David Hilberman

Who was David Hilberman?

David Hilberman was an American cartoon animator and one of the founders of classic 1940s animation.

Hilberman worked for Walt Disney Studios and helped animate Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi. His involvement in unionizing colleagues and organization of the 1941 Disney strike cost him his job at the studio. After being fired by Disney, he founded Industrial Film and Poster Service with Zack Schwartz and Stephen Bosustow in 1945. It later became UPA. He was blacklisted in the 1950s after Walt Disney accused him of being a communist before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

After 1951 Hilberman moved in England, returned later to Northern California, worked as a freelance cartoonist with Hanna-Barbera and was an animation teacher at San Francisco State University.