Bill Roberts

Birth : 1899-08-02, Kentucky, USA

Death : 1974-03-18

History

Worked as a magazine illustrator in New York, before joining the Disney Organization in 1932/3.

Movies

Mickey's Family Album
Director
A World Is Born
Director
Using the segment "Rite of Spring" from Fantasia (1940), this educational film depicts the Earth's first billion years of existence, from its birth and throughout the Dinosaur age.
Fun and Fancy Free
Director
Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: “Bongo,” about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” a take on the famous fairy tale.
Mickey and the Beanstalk
Director
A mysterious thief has stolen the prosperous Happy Valley's most prized possession: the musical Singing Harp. Can Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find the answer in the irritable Willie the Giant's magnificent castle up in the blue sky?
The Three Caballeros
Director
For Donald's birthday he receives a box with three gifts inside. The gifts, a movie projector, a pop-up book, and a pinata, each take Donald on wild adventures through Mexico and South America.
The Cold-blooded Penguin
Director
Disney Short about Pablo the Penguin and his journey to find a warm place.
Reason and Emotion
Director
A World War II propaganda film about the need to remain calm and logical during wartime.
Saludos Amigos
Director
Live-action segments show members of the Disney staff touring South America and recording their impressions in sketches. These segue into four animated sections: "Lake Titicaca" depicts tourist Donald Duck's troubles with a stubborn llama; "Pedro" tells of a little mail plane's adventures flying over the treacherous Andes; "El Gaucho Goofy" transplants an American cowboy into the Argentine pampas; and in "Aquarela do Brasil," Jose Carioca shows Donald the sights and sounds of Rio de Janiero.
Lake Titicaca
Director
Donald is visiting South America, where he is first overcome by altitude sickness. He spends some time in the picturesque market. Then he take a llama up into the mountains, with exciting results.
Bambi
Co-Director
Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.
Dumbo
Director
Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.
Fantasia
Director
Walt Disney's timeless masterpiece is an extravaganza of sight and sound! See the music come to life, hear the pictures burst into song and experience the excitement that is Fantasia over and over again.
Pinocchio
Director
Lonely toymaker Geppetto has his wishes answered when the Blue Fairy arrives to bring his wooden puppet Pinocchio to life. Before becoming a real boy, however, Pinocchio must prove he's worthy as he sets off on an adventure with his whistling sidekick and conscience, Jiminy Cricket.
Society Dog Show
Director
Rather out of place at a swanky dog show, Pluto flirts with Fifi, a dainty Pekingese. The judge orders Mickey and Pluto to leave, but when a fire breaks out Pluto rescues Fifi and is proclaimed a hero.
Brave Little Tailor
Director
When a giant threatens the land, the cityfolk mistake Mickey's boast of killing seven flies with one blow to be giants. He is then forced to fight the giant for real.
Mickey's Parrot
Director
A parrot belonging to an escaped killer washes up in Mickey's basement. Mickey hears it talking and thinks the parrot is the killer he's just heard about on the radio. While Mickey is skulking about the basement, Pluto runs into the parrot, first hidden under the fish, and then inside a leftover turkey.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Animation
A beautiful girl, Snow White, takes refuge in the forest in the house of seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother, the wicked Queen. The Queen is jealous because she wants to be known as "the fairest in the land," and Snow White's beauty surpasses her own.
Clock Cleaners
Animation
It's time to laugh like crazy as Mickey, Goofy and Donald fight against raging gears, twisted springs, deafening bells and a sleeping stork. Watch them reach new heights of humor as their valiant efforts to clean a bell tower turn into a real circus!
Mother Pluto
Animation
Pluto accidentally hatches a bunch of chickens and looks after them until the hen returns.
Donald and Pluto
Animation
Plumber Donald is using a large magnet in his work. When he drops it, it causes trouble for Pluto, especially after Pluto swallows it. Things begin clinging to him, especially his metal dog dish.
Alpine Climbers
Animation
Donald, Mickey, and Pluto climb the Alps. While up top, Donald has a run-in with a mountain goat over some edelweiss, Mickey has a row with an eagle over its eggs; one of them hatches, and gives Pluto some trouble (as does the grog a Saint Bernard gives him when he falls into a snowbank).
