Short Subject
BEN SHARPSTEEN
Ben Sharpsteen
- (Ben Sharpsteen)
Biography
BIO
Ben Sharpsteen was born Benjamin Sharpsteen in Tacoma, Washington, in 1895.
Sharpsteen began his movie career as a cartoon film director, at the age 25, putting out the Happy Hooligan comic strip for William Randolph Hearst's International Film Service.
He joined Walt Disney Productions as an animator in 1928 and began working on the earliest Mickey Mouse short-reels beginning in 1929.
Sharpsteen directed his first film for Disney, another Mickey Mouse short-reel in 1934. He went on to direct more than 30 movies during his career at Disney.
Sharpsteen received two Academy Awards: one for Documentary (Short Subject) entitled Ama Girls (1958) and one for Documentary (Feature) entitled White Wilderness (1958). He also received an Oscar nomination in the Short Subject (Live Action) category for Portugal (1957).
Sharpsteen died in Calistoga, California, in 1980, at the age of 85.
