“Tell a good story in a lighthearted manner. Family entertainment should be fun; life is melodramatic enough.” - Bill Anderson William Hillyard "Bill" Anderson was an American producer, best known for his work with The Walt Disney Company. He also served on the company's Board of Directors from 1964 to 1984, and was named a Disney Legend in 2004.
Anderson was born in Smithfield, Utah. From a young age, he had the desire to be an actor. To pursue his dream, he moved to California, where he found himself playing small radio parts. He eventually abandoned acting in favor of the automobile industry and used his salary to pay his way through pre-law at El Camino College Compton Center and later the University of Southern California.
In 1943, Walt Disney Productions hired Anderson to work in their production control department. By 1951, Anderson had risen in the ranks from an assistant to becoming production manager for Walt Disney. In 1956, he was named vice president in charge of studio operations. His first film as a producer was Old Yeller. He would go on to produce many live-action features, such as Swiss Family Robinson, The Moon-Spinners, The Happiest Millionaire, The Apple Dumpling Gang, and The Shaggy D.A.. He also worked extensively on the ABC television series Zorro as well as the Disney anthology show where he produced episodes of The Swamp Fox, Texas John Slaughter, and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.
After the death of Walt Disney in 1966, Anderson was selected to be part of a small group of producers who would guide the studio's motion picture production over the next decade until his retirement in 1984. He died from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1997 after suffering a fall.
Filmography[]
Trivia[]
- In 1959, his wife, Virginia was instrumental in bringing Hayley Mills to the attention of Anderson. He then suggested to Walt that the English actress would be a good fit for the lead role in Pollyanna.
References[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Bill Anderson (producer). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
