A native of Lebanon, Kan., and the son of a Dust Bowl farmer, Willis Pyle was attending the University of Colorado as an art student and working as an advertising illustrator at a clothing store when he noticed a poster on campus from the new Walt Disney studio. It was looking to hire animators to come to Hollywood.
He moved to Los Angeles and started at Disney in November 1937 as a office boy, then worked on Pinocchio (1940) as an assistant animator to Milt Kahl. Pyle also assisted on Fantasia (1940) and Bambi (1942) before leaving Disney to briefly work for Walter Lantz, where he helped out on Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
In addition to his work with Disney, Pyle also helped develop the famous Mr. Magoo character for United Productions of America. The Hollywood Reporter also notes he had a successful freelance career, “working on such TV shows as Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure, Halloween Is Grinch Night and Charlie Brown specials.”
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