1933–1946: Animator and military service While Reitherman was studying at Chouinard Art Institute, his paintings attracted the attention of Philip L. Dike, a drawing and painting instructor. Impressed with his artwork, Dike showed them to Disney, after which Reitherman was invited to the studio. He initially wanted to work as a watercolorist, but
Walt Disney suggested he should be an animator. Reitherman was hired at Walt Disney Productions on May 21, 1933. His first project as an animator was the
Silly Symphonies cartoon
Funny Little Bunnies (1934). Reitherman worked on numerous animated shorts, including
The Band Concert (1935),
Music Land (1935), and
Elmer Elephant (1936). He animated the Slave in the Magic Mirror in
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Reitherman's next assignments were animating Monstro in
Pinocchio (1940) and the climactic
dinosaur fight in
Igor Stravinsky's "
Rite of Spring" segment of
Fantasia (1940). The night he had finished his animation, Reitherman attended a Christmas staff party and played a tape recording of Stravinsky's piece in reverse. He remembered, "anyway, there's a knock on the door, and someone goes over to answer it, and standing there is Walt ... with Igor Stravinsky. But, he [Stravinsky] was very nice. He said, 'Sounds good backwards, too.' and left." Reitherman then followed up with animating several scenes of Timothy Q. Mouse in
Dumbo (1941). He later joined the production team working on
Sleeping Beauty (1959). Reitherman's colleague
Eric Larson had been the film's sole director until he was removed from the project by 1957.
Clyde Geronimi became the film's new supervising director. Reitherman joined the project as a sequence director for Prince Phillip's climactic fight against
Maleficent as a
dragon. Years later, in 1981, Reitherman told the
Los Angeles Times: "We took the approach that we were going to kill that damned prince!" The fight sequence has since been praised as among the finest in Disney animation. Reitherman next directed the 1960 short film
Goliath II, which has the distinction of being the first Disney animation project to fully use the Xerox process by transferring the animators' drawings directly onto transparent cels. Simultaneously, Reitherman directed the "Twilight Bark" sequence for
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), serving as a sequence director alongside Geronimi and
Hamilton Luske. That same year, he solely directed a
Goofy cartoon short,
Aquamania (1961).
The Sword in the Stone The Sword in the Stone had been a film project Walt Disney first acquired in 1939, following the success of
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It had been long delayed in development for over two decades. With a new policy in place, it was decided that one feature-length animated film would be released within three or four years with an occasional special project. An attempt to adapt the medieval fable
Chanticleer and the Fox had been rejected in favor of
The Sword in the Stone. Contemporary studio publicity materials reported that Reitherman was the first sole director over a Disney animated feature, which was in direct contrast to having multiple directors over an animated feature. However, further research has disproven this, as
David Hand had been a supervising director. Animator
Ward Kimball claimed Reitherman was selected due to his work compatibility and willingness to accept any project "with a smile". Animator Bob Carlson quoted Disney as stating, "Whenever I want to know what the public thinks about a film I'm making, I ask Woolie, because in a way he's the All-American boy." The animation staff was further streamlined with one director (Reitherman), one art director (Ken Anderson), one story director (
Bill Peet), and four supervising animators (Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, John Lounsbery, Frank Thomas). As director, Reitherman was heavily involved in casting and directing the voice talent. In 1963, he stated, "After the story man or artist has made the original concept of a character, the voice comes next. It is of upmost importance, because the animator has to be stimulated by the voice; he has little else to work with." During the film's production,
Rickie Sorensen, who had been cast as Arthur, entered
puberty, which forced Reitherman to cast two of his sons, Richard and Robert, to record the remaining dialogue.
The Jungle Book Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of
Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection of stories
The Jungle Book during the late 1930s.
