Don Bluth Biography
Don Bluth {Full name- Donald Virgil Bluth (/bluːθ/)} is an American animator, film director, producer, writer, production designer, video game designer, and animation instructor. He was born on September 13, 1937, El Paso, Texas, U.S. He is known for directing animated films, including The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), and Anastasia (1997), and for his involvement in the LaserDisc game Dragon’s Lair (1983).
Bluth is also known for being in competition with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that would make up the Disney Renaissance. He is the older brother of illustrator Toby Bluth.
Don Bluth Wife
Don Bluth was dating the daughter of John Lounsbery while he used to work at the Disney Studios. Lounsbery was Bluth’s mentor from whom he learnt the animation skills. However, the American animator did not take John’s daughter as his wife. As of September 2018, Don is reportedly unmarried and is enjoying his solitary life providing tips towards animation.
Don Bluth Age
Bluth was born on September 13, 1937, El Paso, Texas. He is a legendary animator, film director, producer, writer, production designer, video game designer, and animation instructor. He is 81 years old as of 2018.
Don Bluth Theater
Don Bluth began hosting youth theater productions in the living room of his Scottsdale, Arizona home in the 1990s. Bluth formed an adult and youth theatre troupe called Don Bluth Front Row Theatre, as the popularity of these productions grew and adults expressed their wishes to become involved. The troupe’s productions were presented in Bluth’s home until 2012, when their administrative team leased a space off Shea Blvd in Scottsdale and converted it into a small theater.
Don Bluth Animation
1960s-70s
In 1967, Bluth joined Filmation working on layouts for The Archies and other projects. He returned full-time to Disney in 1971 where he worked on Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, The Rescuers and directing animation on Pete’s Dragon. The 1978 short The Small One was Don Bluth’s last involvement with Disney. Then he made and produced his first short film, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, which takes place in his hometown Payson, Utah during the 1940s as Banjo travels to Salt Lake City to find the urban world.
Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, and 9 fellow Disney animators, set out to start his own animation studio, Don Bluth Productions on his 42nd birthday in 1979. He drew a few (uncredited) scenes for The Fox and the Hound but left early in production. Bluth was disheartened with the way the Disney company was run. He wanted to revive the classical animation style of the studio’s early classics. To this end, his studio, Don Bluth Productions, demonstrated its ability in its first production, a short film titled Banjo the Woodpile Cat, and this led to work on an animated segment of the live-action film Xanadu (1980).
198os-90s
Bluth, Pomeroy, and Goldman, with businessman Morris Sullivan in 1985, established the Sullivan Bluth Studios. It initially operated from an animation facility in Van Nuys, California, but later moved to Dublin, Ireland, to take advantage of government investment and incentives. Sullivan Bluth Studios also helped boost animation as an industry within Ireland. Don Bluth and his colleagues taught an animation course at Ballyfermot Senior College.
Bluth’s Photo
Don Bluth Anastasia
In 1997, Don Bluth scored a hit with Anastasia, produced at Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix, Arizona, which grossed nearly US $140 million worldwide. In his positive review of the movie, critic Roger Ebert observed that its creators “consciously include the three key ingredients in the big Disney hits: action, romance, and music.” Anastasia’s success established 20th Century Fox as a Disney competitor.
2000s
Don Bluth resumed his string of box-office failures despite the success of Anastasia, with the post-apocalyptic space adventure Titan A.E. (2000), which made less than $37 million worldwide despite an estimated $75 million budget. 20th Century Fox Studios shut down the Fox Animation Studio facility in Phoenix in 2000, making Titan A.E. the last traditionally animated film released by 20th Century Fox in theaters until the release of 2007’s The Simpsons Movie.
Bluth did the animation for the music video Mary, by the Scissor Sisters in 2004. The band contacted Bluth after having recalled fond memories of the sequence from Xanadu.
Don Bluth was asked to produce storyboards in 2009, for, and to direct, the 30-minute Saudi Arabian festival film Gift of the Hoopoe. He ultimately had little say in the animation and content of the film and asked that he not be credited as the director or producer. Nonetheless, he was credited as the director, possibly to improve the film’s sales by attaching his name.
Don Bluth Thumbelina
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman directed Thumbelina (also known as Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina), a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film. It is based on the book of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen and starring the voices of Jodi Benson, Gary Imhoff and Joe Lynch, with supporting roles from Gino Conforti, Gilbert Gottfried, Carol Channing and John Hurt.
Don Bluth Dragon’s Lair
Dragon’s Lair is a video game franchise created by animator and film director Don Bluth. The series is famous for its western animation-style graphics and convoluted decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television and comic book series.
Don Bluth Beauty And The Beast
Beauty and the Beast was a planned adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont to be directed by Don Bluth. Concept artwork was completed in 1984, but upon discovering that Walt Disney Pictures had plans for their own adaptation, the project was canceled by Columbia Pictures.
Don Bluth Net Worth
Don Bluth is an American animator, film director, writer, producer, production designer, animation instructor, and video game designer. He has an estimated net worth of $2 million.
Don Bluth Tutorials
Don Bluth has authored a series of books for students of animation: 2004’s The Art of Storyboard, and 2005’s The Art of Animation Drawing.
Don Bluth Movies
Pete’s Dragon (1977, animation director)
The Small One (1978, short film)
Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979, short film)
The Secret of NIMH (1982)
Dragon’s Lair (1983, video game)
Space Ace (1984, video game)
An American Tail (1986)
The Land Before Time (1988, also co-storyboard and production designer)
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp (1991, video game)
Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
Thumbelina (1994)
A Troll in Central Park (1994)
The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
Anastasia (1997)
Bartok the Magnificent (1999, direct-to-video)
Titan A.E. (2000)