John David Wilson obit

Famed Animator John David Wilson Dies at 93

He was not on the list.

The Englishman worked on "Lady & the Tramp" and did the opening sequence for "Grease" and music videos for "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" during his eclectic career.

John David Wilson, a pioneering animation producer and director who worked on everything from Lady & the Tramp and an Igor Stravinsky ballet film to Grease, died June 20 in a nursing home in Blackpool, England. He was 93.

The Englishman, schooled in the art of animation by David Hand, the director of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi (1942), founded Fine Arts Films in the 1950s.

Wilson's five-minute animated shorts, featuring popular songs like Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and Jim Croce's “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” were seen on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in the 1970s, long before the era of MTV.

Wilson's credits also include Exploring, the 1960s NBC News educational series that won a Peabody Award, and the 1971 feature Shinbone Alley, a tale about a poetic cockroach that was voiced by the likes of Carol Channing, Eddie Bracken and John Carradine.

Wilson was born in Wimbledon on Aug. 7, 1919. At age 20, he joined the London Rifle Brigade and lost his leg in a bombing attack in the African campaign.

Following convalescence in South Africa, he returned to London and landed a job in the art department at Pinewood Studios, where he worked on The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and David Lean's Great Expectations (1946). He then honed his animation skills at the new G.B. Animation -- a studio bankrolled by J. Arthur Rank in an effort to end Disney's worldwide animation domination -- under the tutelage of Hand.

In 1950, Wilson took his wife and young son to the U.S. for a job at Disney, where he went on to work on Peter Pan (1953), Lady & the Tramp (1955) and the Oscar-winning short Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953). He also did stints at UPA and Hanna-Barbera on such projects as Mr. Magoo and The Flintstones, respectively.

In 1955, Wilson formed Fine Arts Films and produced and directed the animated short Tara the Stone Cutter, an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, and an animated version of Stravinsky's Petrushka ballet. The Russian composer himself conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for the project, which became the first animated film to be accepted by the Venice Film Festival.

Under his guidance, Fine Arts also did the trailer for Billy Wilder’s risque romantic comedy Irma La Douce (1963); the opening sequence for Grease (1978), which featured caricatures of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John; and the 1982 ABC special Stanley the Ugly Duckling, with Wolfman Jack contributing the voice of one character.

For the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle, Wilson created the groundbreaking Journey to the Stars for the NASA Space Pavilion. Projected on a hemispherical 360-degree, 75-foot screen, the 15-minute color film filled the 6,000-square-foot surface with all the excitement of a trip to the galaxies and was seen by an estimated 4.5 million viewers.

A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and a founding member of ASIFA Hollywood (the home of the Annie Awards), Wilson was a painter in oils, watercolors and pastels whose work has hung in the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

In 1995, he returned to England and retired in St. Annes-on-the-Sea in Lancashire. He suffered from dementia the past four years.

Survivors include his wife, Fabian, children David, Debbie, Michael, Victoria, Peter and Andrew and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.



Animation department (40 credits)

1999 A Monkey's Tale (key animator)

1999 An Off-Beats Valentine's (TV Short) (animator) / (layout artist)

KaBlam! (TV Series) (ink artist - 1 episode, 1997) (inker - 1 episode, 1997)

1995 The New Adventures of Madeline (TV Series) (sheet director - 1995)

1993-1994 Madeline (TV Series) (sheet director - 5 episodes)

1993 Hurricanes (TV Series) (additional color backgrounds - 1994-1995)

1992 The Specialists (TV Mini-Series) (animation director - 1992)

1991 Spacecats (TV Series) (animation director - 13 episodes)

1991 Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! (TV Series) (animation director - 13 episodes)

1991 Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (TV Series) (animation director - 8 episodes)

1991 Little Shop (TV Series) (animation director - 1 episode)

- Back to the Fuschia (1991) ... (animation director)

1991 The Seventh Brother (character designer)

1987 The Little Wizards (TV Series short) (model designer - 1987) / (sequence director - 1987)

1983 You Gotta Serve Somebody (Short) (animator)

1982 Stanley, the Ugly Duckling (TV Short) (animation director) / (character designer) / (layout artist)

1980 The Private Eyes (animator: main title)

1978 Grease (animator: main titles)

1976 Angie Baby (Short) (animator)

1976 Cos (TV Series) (animator - as John D. Wilson)

1976 Joys (TV Special) (animator)

1974 The Chocolate Princess (Short) (animator)

1974 The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show (TV Series) (producer - 16 episodes)

1971-1974 The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (TV Series) (animator - 59 episodes)