Bob Thomas's 1958 book
The Art of Animation revealed Disney's public intentions to adapt
The Jungle Book into an animated feature film. In 1962, Disney acquired the film rights to the original short stories, but decided to concentrate on the stories involving
Mowgli. Disney once again assigned Bill Peet to handle the storyboards, while Reitherman directed. By the end of 1963, Disney was dissatisfied with Peet's story outline and overall vision, citing a lack of warmth in the characters. One of the crucial disagreements was the casting of
Phil Harris as the character
Baloo. On January 29, 1964—his 49th birthday—Peet had his final meeting with Disney, in which they clashed. He left the studio shortly after deciding to become a children's author. Less than two weeks later, Reitherman, art director Ken Anderson, story artists
Don DaGradi and
Vance Gerry, and studio executives
Bill Anderson,
Winston Hibler, and
Bill Walsh held a meeting to discuss work on the next animated feature
The Aristocats (1970). By April 1967, they had arrived at a simplified plot outline by paring down the number of characters. In October 1967,
The Jungle Book was released to critical acclaim for its musical sequences and voice performances despite a meandering storyline. Within three years, by 1970, the film had earned $23.8 million in worldwide box office rentals, becoming the most successful animated film released during its initial run. Before
The Aristocats entered production, a
Winnie the Pooh follow-up short, now subtitled
Blustery Day, was decided to become the first post-Walt Disney animation project. Under the new circumstances, the "Nine Old Men" animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Milt Kahl joined the project. Reitherman remained as director, but his attitude to the series had changed, by which he decided to be more faithful to the source material. He encouraged the animators to find more inspiration from the original stories. Johnston observed, "Woolie was sometimes reluctant to accept fresh ideas. You'd have to work hard to persuade him to try something new, but once you'd demonstrated that your idea made sense he'd back up one hundred percent." Released in December 1968,
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was attached to the live-action film
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, and considered as the superior
Winnie the Pooh short by both American and British film critics. At the
41st Academy Awards,
Blustery Day was the recipient for Best Animated Short Film. Reitherman accepted the award on behalf of Walt Disney.
The Aristocats Following Disney's death, there was discussion amongst studio executives to close the animation department. Reitherman credited film producer Bill Anderson for understanding "the value of animation" and allowing him and the animators to have free rein over
The Aristocats. In an interview with the
El Paso Times, Reitherman explained, "Walt wasn't there to make the final decisions. You didn't know whether you were right or not in your creative judgment. Walt left no doubt. He always let you know. Consequently, there were more story problems on this show than any other." Thomas O'Malley's character design was altered from being an orange-colored striped
calico cat into a brown-and-white alley cat. Elvira, a maid character, was removed from the story placing Edgar as the central villain in order to better simplify the storyline. Also, there was a noticeable softening of Disney villains, with the result that nearly all of them over the next two decades were more comical or pitiful than scary. According to
Andreas Deja, Reitherman stated that "if we lose the kids, we lose everything". Released in December 1970,
The Aristocats was a box office success, earning over $10 million in box office rentals from the United States and Canada, and $16 million from international markets, against a production budget of $4 million.
Robin Hood In October 1968, Ken Anderson accompanied then-Disney president
Card Walker on a fishing trip who suggested a classic tale should be the subject for the next animated film. Anderson proposed the
Robin Hood legend, to which Walker responded positively. Anderson relayed the idea during an
Aristocats story meeting, and was quickly assigned to create character designs. Anderson had an entirely different vision for
Robin Hood (1973), loosely adapting the film to be set in the American
Deep South. He had also wanted to include Robin Hood's outlaw group the
Merry Men. Reitherman disagreed, and had the film set in its traditional English setting. He further pared down the number of outlaws to just Robin Hood and
Little John, envisioning the film as a "
buddy picture" similar to
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which had been released during the film's production. During his directorial tenure, Reitherman allowed for
"recycled" or
limited animation from prior animated films to be used. These drawings were stored in a makeshift archive known as the "Morgue", which was located near the basement of the Ink and Paint department. It has been presumed this practice was done to save on time and production costs, though it was in fact more labor-intensive.
