Born in Seattle and raised in the
Bronx by his widowed mother Mabel, Pratt graduated from the
Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn. He became an assistant animator then full-animator at
Walt Disney Studios in 1933, especially he worked on
The Nutcracker Suite sequence for
Fantasia where he animated the spinning flowers dancing to “Dance of the Reed-Flutes”. He later left to join
Warner Bros. Cartoons, along with fellow animators
Bill Melendez,
Cornett Wood, and
Jack Bradbury who also departed to the same studio after the
Disney animators' strike in 1941. While there, he directed (or co-directed) all episodes of
The Pink Panther Show. Pratt made his directorial effort in the 1966 short
The Pink Blueprint, which received an Oscar nomination for
Best Short Subject (Cartoon). His other directorial works also include three
Roland and Rattfink shorts,
The Super 6, and three
Dr. Seuss television specials:
The Cat in the Hat,
The Lorax and
Dr. Seuss on the Loose. ==Awards==