Don Bluth Biography Quotes 32 Report mistakes

Early life
Don Bluth, born in 1937 in El Paso, Texas, grew up in a large Latter-day Saint family that later settled in Utah. As a child he was transfixed by classic Walt Disney features, a fascination that prompted him to draw constantly and to study the way characters moved and emotions were conveyed through line, timing, and music. The conviction that hand-drawn animation could create a uniquely emotional kind of storytelling became the north star of his career.

First steps in animation
In the mid-1950s he joined Walt Disney Productions as an in-betweener, learning the craft from veterans who had shaped the studio's golden age. Among the artists who influenced him were members of Disney's storied animation team, including supervising talents like John Lounsbery, whose example impressed on Bluth the importance of character acting in animation. After a period away from the studio to continue his education and life outside the industry, he returned to animation work, including a stint at Filmation, where the demands of television production honed his efficiency and leadership.

Return to Disney and rising responsibilities
Bluth rejoined Disney in the early 1970s and advanced rapidly, animating on Robin Hood and The Rescuers and supervising key sequences for the hybrid feature Pete's Dragon. He directed the studio's Christmastime short The Small One, an assignment that confirmed his aptitude for leading teams and his taste for strongly felt, sentimental storytelling. In parallel, with colleagues Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy he began a personal film, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, produced after hours; its success within the industry convinced them they could mount a feature independently.

Breaking away and forming a studio
In 1979 Bluth, Goldman, Pomeroy, and a small cadre of like-minded artists left Disney to form Don Bluth Productions, seeking to restore classical craftsmanship they felt was slipping from major studio features. Their first feature, The Secret of NIMH (1982), showcased richly detailed backgrounds, fluid character animation, and darker dramatic tones. Though it struggled at the box office, it won critical admiration and drew a circle of collaborators that would follow Bluth through the next decades, including designer Dan Kuenster and the voice actor Dom DeLuise, who became a recurring presence in Bluth films.

The Secret of NIMH and video game innovations
Financial headwinds after NIMH led Bluth's team to an unlikely frontier: LaserDisc arcade games. Partnering with game designer Rick Dyer and the manufacturer Cinematronics, the studio created Dragon's Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1984), whose full-motion animated scenes were unlike anything then seen in arcades. The projects kept the studio afloat and furthered Bluth's reputation for marrying classical animation with new delivery technologies.

Partnerships with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas
A turning point came when Steven Spielberg enlisted Bluth to direct An American Tail (1986) for Amblin and Universal. The film became a major success, buoyed by James Horner's music and a cast featuring Christopher Plummer and Dom DeLuise, and it reintroduced large audiences to hand-drawn feature animation outside Disney. Bluth and Spielberg next collaborated on The Land Before Time (1988), with George Lucas joining as executive producer; the prehistoric odyssey was another hit, though the team carefully moderated its intensity for family audiences. These productions established Bluth as Disney's foremost rival of the era.

Dublin years and a string of features
To stabilize financing and recruit talent, Bluth and partners moved operations to Ireland, forming Sullivan Bluth Studios with businessman Morris Sullivan. In Dublin they produced All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), co-directed with Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster and featuring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, followed by Rock-a-Doodle (1991). Subsequent features Thumbelina (1994), A Troll in Central Park (1994), and The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) reflected the turbulence of independent animation financing; production challenges and distribution shifts often complicated releases, even as the films maintained Bluth's hallmarks: melodious song sequences, expressive character acting, and lavish, painterly backgrounds. Throughout, Bluth's brother Toby Bluth, himself a respected artist and designer, was part of the creative circle that intersected with Disney and stage work, underscoring the family's deep ties to theatrical arts.

Fox Animation Studios and late career
20th Century Fox recruited Bluth and Goldman to establish Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. Their first feature there, Anastasia (1997), blended epic storytelling with songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and became a worldwide success, introducing a new generation to Bluth's style. A video follow-up, Bartok the Magnificent (1999), extended that world. The ambitious science-fantasy Titan A.E. (2000) combined hand-drawn and digital techniques; its commercial disappointment led to the closure of Fox's feature animation unit, a reminder of the volatility of the market even for established filmmakers.

Craft, collaborators, and legacy
Across his body of work, Bluth championed classical draftsmanship, emotional sincerity, and musicals as a narrative engine, often emphasizing themes of separation and reunion, courage under adversity, and the redemptive power of friendship. He relied on a core team that included Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, Dan Kuenster, and producer Morris Sullivan, and he forged high-profile relationships with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Frequent collaborators such as Dom DeLuise brought a vaudevillian warmth to his ensembles, while composers like James Horner contributed soaring musical identities to his best-known films.

In later years Bluth continued to mentor young artists, author instructional materials, and explore ways to revive beloved properties, including renewed efforts with Gary Goldman to bring Dragon's Lair to the screen in feature form. His trajectory, from a Disney-trained draftsman to the most prominent independent animation director of his time, helped keep feature animation vibrant during an era when its future outside a single studio was uncertain. For many viewers, the images from The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Anastasia remain proof of his conviction that hand-drawn animation, when guided by heart and craft, can move audiences as deeply as any art form.

Our collection contains 32 quotes who is written by Don, under the main topics: Art - Music - Movie - Optimism - Decision-Making.