Born in
Minneapolis, Swift's father owned a factory that made
sausage casings. After
the depression, he dropped out of school at the age of 17 and boarded a freight train to California to pursue his goal of working for
Walt Disney. After arriving in
Los Angeles, Swift worked several odd jobs to earn money including working as an usher at the
Warner Bros. theatre. In between work, he attended art school and also attended
Hollywood High School at night. He began his career at
The Walt Disney Studio as an office boy and rose to be an assistant animator under
Ward Kimball in 1938. After serving with the
8th Air Force during
World War II, Swift became a radio and television writer. He attracted acclaim as the creator of
Mister Peepers. Swift re-joined Disney as the writer, director and producer of
Pollyanna (1960), followed by
The Parent Trap (1961). After making
Love Is a Ball, Swift was then contracted to
Columbia Pictures for
The Interns,
Under the Yum Yum Tree and
Good Neighbor Sam, the latter two with
Jack Lemmon. He also created the TV shows
Grindl,
Camp Runamuck, and
Arnie. Swift returned to Disney to write
Candleshoe in 1977. During the 1980s, he worked as a writer and director for television. His final project was the screenplay for the
1998 remake of
The Parent Trap, starring
Lindsay Lohan,
Natasha Richardson and
Dennis Quaid. ==Personal life==