Brooklyn as part of his training and won two of them.

3. Casablanca (1942) — In the early-to-mid 2000s, Madonna wanted to remake “Casablanca,” with herself as Ilsa Lund and Ashton Kutcher as Rick Blaine. She received rejections from every studio in Hollywood and has since then scrapped the idea.

2. The Godfather (1972) — Al Pacino has acknowledged that Marlon Brando was able to produce genuine tears when they were shooting the scene where Michael pledges himself to his father.

1. Citizen Kane (1941) — Orson Welles was just 25 years old when he produced, co-wrote, and starred in this film, his very first feature film. It had never been done in film before and hasn’t been done since. Welles received Oscar nominations in all three categories, but only won for the script that he co-wrote with Heman J. Mankiewicz.      

It’s been awesome counting down these amazing movies with you. Please let me know what you think!