Willis Pyle obit

Willis Pyle, Famed Animator on 'Pinocchio' and 'Mr. Magoo,' Dies at 101

He was not on the list.


Willis Pyle, the legendary animator who drew for such classics as Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia and Mr. Magoo, has died. He was 101.

Pyle died June 2 in his penthouse apartment on Broadway, his family announced.

His brother was the late Denver Pyle, best known for playing Uncle Jesse on the 1979-85 CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard.

A native of Lebanon, Kan., and the son of a Dust Bowl farmer, Willis Pyle was attending the University of Colorado as an art student and working as an advertising illustrator at a clothing store when he noticed a poster on campus from the new Walt Disney studio. It was looking to hire animators to come to Hollywood.

He moved to Los Angeles and started at Disney in November 1937 as a office boy, then worked on Pinocchio (1940) as an assistant animator to Milt Kahl.

“The character had to act — raise its eyebrows, turn and jump and react to other characters,” Pyle said of the wooden puppet, brought to life by a fairy, in a interview with Coloradan Magazine. “And the way you could do it was by looking at yourself in a mirror to see what that expression looked like.”

Pyle also assisted on Fantasia (1940) and Bambi (1942) before leaving Disney to briefly work for Walter Lantz, where he helped out on Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, Pyle drew for Vogue and created the nearsighted, accident-prone Mr. Magoo for United Productions of America. He was then hired by Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) to animate the cartoon short Gerald McBoing-Boing — about a boy who talks in sound effects — which won an Academy Award in 1951.

Pyle later had a successful freelance career, working on such TV shows as Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure, Halloween Is Grinch Night and Charlie Brown specials.

He donated his personal archives to Indiana University’s Lilly Library.

Survivors include his nephew David.

Contrary to popular belief, Pyle was not the nephew of Ernie Pyle, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was portrayed by Burgess Meredith in the 1945 William Wellman film The Story of G.I. Joe, according to Owen V. Johnson, associate professor emeritus at Indiana University and author of the recent book, At Home With Ernie Pyle.



Animation department

1989 This Is America, Charlie Brown (TV Mini-Series) (animator - 3 episodes)

- The Music and Heroes of America (1989) ... (animator)

- The Smithsonian and the Presidency (1989) ... (animator)

- The Great Inventors (1989) ... (animator)

1980 Drawing Power (TV Series) (animator)

1979 A Family Circus Christmas (TV Movie) (animator)

1978 A Special Valentine with the Family Circus (TV Movie) (animator)

1977 Halloween Is Grinch Night (TV Short) (animator - as Willy Pyle)

1977 The Mouse and His Child (animator)

1977 Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (animator: Everything and Everyone Else)

1976 Noah's Animals (TV Movie) (animator)

1975 Chicken Soup with Rice (Video short) (animator)

1975 Really Rosie (TV Short) (animator)

1972 The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (TV Series) (animator - 1 episode)

- Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter (1972) ... (animator - as Willie Pyle)

1956 The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (TV Series) (animator - 1 episode)

- The Election/The Fifty-First Dragon/Twirlinger Twins in the Ballet Lesson (1956) ... (animator)

1950 The Popcorn Story (Short) (animator)

1950 Gerald McBoing-Boing (Short) (animator)

1950 Trouble Indemnity (Short) (animator)

1950 Giddyap (Short) (animator)

1950 The Miner's Daughter (Short) (animator - as Willie Pyle)

1950 Spellbound Hound (Short) (animator - as Willie Pyle)

1950 Punchy de Leon (Short) (animator - as Willy Pyle)

1949 The Sailor and the Seagull (Short) (animator - uncredited)

1949 Ragtime Bear (Short) (animator - as Willy Pyle)

1949 The Magic Fluke (Short) (animator - as Willy Pyle)

1948 Robin Hoodlum (Short) (animator - as Willy Pyle)

1946 Honesty Is the Best Policy (Short) (animator)

1944 Position Firing (Short) (animator)

1944 Flat Hatting (Short) (animator)

1942 Bambi (assistant animator - uncredited)

1940 Fantasia (assistant animator - uncredited)

1940 Pinocchio (assistant animator - uncredited) 1994)