Bill Berg, 84; Writer, Cartoonist for Disney
Bill Berg, 84, a longtime writer and cartoonist for Walt Disney Studios, died of pneumonia March 2 in San Juan Capistrano.
Born in Tacoma, Wash., Berg studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles before joining Disney’s animation department in 1938 as a trainee. After working his way up to assistant animator, he moved to the story department in 1943 and began writing and sketching Donald Duck cartoon shorts.
In the ‘50s, he was involved in the creation of the Dumbo ride at Disneyland and wrote many of the “Mickey Mouse Club” TV shows. He also wrote for the popular Jiminy Cricket education films such as “How to Catch a Cold,” which were shown in elementary schools, and worked on the 1959 Academy Award-nominated short about mathematics, “Donald Duck in Math Magic Land.”
Berg also wrote many “Wonderful World of Disney” TV shows.
Before retiring in 1988, he wrote and sketched the syndicated Disney comic strip “Scamp” for many years.
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