Faith Hubley

A prolific, Oscar-winning filmmaker who teamed with husband John Hubley to form a lucrative partnership that yielded such memorable animated shorts as Moonbird (1959) and The Hole (1962), Faith Hubley rose through the ranks of the Hollywood system only to later break away and craft some of the most acclaimed animated shorts of her generation. Born Faith Elliot in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in 1924, the aspiring filmmaker abandoned her high school education to pursue a career behind the camera in Hollywood. Quickly rising from messenger to sound effects and music editor at Columbia, she moved to the West Coast and met Disney animator John Hubley. The couple married in 1955 and subsequently collaborated on the majority of each other's efforts, although their careers hit a roadblock in the late '50s, when John, a political radical, was blacklisted from the Mouse House. Never ones to be shut down by the system, the duo began to produce their own animated films. In 1959, their efforts paid off when they received an Oscar for Moonbird. A charming tale of two boys who venture out into the dark to capture a bird, the children's voices were provided by the couple's own offspring -- a trait that would gradually become something of a signature of their films. John and Faith were also lifelong jazz lovers, and many of their films featured the voice and music of legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Averaging nearly a film per year from the early '60s, John died during heart surgery in 1977, and Faith herself was stricken with cancer during the '70s. It eventually went into remission and the tireless filmmaker continued the tradition of crafting nearly one short each year until the disease ultimately claimed her life in December 2001. Despite the death of Hubley and her husband, her creative energy lived on through both her daughters: Georgia, who fronts the New Jersey-based band Yo La Tengo, and Emily, who animated sequences of the independent hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001).

~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide