Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks (Ubbe Ert Iwwerks) (March 24, 1901 - July 7, 1971), was an animator famous for his work for Walt Disney.

He was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

He was responsible for the distinctive style of the earliest Disney cartoons; and the first few Mickey Mouse cartoons were animated almost entirely by Iwerks. Iwerks spent most of his career with Disney, except for a few years in the early 1930s when he ran an animation studio under his own name.

Iwerks's most famous work outside animating Mickey Mouse was Flip the Frog for his own studio. Flip bears more than a small resemblance to the characters Iwerks drew earlier, Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Iwerks was known for his fast work at drawing and animation and his wacky sense of humor. Animator Chuck Jones, who worked for Iwerks' studio in his youth, said "Iwerks is Screwy spelled backwards".

He died in Burbank, California.

A documentary film, "The Hand Behind the Mouse - The Ub Iwerks Story" was released in 1999.