''It's Tough to Be a Bird'' is a 1969 American animated educational short film directed by

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honor ...

and produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. The short won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons at the

42nd Academy Awards The 42nd Academy Awards were presented April 7, 1970, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. For the second year in a row, there was no official host. This was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be broadcast via satelli ...

in 1970 and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film in 1971. This was the last animated short film produced by Disney to win an Academy Award until '' Paperman'' (2012) and thus the final animated cartoon short released by Disney in the

golden age of American animation The golden age of American animation was a period that began with the popularization of Sound film, sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medi ...

Summary

In the short, a red

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

(voiced by

Richard Bakalyan Richard Bakalyan (January 29, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor who started his career playing juvenile delinquents in his first several films. Early life Richard Bakalyan was born on January 29, 1931, in Watertown, Massachuset ...

) explains how birds have contributed to human culture, even as people often try to kill them. He claims this may be because humans were jealous that birds can fly but people cannot, mentioning the legend of

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

and featured films of early unsuccessful flying machines. In ''Disney's D-TV'' in the 1980s, clips from this short were set to Bobby Day's cover of " Rockin' Robin".DTV Bobby Day Rockin' Robin by Rayzor-YouTube
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Cast

Ruth Buzzi Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; July 24, 1936 – May 1, 2025) was an American actress and comedian. She appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She was best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 196 ...

as Soprano *

as M.C. Bird * John Emerson as Bird Fancier * Jim Swain as Bird Fancier * Ann Lord as Bird Fancier * Hank Schloss as Bird Fancier * Walter Perkins as Bird Fancier * Rolf Darbo as Bird Fancier *

as Bird Fancier (uncredited)

References

External links

* *
''It's Tough To Be A Bird'' on BCDB
{{AcademyAwardBestAnimatedShortFilm 1961–1980 1969 films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners 1960s Disney animated short films Disney educational films Films directed by Ward Kimball Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by George Bruns Animated films about birds Noah's Ark in film 1960s English-language films Short films with live action and animation English-language short films 1969 animated short films

Summary

Cast

See also

References

External links