Stephen Bosustow
Stephen Reginald Bosustow (November 6, 1911 in Victoria, British Columbia – July 4, 1981[1]) was a Canadian-born American film producer from 1943 until his retirement in 1979. He was one of the founders of United Productions of America (UPA) and produced nearly 600 cartoon and live-action shorts. He is chiefly remembered for producing a string of Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoons in the 1950s, two of which earned Academy Awards. He is the only film producer in history who received all the Oscar nominations in one category (1957), guaranteeing him the winning Oscar. Magoo's Puddle Jumper was the eventual winner.
Bosustow began his animation career in the early 1930s working for the Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz studios before joining Walt Disney Productions in 1934 as an animator and writer. He left Disney during the 1941 Disney animators' strike and joined Hughes Aircraft as an illustrator. He co-founded the Industrial Film and Poster Service in 1943 which evolved into UPA.[2]
In 1963 Bosustow Entertainment was established and his son Nick Bosustow produced the 1983 Emmy Award winner for CBS-TV, Wrong Way Kid, starring Dick Van Dyke. Also in 1963, Bosustow formed a subsidiary for animated commercials in Hong Kong with his son Tee Bosustow. In 1968 he partnered with Nick to form Stephen Bosustow Productions, which produced films for theaters including the Oscar-winner Is It Always Right to Be Right? (1971), an Academy Award-nominated animated film Legend of John Henry (1974), as well as Sesame Street and CBS-TV after school specials.
Personal life
Bosustow has two sons. Nick, with whom he formed a production company, is now a recruiter for the Peace Corps after serving as a volunteer in Guatemala and Suriname. His other son, Tee, has been working on a documentary focusing on his late father's animation studio, titled "UPA: Magoo, McBoing Boing, and Modern Art”. He documents the film's progress at the UPA Legacy Project site. Tee also hosts the animation podcast site, Toon In! ... to the World of Animation! with interviews from all around the world, featuring animation artists from UPA and other studios, as well as independent animators and historians.
The name Bosustow is Cornish, meaning "dwelling of Ustoc" in the Cornish language.[3]
References
- ↑ "IMDb biography". Retrieved January 4, 2009.
- ↑ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/stephen-bosustow/
- ↑ Rowse, A.L. The Cousin Jacks, The Cornish in America