- Born
- Died
- Birth nameUbbe Ert Iwwerks
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Ub Iwerks worked as a commercial artist in Kansas City in 1919 when he met Walt Disney who was in the same profession. When Disney decided to form an animation company, Ub Iwerks was the first employee he had due to his skill at fast drawing as well as being a personal friend.
When Charles Mintz raided Disney's animation studio and stole the rights to their character Oswald the Rabbit, Ub was the only associate to remain with Disney. He served as the principal animator for the first Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies. Iwerks was so prominent in the production of these shorts that it was speculated that Ub was the dominant force behind the success of Disney Productions. The combination of Iwerks' rising ambitions, occasional differences with Walt and a tempting deal with Pat Powers to finance his own studio prompted him to break away in 1930. His studio was never a tenth of the artistic or financial success that Disney was. He simply did not have the creative talents of his partner and his characters, Flip the Frog and Willy Whopper were rather dull failures. His studio was closed in 1936 when Powers withdrew his support. He worked for Columbia starting in 1938 and worked for two years until he decided to return to Disney. The two men never commented on their renewed relationship but the reunion was mutually beneficial. Iwerks was able to abandon animation and concentrate on technical development which helped create many of the special effects that the Disney company excelled in for decades, especially concerning the live action animation combination sequences in Song of the South (1946) and Mary Poppins (1964).
- IMDb mini biography by: Kenneth Chisholm <chisken@pop.eclec.com>
- SpouseMildred Sarah Henderson(January 5, 1927 - July 7, 1971) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- RelativesLeslie Iwerks(Grandchild)John Iwerks(Grandchild)
- Walt Disney referred to him as "the greatest animator in the world."
- In addition to his skill as an animator, he became an expert in special visual effects. Outside of Disney, he did special effects work on such films as Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).
- He co-created (with Walt Disney), designed, and animated the first version of Mickey Mouse in 1928.
- He was regarded as a technical genius in the areas of animation and special visual effects. He never finished high school.
- The 1964 film "Mary Poppins," Ub Iwerks modified the technicolor camera that was used to mix live action and animation, also known as the "Sodium Vapor Process." This camera had a prism installed to separate the sodium vapor lights from the rest of the color. Ub Iwerks, Petro Vlahos & Wadsworth E. Pohl received an Academy Award in 1965 for its use in Mary Poppins. Alfred Hitchcock went to Walt Disney asking to borrow Ub to help make the film "The Birds." In 1964 Ub was nominated for a Academy Award for "Best Effects, Special Visual Effects", but lost to the film Cleopatra.
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