Dora Wilson

Wilson in 1984

**Dora Elysian Wilson** (October 1, 1902 – May 1, 2000) was an Argentine-American animator, writer and film and television producer known for founding DreamWorks Pictures. She is also known for creating the *Dreamtoons* series and for being the first female major producer in American animation history, producing several short films, feature films and television programs throughout DreamWorks' first six decades.

In 1994, Wilson retired and sold DreamWorks to Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, former Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and music editor David Geffen. On May 1, 2000, she passed away from at the age of 97.

## Early life

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 1, 1902, Dora Elysian Wilson was the only daughter and, after brother Mike Ollie Wilson (1900-1996), the second child of Murray J. Wilson, the father (1868-1939) and Sarah Elysian II, the mother (1870-1964).

At age two, Wilson and her family moved to the United Sates where her parents got a farming job at Texas. At age three, Wilson's life changed upon seeing the animated short film *Humorous Phases of Funny Faces* with her family in 1906 and claimed that she would become an animation artist, despite her father originally wanting his daughter to become a farmer, and her mother took her to art school. Wilson was also inspired by Winser McKay's 1917 animated short *Gertie the Dinosaur*, which was an impact in animation technique and influenced generations of artists and animators.

## Career

### Peliculas Caricatura (Cartoon Pictures)

In 1927, Dora and Mike Wilson moved from Texas to Mexico City, Mexico to open their first animation studio Peliculas Caricaturas to produce cartoons starring Tinta, an ink blob TBD

### DreamWorks Pictures

After Cartoon Pictures went bankrupt in 1933, Wilson and the rest of her animators and artists then moved to Hollywood to create a new animation studio built in 1934, Wilson Cartoons, to produce *Dreamtoons*, a series of animated cartoons that was made to compete other cartoon short series of that era such as Walt Disney's *Mickey Mouse* and *Silly Symphonies*, Universal Pictures' *Oswald the Lucky Rabbit*, Max Fleischer's *Betty Boop* and *Popeye the Sailor*, and Warner Bros.' *Looney Tunes* and *Merrie Melodies*. The studio also produced cartoon ad shorts for various products until 1947.

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## Health issues, retirement and death

Wilson experienced several health issues in 1989 after stepping in as CEO after Mike Wilson stepped down from DreamWorks. After struggling to find a buyer for DreamWorks, since her family weren't experienced enough to run it, she met Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, who accepted her request to buy the studio at the time of her retirement.

In May 1990, following the initial production of *Trolls* with Amblimation, DreamWorks announced Wilson would retire, planning to sell her studio to Spielberg. Spielberg originally planned to make DreamWorks as a subsidiary of his studio Amblin Entertainment, but decided to instead operate it independently as a second studio. In 1994, former chairman of Walt Disney Pictures, Jeffrey Katzenberg and the founder of Geffen Records and The Geffen Film Company, David Geffen joined Spielberg. On October 12 (two months before the release of *Trolls*) of the same year, Wilson finally sold DreamWorks to Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, leaving nine more of her last animated films, called "retirement pitches" by Katzenberg (1995-1998), to be finished under the new management.

In December 1999, Wilson fell ill and was taken to a hospital. On May 1, 2000, at 5:45 am, Wilson was pronounced dead at the age of 97, of natural causes. The films *Shrek* and *AI: Artificial Intelligence* were dedicated to her memory.

## Trivia

* Wilson disliked using Christmas-themed horror/thriller genres in films, literature, specials, etc. because she considered it too hard to make and believed that it didn't fit well with Christmas' meaning of family reunions, celebration, and Jesus Christ's birth. Wilson barred DreamWorks from ever producing Christmas horror films. Bob Clark's 1974 slasher film *Black Christmas* was considered Wilson's least favorite film.