Oscar-nominated Czech-American Writer, Director and Animator Paul Fierlinger Dies at 89
He was not on the list.
We are sad to hear that acclaimed indie writer, director and animator Paul Fierlinger has passed away. He died on Friday (April 4) at his home in Penn Wynne, PA, age 89.
The Czech-American director was best known for his 1979 Oscar-nominated short, It’s So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House, his memorable Sesame Street spots, the 2001 Peabody Award-winning PBS special Still Life with Animated Dog and the acclaimed 2009 feature that he co-wrote and co-directed with his wife Sandra Fierlinger, My Dog Tulip (based on J.R. Ackerley’s popular book).
Fierlinger was born on March 15, 1936 in Ashiya, Japan (nee Pavel Fierlinger). His father Jan was a Czechoslovak diplomat, and his uncle Zdenek Fierliinger was a key figure in the Czechoslovak communist regime from 1948 until 1968. Paul created his first animated film when he was only 12 by shooting drawings from his flipbook with a 16 mm Bolex Camera.
In the late ’50, he became an independent animation producer in Czechoslovakia and was able to privately produce animated films from his home studio in Prague. He created approximately 200 films, from 10-second station breaks to 10-minute animated shorts. In 1971, he formed AR&T Associates in the U.S. to produce animated segments for ABC’s Harry Reasoner specials and PBS’s Sesame Street (including the popular Teeny Little Super Guy series), network ID for TVPaint and Nickelodeon and other clients. He produced over 7000 shorts and commercials, including the Oscar-nominated It’s So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House, and the Ottawa Prize-winning 1989 film And Then I’ll Stop. His work also appeared on The Electric Company, Square One TV, 3-2-1 Contact and Shining Time Station.
In the 1990s, he met and married his frequent collaborator Sandra Schuette, a fine-arts painter and printmaker at the Boston Museum of Art School. Together, they developed Amby & Dexter: The Way of Silent, a series of interstitials for Nickelodeon, a Sesame Street series tilted Alice Kadeezenberry, and a children’s song collection titled Playtime for the Children’s Book of the Month Club. He also made Drawn from Memory, a one-hour autobiography for PBS’ American Playhouse anthology series, and was awarded a PEW Fellowship in the Arts in 1997. In 2001, his animated PBS special Still Life with Animated Dogs premiered on public broadcaster, and won the Peabody Award as well as the first prize at the Intl. Festival of Animation in Zagreb the following year the Peabody Award in April 2001. Around the same time he made Drawn from Life, a series about real women and their lives for the Oxygen network, which went on to win the grand prize at the 2000 Ottawa Intl. Animation Festival.
Paul and Sandra Fierlinger’s independent 2D-animated feature film My Life with Tulip (created with TVPaint) received much acclaim when it arrived on the festival circuit in 2009. Based on the popular memoir of BBC editor and novelist J.R. Ackerley, it charted the author’s 15-year relationship with his beloved German Shepherd companion. New Yorker Films released it in 2010. In 2015, they followed it up with another hand-crafted 2D-animated feature, titled Slocum at Sea with Himself, a two-hour about the legendary voyager Joshua Slocum who circumnavigated the globe in a small sailboat.
His friend, animator Chris Sullivan shared the news of his passing on Facebook on Sunday. He wrote, “I have been knowing this day would come, though almost indestructible, Paul Fierlinger has left his mortal coil. He and Sandra’s body of work is important and lasting, from One more and then I’ll stop, to A Room Near By, My Dog Tulip, and Slokum….He has many filmmaking friends, and people who love him, whether he likes it or not. Let us all take up his baton, and make works we care about… warm thoughts from Chris.”
Director
From Eliza to Paul & Sandra: A Portrait of an Email
Exchange
Short
Director
2018
Slocum at Sea with Himself (2015)
Slocum at Sea with Himself
Director
2015
Me... Jane (2015)
Me... Jane
Short
Director
2015
My Dog Tulip (2009)
My Dog Tulip
6.8
Director
2009
A Room Nearby
7.8
TV Movie
Director
2003
Still Life with Animated Dogs
8.5
TV Movie
Director
2001
Drawn from Life
Short
Director
2000
Drawn from Memory (1995)
Drawn from Memory
8.4
TV Movie
Director
1995
And Then I'll Stop... Does Any of This Sound Familiar?
