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1-9 of 9
- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba and two in New York. After the 1959 Cuban revolution, he returned and made several documentaries for the Castro-regime. But after two of his shorts (Gente en la playa (1960) and La Tumba Francesca) had been banned, he moved to Paris. There he became the favourite cameraman of Éric Rohmer and François Truffaut. In 1978, he started his impressive Hollywood-career. In his later years, he co-directed two documentaries about the human rights situation in Cuba: Improper Conduct (1984) (about the persecution of gay people) and Nadie escuchaba (1987). He shot several prestigious commercials for Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein. Nestor Almendros died of cancer.- Animation Department
- Director
- Writer
Art Babbitt (born Arthur Harold Babitsky) was an American animator and animation director from Omaha, Nebraska. He worked in several animation studios over his long career, but is mostly remembered for his early work for the Walt Disney Animation Studios. During the 1930s, Babbitt redesigned and developed the character of Goofy. In his view, Goofy was a composite character: "a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible Good Samaritan, a half-wit, a shiftless, good-natured hick". Babbitt was credited as the main animator for the Evil Queen in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), and for Geppetto in "Pinocchio" (1940).
In 1907, Babbitt was born to a Jewish family in Little Bohemia, Omaha. It was a neighborhood of Omaha which had a large population of Czech emigrants from Austria-Hungary since the 1880s. By the time he finished kindergarten, his family decided to move to Sioux City, Iowa. His father was paralyzed in an accident at work, forcing Babbitt to become a breadwinner at an early age.
In the late 1920s, Babbitt had decided to follow the career of an animator. At the time, the industry was providing career opportunities for hopeful young artists. In 1929, Babbitt was among the first animators hired by a new animation studio, Terrytoons (1929-1973). The studio had been established by experienced animator Paul Terry, and its headquarters were located in Long Island, New York.
In 1932, Babbitt applied for a job at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Los Angeles. The studio was more prestigious than Terrytoons, and was reputed to offer better salaries for its top talents. Babbitt was initially hired as an assistant animator, but was soon promoted to a regular animator in recognition of his talents. He was put to work in animated short films, helping animate characters such as Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and the Big Bad Wolf.
When the studio started working on its first animated feature film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" , Babbitt was entrusted with animating the Evil Queen. It was one of the toughest assignments on the film, as the character was not rotoscoped (unlike several of the others). There was an effort to make the character "regally beautiful", to have her movements be graceful, and for her emotions to be primarily expressed through her lovely mouth and eyes. Babbitt and his assistants reportedly produced enough drawings of the Queen to fill a paper house.
His efforts on the feature film were rewarded with a salary increase. Babbitt was one of the highest-paying jobs in the studio. For the first time in his life, he could afford a large house, three cars, and two servants. At about this time, Babbit married his first wife. She was the actress and dancer Marge Champion (1919-2020). She had been hired as a dance model for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and had impressed Babbitt. Their marriage only lasted to 1940, ending in divorce.
During the late 1930s, Babbitt worked on two other feature films "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia". He animated Geppetto in "Pinocchio", the protagonist's father. He also designed several characters for two segments of Fantasia: "The Nutcracker Suite" and "The Pastoral Symphony". Among his creations were Disney's versions of the gods Zeus, Vulcan, and Boreas.
In 1941, came the Disney animators' strike. Many of the studio's animators wanted to unionize in order to achieve better working conditions. Babbitt became one of the strike's leaders, though he was primarily campaigning for the rights of others and not his own self-interest. At one point, Babbitt and studio head Walt Disney nearly had a fist fight over a verbal insult. Studio staff intervened to stop them.
Following the strike, Babbitt and Walt Disney continued working together for a while, despite their mutual distrust and hostility. Babbitt found a friendlier working environment at his next employer, Warner Bros. Cartoons. His career was interrupted for a few years by military service in the Pacific War. In the post-war years, Babbitt was among the early staff of the animation studio United Productions of America (UPA, 1941-2000). The studio had been established by former Disney personnel, and Babbitt found himself working alongside former colleagues.
UPA was noted for its "very flat" and stylized designs, in contrast with Disney's style. They were considered as one of the most innovative animated studios of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Babbitt worked on several of their award-winning shorts until 1955. He subsequently acquired partial ownership of Quartet Films, a studio primarily working on television commercials.
Over the following decades, Babbitt rarely worked on theatrical films. But he was eventually hired by animator Richard Williams (1933-2019) to serve as the lead animator for the unfinished feature film "The Thief and the Cobbler". Babbitt designed several of the film's characters. The film was in production from 1964 until 1993, and was eventually released in a partially finished form. Babbitt did not live long enough to finish the film or to see it released. During that film's production, Babbitt also provided some character animation for "Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure" (1977).
