David Swift

American producer/director/writer David Swift cut his professional teeth as an animator at Walt Disney Studios before becoming a radio and television writer. Swift concentrated on the production end of the TV business, first creating and then guiding the destinies of one of the best of the early sitcoms, Mr. Peepers (1952-1955). Returning to Disney as a director in 1960, Swift turned out two of that studio's most profitable films of the decade, Pollyanna (1960) and The Parent Trap (1961), both of which helped secure the stardom of Hayley Mills. In the mid-'60s, Swift turned out films which explored America's preoccupation with sex and materialism, combining these elements with his own homey sentimentality in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), Good Neighbor Sam (1963), and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967). Peaking early,Swift never quite matched his earlier accomplishments in later years, although glimmers of his low-key social commentary could be seen in such films as Candleshoe (1977) and the short-lived TV series Grindl (1963). His final film credit was as a screenwriter for Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Swift died in 2001.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide