Happy Birthday, Tim Burton, Director and Animator

Timothy William Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in sunny Burbank, California. According to MTV, Burton never embraced suburban life: “instead of joining little league or selling lemonade [Burton] spent his time drawing, watching old horror movies and reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe.” Burton won a scholarship to California Institute of the Arts and became an animator at Disney upon graduation. Of his time at the studio, Burton says, “I was just not Disney material. I could just not draw cute foxes for the life of me.”

Burton spent a lot of time in his youth watching the horror films of Roger Corman, which often starred the famous villain Vincent Price. Burton’s fascination with Price became a source of inspiration throughout his career; his award-winning short “Vincent” paid homage to his childhood film idol.

Burton left his job at Disney when Paul Reubens hired the young animator to help direct “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985). Burton’s cinematic success continued with “Beetlejuice,” which starred Michael Keaton. Burton worked with Keaton again in “Batman” and “Batman Returns,” establishing a tradition of casting the same actors in multiple projects. One of Burton’s favorite collaborators is Johnny Depp, who has starred in such Burton films as “Ed Wood,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Sweeney Todd.” Check out Tim Burton’s complete filmography on the Internet Movie Database.

A career retrospective on Tim Burton will be presented by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City starting in November of 2009. The exhibit will feature a gallery exhibition and film series, covering his career as “a director, producer, writer, and concept artist for live-action and animated films, along with his work as a fiction writer, photographer and illustrator,” explains the MoMA Web site.

Burton’s success as a director, producer, writer, and animator has not ignited ambitions to act. When asked by UK broadcaster Tim Marlow if he had acting aspirations, Burton stated flatly, “No. I was in a film [‘Singles’] and it was so bad. I was the biggest diva. I was trying, but I was just so nervous, and it was such a weird thing to do. I have a newfound respect for actors because it is a strange job that they have.”