Ted Sears

Who was Ted Sears?

Ted Sears was an American animator during The Golden Age of American animation. Sears worked for the Fleischer Studios in the late-1920s and early-1930s, and was hired away from Max Fleischer to work at the Walt Disney studio in 1931.

As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did significant story work on many Disney features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty. Sears had initially provided the voice of the titular character in Pinocchio before the character was reimagined and child actor Dickie Jones was cast as the voice of the character instead.

Sears was born in Massachusetts, but was raised in New York City. He died in Los Angeles, California at the age of 58 in 1958.