Wolfgang Reitherman (June 26, 1909 – May 22, 1985), also known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a famed Disney animator and one of Disney's Nine Old Men.
Born in Munich, Germany, Reitherman's family moved to America when he was a child. After attending Pasadena Junior College and briefly working as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft, Reitherman returned to school at the Chouinard Art Institute, graduating in 1933.
Reitherman began working for Disney in 1934, along with future Disney legends Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl. The three worked together on a number of classic Disney shorts, including "The Band Concert", "Music Land", and "Elmer Elephant." In 1937, Reitherman worked on the first Disney feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
All in all, Reitherman worked on various Disney feature films produced from 1940, until his retirement in 1981, from Pinocchio (Monstro the Whale) to The Fox and the Hound (Chief). Beginning with 1961's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, "Woolie", as he was called by friends, served as Disney's chief animation director. He also served as a producer, sequence director, and starred as himself in a 1941 short entitled "The Reluctant Dragon". All three of Reitherman's sons — Bruce, Richard and Robert — provided voices for Disney characters, including Mowgli in The Jungle Book, Christopher Robin in the "Winnie the Pooh" films, and Wart in The Sword in the Stone.
Reitherman served as director on several Disney animated classics including One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973) and The Rescuers (1977).
He was killed in a single-car accident near his home in Burbank in 1985, at the age of 75. In 1989, he was posthumously named a Disney Legend.
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