Balser, together with co-director Jack Stokes, are best known as the animation directors for the 1968 film, Yellow Submarine, which was inspired by the music of the Beatles.
[3] He moved to Los Angeles with his parents, where he attended high school and enrolled in classes at the Chouinard Art Institute.
[3] He decided to take additional animation classes and created three films as part of his course work: Old King Cole, Richard Corey, and I Like to See It Lap the Miles.
[3] They purchased two one-way tickets for the SS Maasdam ocean liner from New York City to Le Havre, France.
[3] The couple ran out of income after five months, but Balser was offered a job with Laterna Films in Copenhagen, Denmark.
[3] In 1964, Balser directed El Sombrero, an animated short film written by Alan Shean, for Estudios Moro, a Spanish production company.
[3] Balser served on the board of directors for the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) from 1978 to 1994, and helped to establish ASIFA-Spain in 1980.
[1] In 1986, Balser and his wife, Cima, joined with four other couples to establish the Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona.
[3] Next, Balser lived in Cairo, Egypt, for several months, where he worked as an animation consultant for the International Executive Service Corporation.
[1] He died from complications of respiratory failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, on January 4, 2016, at the age of 88.