Three Little Wolves
Animation
Two little pigs cry wolf on their brother and then an actual wolf comes.
Mickey's Polo Team
Animation
Mickey leads his polo team Donald (on a mule), Goofy, The Big Bad Wolf against an all-star team: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Harpo Marx (on an ostrich), Charles Chaplin, in a game refereed by Jack Holt. Featured spectators include the Three Little Pigs with Shirley Temple, W.C. Fields, and Clarabelle Cow with Clark Gable. Game action proceeds pretty much as you might expect from this bunch of comedians.
Pluto's Judgement Day
Animation
Pluto chases a kitten through a window and right into Mickey's lap. Mickey scolds him, and goes off to wash the kitten. Pluto falls asleep in front of the fire, and dreams of a hell ruled by cats where he is put on trial for all his crimes against cats and, of course, found guilty.
Who Killed Cock Robin?
Animation
A robin is shot so the woodland community holds a trial to investigate.
The Robber Kitten
Animation
A kitten runs off to be a robber with a dog.
The Dognapper
Animation
Mickey and an early version of Donald Duck are police officers chasing dognapper Pegleg Pete. Despite their bumbling, they manage to repeatedly get the drop on Pete at his sawmill hideout, though they ultimately make a shambles of the place.
Mickey Plays Papa
Animation
Mickey and Pluto are reading scary stories; they go to investigate a noise and find a foundling mouse that's been left on the porch.
Gulliver Mickey
Animation
Mickey is first seen reading Gulliver's Travels while the mice orphan children are pretending to be sailors. After ruining their game Mickey tries to make it up to them by retelling the Liliput sequences of Gulliver's Travels pretending it was a real event that happened to him by portraying the role of Gulliver. The story ends with Mickey saving the town from a giant spider (Pete). However after telling the story, one of the children dangles a fake spider attached to a fishing rod which scares Mickey out of his witts.
The Big Bad Wolf
Animation
The Big Bad Wolf torments Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs.
The Grasshopper and the Ants
Animation
As in the classic fable, the grasshopper plays his fiddle and lives for the moment, while the industrious ants squirrel away massive amounts of food for the winter. With his song, he's able to convince at least one small ant until the queen arrives and scares him back to work. The queen warns the grasshopper of the trouble he'll be in, come winter. Winter comes, and the grasshopper, near starvation, stumbles across the ants, who are having a full-on feast in their snug little tree. They take him in and warm him up. The queen tells him only those who work can eat so he must play for them. Written by Jon Reeves
Old King Cole
Animation
Old King Cole throws party and invites all of the Mother Goose characters. He warns them that they must leave at midnight. Another collection of characters puts on a stage show. The Ten Little Indian Boys get everyone dancing along. The Hickory Dickory Dock mice announce midnight, and everyone leaves, back into their books.
Father Noah's Ark
Animation
Noah, his family (wife, 3 sons, their wives), and various animals all help build the ark. The rains come, and the skunks barely miss the boat (not that anyone was particularly looking for them), but they manage to swim to it. After the rain and many lamentations by the humans, the sun returns, to the great joy of all. The ground appears, and the animals (and many new babies) disembark.
Mickey's Mellerdrammer
Animation
Mickey Mouse and his friends stage their own production of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Babes in the Woods
Animation
Two children wander the forest and get lured into a witch's house.
King Neptune
Animation
After a short introduction, one of Neptune's mermaids is captured by a pirate ship, and their anchor chain entangles King Neptune; the various sea creatures launch a full-on assault on the pirate ship, and eventually the giant King himself gets free and creates major havoc for the ship.
Bugs in Love
Animation
Insects have made a playground/carnival out of castoffs, featuring "ice skating" on mirrors. Two love bugs head off to a more private area. But their fun is interrupted when a crow comes by. He bottles up the male bug and chases the female into her home. The male bug escapes in the nick of time, and another bug notices the battle and rallies the rest of the bugs to attack, which they do, using false teeth, an eggbeater, a mousetrap, castor oil, and other things.