Arthur Humberstone
British film animator (1912-1999)
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Arthur Roland Humberstone (17 April 1912 – 31 December 1999) was a British animator, artist and director, whose credits included Animal Farm, Yellow Submarine[1] and The BFG.[2]
Arthur Humberstone | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 17 April 1912 Britain |
| Died | 31 December 1999 (aged 87) |
| Occupations | Animator, artist and director |
| Years active | 1949-1999 |
In 1946, Arthur was one of the trainee animators enlisted at J Arthur Rank's new studio being set up at Moor Hall in Cookham led by ex-Disney Director David Hand, where he animated several Animaland shorts.[3]
He worked with Halas & Batchelor and as a senior animator with Martin Rosen on Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.
Arthur Humberstone's influence on the film Watership Down is discussed in the chapter "Revisiting the production of Watership Down through the Arthur Humberstone Animation Archive" in the book Watership Down: Perspectives On and Beyond Animated Violence.[4]
An exhibition Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad, of materials from the Arthur Humberstone Animation Archive, was shown at The Horse Hospital 13th April - 5th May 2023.
An exhibition The Animated Life of Arthur Humberstone was shown at the Post Hall, Sheffield Hallam University 8th March - 5th April 2025.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus | [5] | |
| 1950 | Ginger Nutt's Forest Dragon | [6] | |
| 1954 | Animal Farm | ||
| 1963 | Noddy Goes to Toyland | director and animator | [7] |
| 1968 | Yellow Submarine | ||
| 1972 | The Osmonds | ||
| 1973 | The Addams Family | unit director | [8] |
| 1974 | The Count of Monte Cristo | ||
| 1978 | Watership Down | senior animator | |
| 1979 | The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe | ||
| 1982 | The Plague Dogs | senior animator | |
| 1983 | SuperTed | layout artist, one episode | |
| 1989 | The BFG | key animator |