1972 Both Sides Now (Short) (animator)

1968 The Early Birds (Short) (animator) / (layout artist)

1964-1966 The Peter Potamus Show (TV Series short) (layout artist - 10 episodes)

1963 Exploring (TV Series documentary) (animator - 1 episode)

- Gulliver's Travels (1963) ... (animator)

1961 Congo Valiente (Short) (animator)

1955 Tara the Stone Cutter (Short) (animator) / (background artist)

1955 Lady and the Tramp (key assistant animator - uncredited)

1954 Pigs Is Pigs (Short) (layout artist)

1953 Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (Short) (character designer - uncredited)

1953 Christopher Crumpet (Short) (animator - uncredited)

1953 Peter Pan (key assistant animator - uncredited)

1950 Gerald McBoing-Boing (Short) (animator - uncredited)

1949 Ginger Nutt's Bee-Bother (Short) (animator)

1949 Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus (Short) (animator)

1949 The Ostrich (Short) (animator)

1948 The Cuckoo (Short) (animator)

1948 The Lion (Felis Leo) (Short) (animator)


Director (26 credits)

1990 Peter Pan and the Pirates (TV Series) (1990, uncredited)

1987 Fraggle Rock (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Wembley and the Bemble/A Fraggle for All Seasons (1987)

1983 You Gotta Serve Somebody (Short)

1982 Stanley, the Ugly Duckling (TV Short)

1981 John Wilson's Mini-Musicals (Video)

1976 Angie Baby (Short)

1976 Casey at the Bat (Short)

1974 Cher: Dark Lady (Cartoon Version) (Video short)

1974 The Chocolate Princess (Short)

1973 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Short)

1973 Higher Ground (Short)

1973 Sweet Gypsy Rose (Short)

1972 A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done (Short)

1972 Black & White (Short)

1972 Both Sides Now (Short)

1972 The Candy Man (Short)

1971 Big Yellow Taxi (Short)

1971 One Tin Soldier (Short)

1971 Reachin' (Short) (as John David Wilson)

1970 Shinbone Alley (as John David Wilson)

1968 The Early Birds (Short)

1963 Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Short)

1963 Exploring (TV Series documentary) (1 episode)

- Gulliver's Travels (1963)

1961 Congo Valiente (Short)

1956 Petroushka (Short)

1955 Tara the Stone Cutter (Short)


Producer (16 credits)

1982 Stanley, the Ugly Duckling (TV Short) (producer)

1981 John Wilson's Mini-Musicals (Video) (producer)

1976 Casey at the Bat (Short) (producer)

1974 The Chocolate Princess (Short) (producer)

1973 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Short) (producer)

1973 Higher Ground (Short) (producer)

1973 Sweet Gypsy Rose (Short) (producer)

1972 A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done (Short) (producer)

1972 Black & White (Short) (producer)

1972 Both Sides Now (Short) (producer)

1972 The Candy Man (Short) (producer)

1971 Big Yellow Taxi (Short) (producer)

1970 Shinbone Alley (executive producer - as John David Wilson)

1963 Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Short) (producer)

1963 Exploring (TV Series documentary) (producer - 1 episode)

- Gulliver's Travels (1963) ... (producer)

1961 Congo Valiente (Short) (producer)


Art department (11 credits)

2001 Sheep in the Big City (TV Series) (storyboard artist - 1 episode)

- Wish You Were Shear (2001) ... (storyboard artist)

1992 FernGully: The Last Rainforest (pre-production artist - as John D. Wilson)

1982 Stanley, the Ugly Duckling (TV Short) (storyboard artist)

1976 Angie Baby (Short) (designer)

1973 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Short) (designer)

1973 Higher Ground (Short) (designer)

1973 Sweet Gypsy Rose (Short) (designer)

1972 A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done (Short) (designer)

1972 Black & White (Short) (designer)

1972 The Candy Man (Short) (designer)

1955 Tara the Stone Cutter (Short) (designer)


Writer (9 credits)

1973 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Short) (story)

1973 Higher Ground (Short) (story)

1973 Sweet Gypsy Rose (Short) (story)

1972 A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done (Short) (story)

1972 Black & White (Short) (story)

1972 The Candy Man (Short) (story)

1961 Congo Valiente (Short) (story)

1956 Petroushka (Short) (adaptation)

1955 Tara the Stone Cutter (Short) (adaptation)


Production designer (2 credits)

1970 Shinbone Alley

1951 Rooty Toot Toot (Short) (uncredited)