John Hubley

Born in 1914, John Hubley was an American animator and animation director known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.
He started to work in animation in 1935 as a background and layout artist at Disney. He left the company during the 1941 animator’s strike, and found work directing films for Screen Gems and the Army’s First Motion Picture Unit until he went on to work for United Productions of America, which became famous for their highly stylized designs and limited animation.
In 1949 he was the creator of the Mr. Magoo cartoon character, based on an uncle, and directed the first Magoo cartoon. He was forced to leave UPA in 1952 when he refused to name names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He founded Storyboard Studios the next year and worked on commercials – his name was blacklisted. He then moved his studio to New York in 1955, where he switched production over to independent short films.
He married Faith Elliott the same year as the studio’s move, and they collaborated on nearly every film he made until his death in 1977 at age 62.