John Wilson(1919-2013)
- Animation Department
- Director
- Producer
John was wounded in WWII, while serving in the British Army "Desert
Rats", in North Africa. Being a graphic artist, on return to England,
he started as asst. art director at Pinewood Studio, with David Lean.
Seeing a note on the studio notice board asking for cartoonists and
artists to apply at GBA, Cookham, for work as animators, John applied,
and was accepted. Here, under David Hand, (ex Disney director of
Snow-White, Bambi), he worked for four years, becoming a first rate
animator and director. GBA closed, John moved to US, and Disney,
working on Peter Pan, and Lady & the Tramp, in Les Clark's unit. In
1954 he left Disney to start Fine Arts Films producing Petroushka (1956) with
I. Stravinsky, winning five international awards, starting a new
artistic direction in the use of animation. Journey to the Stars,
(1961), seen by 7 million visitors to the Seattle World's Fair, was a
major step, and animating Irma La Douce (trailer), for Billy Wilder,
made it possible to enjoy the artistic merits of Paris hookers. He
started John Wilson Prods., for Aussie TV in Melbourne, 1963, in a
brief visit down under. Back with FAF, in '64, John got the Peabody
award for NBC's Exploring, as the Best Kid's Show. This led to ten
years work for US-TV, (CBS, ABC, NBC) in children's and primetime
entertainment. In 1971 he produced and directed the animated feature
Shinbone Alley (1970), a literary and musical success based on the works of poet Don
Marquis. This received the Golden Phoenix Award at the Atlanta Film
Festival, (Best of Fest). For the next ten years, John produced many
award-winning TV series, (Madeline-DIC), Bucky O'Hare and Peter Pan for
FOX-TV. Stanley the Ugly Duckling (1/2 Hour Musical for ABC-TV.
Returning to OZ, in '83, John set Ferngully for AFC, as an animated
feature, which successfully protected the rainforests, released by
Warner Bros. At present, John is working on the musical version of Peer
Gynt.