Floyd Norman, an animator who had worked under Reitherman, explained that it was actually easier and less time-consuming for character animators to create original drawings. Nevertheless, Reitherman's use of recycling animation proved to be controversial within the studio. In a 1976 interview, animator
Milt Kahl recalled during a publicity tour for
Robin Hood, a publicist for Paramount Pictures approached him, as he had recognized repurposed animation from
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs used in
Robin Hood. Kahl later bemoaned: "This is our Woolie, and it drives me crazy."
The Rescuers In 1973, Reitherman told John Culhane, a journalist, that he had been open to recruiting younger animation artists: "We wanted to get talented guys in here and give them a well-rounded experience. Let them spend time with us. Then, if they can learn to get good personalities on their characters, find good voices, develop a storyline you can follow and situations that are sparkling—that's all we can hand off to them." By 1970,
Eric Larson, one of the "Nine Old Men" animators, was selected to head the animation training program. Across the United States, he toured various art schools and colleges, scouting for art students to become animators. Eventually, more than 60 artists were brought into the training program. As a project for the new animators, the 1974 short
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too went into production, with Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl and John Lounsbery returning to animate. They were joined by younger animators, including
Don Bluth and
Andy Gaskill. This time, Lounsbery was the director for the film. According to
Ron Clements,
Ron Miller, Walt Disney's son-in-law and senior vice president, had concerns about Reitherman assuming too much creative autonomy. He stated, "John Lounsbery was sort of imposed just to break up Woolie's control of everything." According to
Mel Shaw, Miller had intended to have Lounsbery succeed Reitherman as director when he retired.
Tigger Too was nominated for another Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but lost to
Closed Mondays.
The Rescuers tells of two mice Bernard and Bianca, of the Rescuers Aid Society, who are enlisted to rescue Penny, a young girl, from captivity in the southern bayous by Madame Medusa, who desires a prized diamond enclosed inside a cave. Reitherman co-directed the film, alongside Lounsbery. However, on February 13, 1976, Lounsbery died of a heart attack during production, at the age of 64.
Art Stevens, an animator, was then selected as the new co-director. Frustrated by Reitherman's leadership and creative decisions, Milt Kahl finished his animation scenes for the film and retired on April 3, 1976. Released in June 1977,
The Rescuers was heralded as a creative comeback and valediction for the senior Disney animators. It had earned $15 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada at the box office.
1977–1984: The Fox and the Hound, unproduced projects, and retirement Following
The Rescuers, Reitherman was initially slated to direct
The Fox and the Hound (1981). Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, the last two remaining "Nine Old Men" animators, did animation on the film before retiring to publish their 1981 joint book
Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. During production, Reitherman was assisted by Art Stevens, the film's co-director. However, Reitherman largely shut out Stevens from the creative responsibilities. The animators were divided into two factions, some of whom supported Reitherman while another supported Stevens. Looking to retool the film's second half, Reitherman decided to add a goofy musical sequence of two swooping cranes, with the voices of
Phil Harris and
Charo, who would cheer up Tod after he was dropped off at the game reserve. Stevens complained about the sequence feeling out of place, and it was eventually removed. Stevens further complained to Ron Miller, which resulted in Miller telling Reitherman: "You're over 70 years old, back off and leave it to the young guys." Reitherman decided to step down as director and remain on as co-producer.
Ted Berman and
Richard Rich joined
The Fox and the Hound as the new co-directors. Shortly after, Reitherman began developing a film adaptation of
Catfish Bend, based on the book series by
Ben Lucien Burman. In 1980, the
Los Angeles Times reported that Reitherman and artist
Mel Shaw were developing
Musicana, a follow-up anthology project to
Fantasia (1940). That same year, Reitherman developed an adaptation of the children's novel
The Little Broomstick by
Mary Stewart, but it was perceived as being too similar to
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Further development was discontinued due to
The Black Cauldron (1985) advancing into production. In 1981, after
The Fox and the Hound had been released, Reitherman told the
Los Angeles Times he had retired from Disney: "They asked me not to say I quit. It made it sound like I was mad. The studio has been good to me. And I'm awfully happy to have been part of it." In 1983, he was awarded the
Winsor McCay Award. ==Personal life and death==