Winston Hibler - Turner Classic Movies

Biography

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Winston Hibler was a writer, director, producer, narrator, and Disney Legend who made numerous contributions to the glory days of The Walt Disney Studios from the 1940s until his death in 1976. His earliest official credit came as a story writer for Disney's animated musical take on the folk hero "Johnny Appleseed." Throughout the '50s, Hibler contributed as part of typically eight-man s...

Filmography

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Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967)

Operation Undersea (1954)

The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1975)

King of the Grizzlies (1970)

Jungle Cat (1960)

White Wilderness (1958)

Photos & Videos

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Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar (1967) -- (Movie Clip) He Didn't Know He Was A Cougar

Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar (1967) -- (Movie Clip) A Friendly Frolic

Biography

Winston Hibler was a writer, director, producer, narrator, and Disney Legend who made numerous contributions to the glory days of The Walt Disney Studios from the 1940s until his death in 1976. His earliest official credit came as a story writer for Disney's animated musical take on the folk hero "Johnny Appleseed." Throughout the '50s, Hibler contributed as part of typically eight-man story writing teams for such animated Disney classics as "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," and "Sleeping Beauty"; he also composed songs heard in the latter two films. In 1954, "Hib," as he was known to his colleagues, began writing and directing for the inaugural season of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," the entertainment behemoth's early foray into television, which featured both animated and live-action biography programs. Hibler not only wrote and directed for the series but also produced and even narrated several episodes between the mid-'50s and mid-'70s. In 1955, still under the Disney umbrella, Hibler wrote, directed, and narrated the documentary short "Men Against the Arctic," which won an Academy Award for the studio. In addition to his projects for "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," Hibler also produced numerous feature films for Disney throughout the '60s and '70s, among them the 1968 Dean Jones-starring family comedy, "The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit," and the 1974 drama "The Bears and I."

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967)

Operation Undersea (1954)

Cast (Feature Film)

The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1975)

King of the Grizzlies (1970)

Jungle Cat (1960)

White Wilderness (1958)

Secrets of Life (1956)

Disneyland, U.S.A. (1956)

The African Lion (1955)

The Vanishing Prairie (1954)

The Living Desert (1953)

Writer (Feature Film)

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967)

Nikki, Wild Dog of the North (1961)

Writ for the screen

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Disneyland, U.S.A. (1956)

The African Lion (1955)

The Vanishing Prairie (1954)

Peter Pan (1953)

The Living Desert (1953)

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Cinderella (1950)

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Melody Time (1948)

Johnny Appleseed (1948)

Producer (Feature Film)

The Castaway Cowboy (1974)

The Bears and I (1974)

The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

One Little Indian (1973)

Napoleon and Samantha (1972)

The Aristocats (1970)

King of the Grizzlies (1970)

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968)

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967)

Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

The Ugly Dachshund (1966)

Those Calloways (1965)

Yellowstone Cubs (1963)

Sammy, the Way-Out Seal (1962)

Nikki, Wild Dog of the North (1961)

The Hound That Thought He Was a Raccoon (1960)

Music (Feature Film)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Peter Pan (1953)

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1975)

Life Events

Videos

Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar (1967) -- (Movie Clip) He Didn't Know He Was A Cougar Following a goofy original title song about a teenage cougar, with animation, the proper opening of the Walt Disney live action feature, we meet Ron Brown as logger Jess, Disney stalwarts Winston Hibler directing and Rex Allen narrating, and the youngest performing cat, in Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar, 1967.

Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar (1967) -- (Movie Clip) A Friendly Frolic Having been adopted by a logger, abandoned cougar cub Charlie gets a big assist from narrator Rex Allen, writer Jack Speirs and director Winston Hibler, explaining his reasoning for an extended play sequence with a bear cub, in the Walt Disney live action feature Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar, 1967.

Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar (1967) -- (Movie Clip) His One Log Catamaran The title character, now a little larger, with pal Jess (Ron Brown) encounters his enemy, the terrier Chainsaw, their chase introducing their participation in one of the last river log drives ever completed in the U.S.A., along the North Fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho, in Walt Disney’s Charlie, The Lonesome Cougar, 1967.

Bears And I, The (1974) -- (Movie Clip) This Was His Home Country Patrick Wayne’s opening narration as U.S. Army veteran Bob Leslie (a real person, the original author), hiking through the Cascades in British Columbia, and meeting friends and family of his late comrade, including Valentin de Vargas, Michael Ansara and Chief Dan George as Chief Peter, in Walt Disney’s The Bears And I, 1974.

Bears And I, The (1974) -- (Movie Clip) A Cardinal Rule For Bear Country Now on his own in the Cascades, inspecting his rented cabin, Vietnam veteran Bob (Patrick Wayne, John’s son) narrates his first encounter with the title characters, in the Walt Disney live action feature The Bears And I, 1974.

African Lion, The (1955) The King Of The Beasts Dated and with language and perspectives that would not be considered appropriate in current discourse, the nonetheless thoughtful and informative opening to the successful Walt Disney studios live action feature, The African Lion, narration by Winston Hibler, directed by James Algar.

African Lion, The (1955) The Eaters Of Grass Further exposition in Winston Hibler’s narration, with passing reference to the topical lions, a methodical and absorbing introduction of the animals upon whom they prey, though the names and species might be delineated differently today, in the Walt Disney live action hit The African Lion, 1955.

African Lion, The (1955) Laziest Animal Alive Again Winston Hibler narration, with camera by Alfred G. and Elma Millotte, an early description of some of the behaviors of the title cats, shot in Technicolor all around the Serengeti, in Walt Disney’s The African Lion, 1955.

Secrets Of Life (1956) -- (Movie Clip) The Modern Camera The narration by Winston Hibler trails off for the first extended sequence of time-lapse plant-growth, original music by Disney staffer Paul Smith, in the feature documentary Secrets Of Life, 1956, from the True Life Adventure series.

Living Desert, The (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Across The Face Of Our Globe Co-writer Winston Hibler narrates the animated opening to the first Walt Disney feature-length documentary, the first picture distributed by Disney’s new Buena Vista subsidiary, and the 1953 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, The Living Desert.

Living Desert, The (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Odd Patterns Of Life Winston Hibler’s narration continues getting into much greater detail, with cacti, birds, tortoises, and the first introduction of the matter of reproduction, in the Academy Award winning Walt Disney documentary The Living Desert, 1953.

Bibliography

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