In the early 1990s, Babbitt was invited by executive Roy E. Disney (Walt's nephew) to reconcile himself with Disney and its staff. Babbitt had reunions with his former rivals Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. He died in March 1992, at the age of 84. He was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, located in Hollywood Hills. Babbitt was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 2007. A small collection of Babbitt's personal films and home movies was eventually acquired by the Academy Film Archive. Babbitt is long gone, but continues to have a high reputation among animation historians and fans of American animation.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Evstigneev was born on October 9, 1926, in Gorky, Russia, USSR (now Nizhni Novgorod, Russia). His father, Aleksandr Mikhailovich Evstigneev, was a metal worker. His mother, Maria Ivanovna (nee Chernysheva), was an industrial metal-miller. Young Evstigneev also worked as an industrial metal-worker in the city of Gorky.
In 1946 Evstigneev made an effort to enter the Gorky Theatrical School. There he was criticized by one of the examiners and was rejected with a comment: "We do not need short, balding actor.s" He had to return to his industrial job. However, he was able to express his creativity through music performances. Evstigneev was fond of American jazz music: he played drums with a local jazz-band in the city of Gorky. There he was scouted by Vitali Lebsky, director of Gorky Theatrical School. Vitali Lebsky immediately noticed Evstigneev's bright smile and musical virtuosity, and was impressed with Evstigneev's radiant personality and stage presence. Lebsky admitted Evstigneev to his acting class without an entrance exams. From 1946-1951 Evstigneev studied acting and graduated from the Gorky Theatrical school in 1951. From 1951-1954 he worked with the Vladimir City Drama Theatre.
In 1954 Evstigneev came to Moscow in his pursuit of an acting career. At that time the cultural revival known as the "Thaw" was initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, which opened many new opportunities for talented people. From 1954-1956 Evstigneev studied at School of Acting of the legendary Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). There he became involved with the Moscow intellectual and artistic milieu. In 1955 Evstigneev joined Oleg Efremov, Oleg Tabakov, Igor Kvasha, Galina Volchek, and other student-actors to start an independent theatre company, named 'Studio of Young Actors'. In 1956, upon their graduation, Evstigneev and his fellow actors became co-founders of their own theatre company in Moscow which became known as "Sovremennik". In 1957 he married actress Galina Volchek, their son Denis Evstigneev was born in 1961.
Evstigneev shot to fame after he starred as Comrade Dynin in 'Dobro pozhalovat, ili postoronnim vkhod vospreshchen' (Welcome, or No Trespassing 1964) by director Elem Klimov. He made remarkable performances in films from such directors, as Grigoriy Chukhray, Eldar Ryazanov, Mikhail Shvejtser, Aleksandr Alov, Vladimir Naumov, Karen Shakhnazarov, Leonid Filatov, Stanislav Govorukhin, Vladimir Bortko, Yuriy Kara, and other Russian film directors. From 1971-1992 he was a permanent member of the troupe of Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). His stage partners were Anastasiya Georgievskaya, Oleg Efremov, Sergey Yurskiy, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Viktor Sergachyov, Evgeniy Kindinov, Boris Shcherbakov, and other notable Russian actors.
Evgeni Evstigneev was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1974) for his theatrical work. He was designated People's Artist of the USSR (1983) and received numerous awards and recognitions for his acting works in film and on stage. Evstigneev suffered from a chronic heart condition and complications from a heart attack. He died while undergoing preparation for a heart surgery on March 4, 1992, in London, England, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Pare Lorentz was born on 11 December 1905 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA. He was a writer and director, known for The River (1938), The Fight for Life (1940) and Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut (2007). He died on 4 March 1992 in Armonk, New York, USA.- Hilda Stone was born on 2 August 1905 in Sierra Mojada, Mexico. She was a writer, known for Girl in 313 (1940), Passport Husband (1938) and Pardon Our Nerve (1939). She was married to George Marton and John Stone. She died on 4 March 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Jack Boland was born on 11 June 1924 in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. He died on 4 March 1992 in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
- Costume Designer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Preben Birck was born on 7 July 1905. He was a costume designer and actor, known for Man elsker kun en gang (1945), Frøken Nitouche (1963) and Kispus (1956). He died on 4 March 1992.- Composer
- Music Department
Sándor Veress was born on 1 February 1907 in Kolozsvár, Austria-Hungary. He was a composer, known for Treasured Earth (1948) and Paul (2016). He died on 4 March 1992 in Bern, Switzerland.- Actress
Mary Ellen Huggins was born on 21 May 1917 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She was an actress. She died on 4 March 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.