25 Facts About Burny Mattinson

Burnett "Burny" Mattinson was an American animator, director, producer, and story artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he was employed from 1953 until his death in 2023.

Burny Mattinson was the longest serving employee of The Walt Disney Company, with a career that spanned almost 70 years.

Burny Mattinson's father, Bernie Mattinson, was a jazz drummer who toured with Horace Heidt's big band.

Burny Mattinson's mother had resided in San Jose, California and was working at a theatre there, where she met the drummer.

Burny Mattinson became enamored of animation and began practicing drawing Disney characters throughout his school years.

At the time, there were no available job positions in the studio's animation department, but Burny Mattinson took a job in the traffic department.

Walker later left, and Burny Mattinson was promoted to the position.

For One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Burny Mattinson provided in-between animation; he drew illustrations for the Little Golden Books adaptation for the film.

Burny Mattinson enrolled in the program, delivering an animation test within eight weeks.

Burny Mattinson next worked on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too animating Kanga, Roo, Tigger, and Rabbit.

Burny Mattinson then worked on storyboards and designed the titles on the film, which he repeated again on The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron.

Burny Mattinson, known for his congenial personality, then exploded at the directors, which made him feel he had jeopardized his career at Disney.

Burny Mattinson returned home that night depressed, telling his wife, Sylvia, what had happened.

Sylvia then reminded him of a project that Burny Mattinson had been excited about, urging him to "stop talking and start doing".

In March 1981, at his wife's urging, Burny Mattinson sent a two-paragraph pitch letter and the LP record to then-Disney CEO Ron Miller.

Burny Mattinson defended his idea, to which Miller dropped the ruse, declaring it was "a great idea" and approved the project.

Burny Mattinson was eventually made director and producer on Mickey's Christmas Carol.

The success of Mickey's Christmas Carol led to Burny Mattinson's hiring as a director on The Great Mouse Detective.

However, Burny Mattinson found both duties as producer and co-director much too laborious, and decided to remain as producer.

One of those discarded ideas Burny Mattinson co-developed with Grant was Bitzy, which centered on an Indian elephant who leaves home to start a Hollywood career but ends up working in a used-car lot and falling in love.

Burny Mattinson then worked as head of story on Dumbo II, which was later cancelled by John Lasseter.

In March 2011, Burny Mattinson announced that he was pitching an idea for a full-length animated feature with Mickey Mouse as the main protagonist.

Burny Mattinson further worked as a story consultant on Big Hero 6 and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Burny Mattinson married Sylvia Fry, who worked as an in-betweener on Sleeping Beauty.

On February 27,2023, Burny Mattinson died in Canoga Park, California, at the age of 87.