David Swift was an American screenwriter, animator, director, and producer.
Born in Minneapolis, Swift's father owned a factory that made sausage casings. He dropped out of school at the age of 17 and boarded a freight train to California to pursue his goal of working for Walt Disney. Swift started out Walt Disney Pictures at as an office boy and later assistant animator to Ward Kimball before becoming a full animator. He worked on classic animated Disney films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Peter Pan.
Swift eventually switched careers from animation to screenwriting and made his directing debut with the Disney film Pollyanna, starring Hayley Mills where he had an uncredited cameo as a fireman. After Pollyanna, Swift wrote and directed the film The Parent Trap, again starring Mills and thirty seven years later directed and wrote the 1998 remake with Lindsay Lohan.
In the late 1970s, Swift returned to Disney and wrote the screenplay for the Jodie Foster movie Candleshoe. He was originally set to direct the picture, before being taken off the project and replaced with Norman Tokar.
Outside of Disney, Swift directed movies, like The Interns, How to Succeed in Business Without Trying, Love is a Ball, Under the Yum Tum Tree, and Good Neighbor Sam. He also created television shows, like Norby, Arnie, Mister Peepers, and the television adaptation of The Interns. In addition, he contributed to The Love Boat, Camp Runamok, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Barney Miller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Climax!, and The Rifleman.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Animator - uncredited |
| 1940 | Pinocchio | Animator - uncredited |
| Fantasia | Animator - uncredited | |
| 1941 | The Reluctant Dragon | Animator |
| The Nifty Nineties | Animator - uncredited | |
| 1953 | Peter Pan | Animator - uncredited |
| 1960 | Pollyanna | Director Producer Writer |
| 1961 | The Parent Trap | Director Producer Writer |
| 1963-1976 | The Magical World of Disney | Director Writer |
| 1977 | Candleshoe | Writer |
| 1998 | The Parent Trap | Director, Producer, Writer |
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