Don Towsley

Born 1912-05-11 · Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Died 1986-11-25

Don Towsley (May 11, 1912 – November 25, 1986) was an animator working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and later at MGM and Filmation. Starting out at Disney, Towsley worked on three shorts in the Silly Symphony series, animating the band in The Cookie Carnival (1935), a scene of dancing hens ultimately cut from Cock o' the Walk (1935), and the introduction and opening scene of Donald's Better Self (1938). In 1938, Towsley became the main animator for the Donald Duck short films, following Fred Spencer's death. Towsley contributed to the 1940 film Pinocchio, as part of the team responsible for Jiminy Cricket and Monstro the Whale. He also animated the "Pastoral Symphony" segment of the 1940 film Fantasia. In 1943, Towsley, along with a team of animators, contributed to a wartime animated short film titled Der Fuehrer's Face produced by Walt Disney. In the 1960s, Towsley worked for MGM's Tom and Jerry series, including animation work on 1965's Haunted Mouse. Towsley joined the Filmation animation studio in 1968 as an associate director. He directed episodes of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–74), My Favorite Martians (1973–75), The New Adventures of Gilligan (1974–77), The U.S. of Archie (1974–76), The New Adventures of Batman (1977), Sabrina, Super Witch (1977–78) and The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979–80), among others. He also directed a sequence in Filmation's 1972 film, Journey Back to Oz. [biography from Wikipedia]