James Algar

James Algar (June 11, 1912 – February 26, 1998) was an esteemed American film director, screenwriter, and producer, whose remarkable career spanned across four decades, primarily with Walt Disney Productions. He was born in Modesto, California and passed away in Carmel, California, bringing to an end an illustrious journey in the world of cinema and storytelling. He was a versatile and talented artist, having served in different crucial roles that contributed to the making of many unforgettable films.

Moving forward to 1958, Algar was embroiled in controversy due to his Oscar-winning documentary White Wilderness, which claimed to portray a mass lemming migration that ended tragically with the rodents jumping off a cliff into the Arctic Ocean. However, investigative journalism later revealed that the scene was not only filmed far away from the Arctic, but the lemmings were actually manipulated on set to depict mass suicide. His filmography includes iconic films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942) and The Incredible Journey (1963). The last film he contributed to was Fantasia 2000, released posthumously in 1999.