Stephen Reginald Bosustow (November 6, 1911 in Victoria, British Columbia – July 4, 1981) was a Canadian-born American film producer from 1943 until his retirement in 1979. He was one of the founders of United Productions of America (UPA) and produced nearly 600 cartoon and live-action shorts. He is chiefly remembered for producing a string of

Mr. Magoo Mr. Magoo (known by his full name: J. Quincy Magoo) is a fictional cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Mr. Magoo is an elderly, wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical ...

and Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoons in the 1950s, three of which earned Academy Awards. He is the only film producer in history who received all the Oscar nominations in one category (1956), guaranteeing him the winning Oscar. '' Magoo's Puddle Jumper'' was the eventual winner.

Biography

Bosustow began his animation career in the early 1930s working for the Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz studios before joining Walt Disney Productions in 1934 as an animator and writer. He left Disney during the 1941 Disney animators' strike and joined Hughes Aircraft as an illustrator. He co-founded the Industrial Film and Poster Service in 1943 which evolved into UPA. In 1963, Bosustow Entertainment was established and his son, Nick Bosustow, produced the 1983

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

winner for CBS-TV, ''

Wrong Way Kid ''Wrong Way Kid'' is a 1983 American made-for-television animated film starring Dick Van Dyke, Keith Coogan, Derek Barton, June Foray, Stan Freberg, Melanie Gaffin, Joan Gerber, Wayne Hall, Don Messick, Jason Naylor and Arnold Stang. The ...

'', starring

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

. Also in 1963, Bosustow formed a subsidiary for animated commercials in Hong Kong with his son Tee Bosustow. In 1968, he partnered with Nick to form Stephen Bosustow Productions, which produced films for theaters including the Oscar-winner ''

Is It Always Right to Be Right? ''Is It Always Right to Be Right?'' is a 1970 American short animated film directed by Lee Mishkin, produced by Stephen Bosustow Productions, and narrated by Orson Welles. Origins Dr. Warren H. Schmidt (who died in 2016 at the age of 95) wrote ...

'' (1971), an Academy Award-nominated animated film ''Legend of John Henry'' (1974), as well as '' Sesame Street'' and CBS-TV after school specials. Stephen Bosustow died of pneumonia July 4, 1981 at the age of 69. Four years later, his son Nick closed down the studio.

Personal life

Bosustow has two sons. The name Bosustow is Cornish, meaning "dwelling of Ustoc" in the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a List of revived languages, revived language, having become Extinct language, extinct as a livin ...

Rowse, A.L. Alfred Leslie Rowse (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall. Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encoura ...

''The Cousin Jacks, The Cornish in America''

References

External links

Stephen Bosustow Productions
at the Internet Movie Database * American film producers Canadian film producers American animated film producers Canadian animated film producers Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of Cornish descent American animators Canadian animators Walt Disney Animation Studios people 1981 deaths 1911 births 20th-century American businesspeople Producers who won the Best Animated Short Academy Award Deaths from pneumonia in California {{Canada-film-producer-stub