Ben Sharpsteen

Ben Sharpsteen (* November 4, 1895 in Tacoma, Washington; † December 20, 1980 in Calistoga, California ) was an American film producer and director who worked for The Walt Disney Company.

Life

Sharpsteen grew up in Alameda, California and studied agriculture at the University of California. He joined in 1917 the United States Marine Corps and fought in the First World War. After the war he began Hearst Internationaö movie service as a draftsman and moved damm about Paramount Studio, Jefferson Films and the Max Fleischer studios to last until 1929 he finally found a job with Walt Disney. Sharpsteen was initially animator and director with 97 short cartoons with Mickey Mouse, including classics like Mickey's Auto Repair, Mickey in the Wild West and Mickey's Fire Company. In 1933 he was a talent scout for Disney. He was also a second director at the first films of animation studios such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.

In 1949 he took over as producer of the short documentary film The Robben Island an Oscar contrary. He received the award in 1959 for Ama Girls and was nominated in 1958 as a producer of the short film Portugal.

He was producer of the 1954 television series Disneyland on ABC. In 1962, he entered into retirement and settled on a property in Calistoga, where he established a museum dedicated to both his work, as well as Samuel Brannan and the history of Napa County.

Filmography

P = Producer, Z = second director