Art Babbitt | |
---|---|
Art Babbitt (left) and Richard Williams (right) working on a scene from The Thief and the Cobbler.
|
|
Born |
Arthur Harold Babitsky October 8, 1907 Omaha, Nebraska |
Died | March 4, 1992 Los Angeles, California |
(aged 84)
Cause of death | Kidney failure |
Occupation | Animator |
Years active | 1936–1992 |
Spouse(s) | Marge Champion, Dina Babbitt, Barbara Perry |
Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at The Walt Disney Company. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and also developed the character of Goofy. Babbitt worked as an animator or animation director on such films as The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), and The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), among others.
Babbitt was born to a Jewish family in Omaha, Nebraska in the Little Bohemia section of town near the Bohemian Cafe restaurant, but moved to Sioux City, Iowa after he finished kindergarten. When his hard-working father had an accident on duty and became paralyzed as a result, Art decided to move to New York to take on the role of .
Art Babbitt began his career in New York City working for Paul Terry's Terrytoons Studio. But in the early 1930s he moved to Los Angeles followed by his fellow Terrytoon colleague Bill Tytla, and secured a job animating for the Walt Disney Studio, which was expanding at the time.
Babbitt began his career at Disney as an assistant animator, but his talent was spotted and he was soon promoted to animator. His first important work was a drunken mouse in the short "The Country Cousin"(1936), which won an Academy Award for the studio.