40 Facts About Wolfgang Reitherman

Wolfgang Reitherman, known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a German-American animator, director and producer.

Wolfgang Reitherman attended Pasadena Junior College and briefly worked as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft Company.

In 1947, Wolfgang Reitherman returned to the Disney studios as an animator, and within a few years, became a member of Disney's "Nine Old Men".

Wolfgang Reitherman made his directorial debut with the 1957 short film The Truth About Mother Goose; within years, he became the first sole director for a Disney animated feature, beginning with The Sword in the Stone.

In 1983, he was awarded the Winsor McCay Award, and in 1985, Wolfgang Reitherman died in a single-car accident.

Wolfgang Reitherman was posthumously honored as a Disney Legend in 1989.

Wolfgang Reitherman was born on June 26,1909 in Munich, German Empire to Philip Reitherman and Marie Keuhner.

At home, English was the preferred language, and as a result of his parents' assimilation, Wolfgang Reitherman understood little German.

Wolfgang Reitherman attended Pasadena Junior College, but left to work as a draftsman for the Douglas Aircraft Company.

Wolfgang Reitherman initially wanted to work as a watercolorist, but Walt Disney suggested he should be an animator.

Wolfgang Reitherman was hired at Walt Disney Productions on May 21,1933.

Wolfgang Reitherman worked on numerous animated shorts, including The Band Concert, Music Land, and Elmer Elephant.

The night he had finished his animation, Wolfgang Reitherman attended a Christmas staff party and played a tape recording of Stravinsky's piece in reverse.

Wolfgang Reitherman rejoined the Disney studios in April 1947, where he animated the Headless Horseman chase sequence in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow section of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, alongside John Sibley.

Around this time, Wolfgang Reitherman claimed he was instrumental in helping Walt Disney commit to producing Cinderella as an animated film.

On Cinderella, Wolfgang Reitherman was the directing animator of the sequence in which Jaq and Gus laboriously push and pull the key up the stairs to Cinderella.

In 1957, Wolfgang Reitherman made his directorial debut with the short film The Truth About Mother Goose, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but it lost to the Merrie Melodies cartoon Birds Anonymous.

Wolfgang Reitherman later joined the production team working on Sleeping Beauty.

Wolfgang Reitherman joined the project as a sequence director for Prince Phillip's climactic fight against Maleficent as a dragon.

Wolfgang Reitherman next directed the 1960 short film Goliath II, which has the distinction of being the first Disney animation project to fully use the Xerox process by transferring the animators' drawings directly onto transparent cels.

Simultaneously, Wolfgang Reitherman directed the "Twilight Bark" sequence for One Hundred and One Dalmatians, serving as a sequence director alongside Geronimi and Hamilton Luske.

Contemporary studio publicity materials reported that Wolfgang Reitherman was the first sole director over a Disney animated feature, which was in direct contrast to having multiple directors over an animated feature.

Animator Ward Kimball claimed Wolfgang Reitherman was selected due to his work compatibility and willingness to accept any project "with a smile".

Wolfgang Reitherman left the studio shortly after deciding to become a children's author.

Wolfgang Reitherman remained as director, but his attitude to the series had changed, by which he decided to be more faithful to the source material.

Wolfgang Reitherman encouraged the animators to find more inspiration from the original stories.

Wolfgang Reitherman credited film producer Bill Anderson for understanding "the value of animation" and allowing him and the animators to have free rein over The Aristocats.

Wolfgang Reitherman had wanted to include Robin Hood's outlaw group the Merry Men.

Wolfgang Reitherman disagreed, and had the film set in its traditional English setting.

Wolfgang Reitherman further pared down the number of outlaws to just Robin Hood and Little John, envisioning the film as a "buddy picture" similar to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which had been released during the film's production.

Floyd Norman, an animator who had worked under Wolfgang Reitherman, explained that it was actually easier and less time-consuming for character animators to create original drawings.

Wolfgang Reitherman had read the original novel and placed the adaptation into active production, as one of his sons had once owned a pet fox years prior.

However, Wolfgang Reitherman largely shut out Stevens from the creative responsibilities.

Shortly after, Wolfgang Reitherman began developing a film adaptation of Catfish Bend, based on the book series by Ben Lucien Burman.

That same year, Wolfgang Reitherman developed an adaptation of the children's novel The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, but it was perceived as being too similar to Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

In 1946, while Wolfgang Reitherman was piloting for the Far East Air Transport, he met Janie Marie McMillan, who was serving as the chief air stewardess.

Three months after meeting her, Wolfgang Reitherman married McMillan on November 26,1946 in Manila.

Two blocks away from his Burbank, California residence, Wolfgang Reitherman apparently suffered cardiac arrest while driving from a bank, and his vehicle veered to the right and struck a tree.

Wolfgang Reitherman was rushed to the nearby St Joseph Medical Center and pronounced dead from injuries related to the single-car accident, at the age of 75.

Wolfgang Reitherman was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1989.