Video
Director
1990
The Quitter
Video
Director
1988
Jim Thurman in Teeny Little Super Guy (1982)
Teeny Little Super Guy
8.6
Short
Director
1982
Louis James Hates School
Short
Director
1980
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House (1979)
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
6.1
Short
Director
1979
Rainbowland
6.8
Short
Director
1978
Why We Need Reading, or the Piemaker of Ignoramia
Short
Director
1976
Why We Take Care of Property, or Planet of the Ticklebops
Short
Director
1975
Writer
My Dog Tulip (2009)
My Dog Tulip
6.8
screenplay
2009
A Room Nearby
7.8
TV Movie
Writer
2003
Still Life with Animated Dogs
8.5
TV Movie
Writer
2001
Amby & Dexter
8.3
TV Series
creator
1997–2003
Drawn from Memory (1995)
Drawn from Memory
8.4
TV Movie
written by
1995
The Quitter
Video
Writer
1988
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House (1979)
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
6.1
Short
script
1979
Rainbowland
6.8
Short
story
1978
Actor
Drawn from Memory (1995)
Drawn from Memory
8.4
TV Movie
Narrator (voice)
1995
Jim Thurman in Teeny Little Super Guy (1982)
Teeny Little Super Guy
8.6
Short
Announcer (voice)
1982
Producer
From Eliza to Paul & Sandra: A Portrait of an Email
Exchange
Short
producer
2018
A Room Nearby
7.8
TV Movie
producer
2003
Amby & Dexter
8.3
TV Series
producer: original version
1997–2003
The Quitter
Video
producer
1988
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House (1979)
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
6.1
Short
producer (uncredited)
1979
Cinematographer
Jim Thurman in Teeny Little Super Guy (1982)
Teeny Little Super Guy
8.6
Short
Cinematographer
1982
Editor
My Dog Tulip (2009)
My Dog Tulip
6.8
Editor
2009
A Room Nearby
7.8
TV Movie
Editor
2003
Drawn from Memory (1995)
Drawn from Memory
8.4
TV Movie
Editor
1995
Louis James Hates School
Short
Editor
1980
Art Director
The Quitter
Video
Art Director (designed by)
1988
Art Department
Dink, the Little Dinosaur (1989)
Dink, the Little Dinosaur
7.0
TV Series
storyboard artist (1990)
1989–1991
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House (1979)
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
6.1
Short
designer
1979
Rainbowland
6.8
Short
designer
1978
Why We Need Reading, or the Piemaker of Ignoramia
Short
designer
1976
Why We Take Care of Property, or Planet of the Ticklebops
Short
designer
1975
Weed
Short
art
1971
Acid (1971)
Acid
Short
artwork
titles
1971
Sound Department
Louis James Hates School
Short
sound editor
1980
Visual Effects
New Year Baby (2006)
New Year Baby
8.4
animation
2006
Animation Department
Hollywood Beauty Salon (2016)
Hollywood Beauty Salon
animator
2016
Slocum at Sea with Himself (2015)
Slocum at Sea with Himself
animator
2015
Me... Jane (2015)
Me... Jane
Short
animator
2015
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Ryan
Dillon in Sesame Street (1969)
Sesame Street
8.1
TV Series
animator: specific segments
character animator: Teeny Little Super Guy
animator
1976–2012
15 episodes
My Dog Tulip (2009)
My Dog Tulip
6.8
animator
2009
Independent Lens (1999)
Independent Lens
8.1
TV Series
animator
2003–2008
2 episodes
Maggie Growls (2003)
Maggie Growls
animator
2003
Still Life with Animated Dogs
8.5
TV Movie
animator
2001
Amby & Dexter
8.3
TV Series
animator
1997
5 episodes
Drawn from Memory (1995)
Drawn from Memory
8.4
TV Movie
animator
character designer
1995
Shining Time Station (1989)
Shining Time Station
8.1
TV Series
character animator: Teeny Little Super Guy (specific
segments)
1989
1 episode
The Quitter
Video
animator
1988
Square One Television (1987)
Square One Television
8.4
TV Series
animator: specific segments
1987–1992
Sesame Street: Learning About Numbers (1986)
Sesame Street: Learning About Numbers
7.5
Video
animator (uncredited)
1986
Making Love Better
TV Movie
animator
1983
Jim Thurman in Teeny Little Super Guy (1982)
Teeny Little Super Guy
8.6
Short
character designer
1982
Who's Havin' Fun?
TV Movie
animation
1981
Louis James Hates School
Short
animator
1980
3-2-1 Contact (1980)
3-2-1 Contact
8.2
TV Series
animator: specific segments (1980)
1980–1992
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House (1979)
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House
6.1
Short
animator
1979
Rainbowland
6.8
Short
animator
1978
Why We Take Care of Property, or Planet of the Ticklebops
Short
animator
1975
Weed
Short
animator
1971
Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, June Angela, Luis Avalos, Lee
Chamberlin, Doug Grant, Judy Graubart, Stephen Gustafson, Melanie Henderson,
Skip Hinnant, Denise Nickerson, and Jim Boyd in The Electric Company (1971)
The Electric Company
8.1
TV Series
animator: specific segments
1971–1977
Animals United (1969)
Animals United
6.6
animator
1969
Editorial Department
Who's Havin' Fun?
TV Movie
titling
1981
Thanks
John Avarese in Sound is Half the Picture (2017)
Sound is Half the Picture
Short
special thanks
2017
My Kingdom
7.1
Short
thank you
2014
Self
A Room Nearby
7.8
TV Movie
Self (voice)
2003
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