He next animated the Slave in the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Monstro in Pinocchio (1940), and the climactic dinosaur fight in Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" segment of Fantasia (1940).
He made his directorial debut with the 1957 short film The Truth About Mother Goose; within years, he became the first sole director for a Disney animated feature, beginning with The Sword in the Stone (1963).
In 1911, owing to political unrest, the family relocated to the United States when he was a child, where they first settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where one of Philip's brothers had lived.
[10] Reitherman's next assignments were animating Monstro in Pinocchio (1940) and the climactic dinosaur fight in Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" segment of Fantasia (1940).
[11] The night he had finished his animation, Reitherman attended a Christmas staff party and played a tape recording of Stravinsky's piece in reverse.
[13][9] In December 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and Reitherman, at the age of 32, enlisted into the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as a pilot.
[16] After several years of service, Reitherman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster.
[17] Reitherman rejoined the Disney studios in April 1947, where he animated the Headless Horseman chase sequence in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow section of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), alongside John Sibley.
[20] By this point, Disney began devoting less time and energy into animation, as he sought to expand into developing an amusement theme park and television projects.
Nine veteran animators—Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Reitherman, and Frank Thomas—began to consolidate and were known as the "Nine Old Men", in reference to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's denigration of the Supreme Court.
[24] Animation historian Charles Solomon praised the alley sequence, writing, it is "a textbook example of a Reitherman fight scene: Tramp defeats a pack of vicious mongrels to save Lady, helpless in her muzzle.
[35][36] Animator Ward Kimball claimed Reitherman was selected due to his work compatibility and willingness to accept any project "with a smile".
[34] Animator Bob Carlson quoted Disney as stating, "Whenever I want to know what the public thinks about a film I'm making, I ask Woolie, because in a way he's the All-American boy.
[40] Released in December 1963, The Sword in the Stone earned an estimated $4.75 million in box office rentals in the United States and Canada.
[41] Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection of stories The Jungle Book during the late 1930s.
Meanwhile, Disney selected Reitherman to direct the short film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) with the prospect he would Americanize the characters and include more humor.
[54] Before The Aristocats entered production, a Winnie the Pooh follow-up short, now subtitled Blustery Day, was decided to become the first post-Walt Disney animation project.
"[58] According to animation historian Jim Hill, Reitherman was not sympathetic to Walt Disney's earlier heartfelt approach to the story, in which Duchess would find suitable human owners befitting for her kittens' talent.
[59] With The Aristocats, Reitherman relied heavily on the remaining four of the "Nine Old Men" animators to visualize each scene, as he struggled with the responsibility and had disliked reviewing storyboard reels.
[63] In October 1968, Ken Anderson accompanied then-Disney president Card Walker on a fishing trip who suggested a classic tale should be the subject for the next animated film.
Released in November 1973, Robin Hood was a box office success, earning $9.6 million in rentals in the United States and Canada.
[69] In 1973, Reitherman told John Culhane, a journalist, that he had been open to recruiting younger animation artists: "We wanted to get talented guys in here and give them a well-rounded experience.
[77] Frustrated by Reitherman's leadership and creative decisions, Milt Kahl finished his animation scenes for the film and retired on April 3, 1976.
[71] A loose adaptation of the 1967 novel by Daniel P. Mannix, the film tells of the friendship between Tod, a red fox, and Copper, a bloodhound dog, who become natural enemies as they mature as adults.
Reitherman had read the original novel and placed the adaptation into active production, as one of his sons had once owned a pet fox years prior.
[81] Looking to retool the film's second half, Reitherman decided to add a goofy musical sequence of two swooping cranes, with the voices of Phil Harris and Charo, who would cheer up Tod after he was dropped off at the game reserve.
[81] Shortly after, Reitherman began developing a film adaptation of Catfish Bend, based on the book series by Ben Lucien Burman.
[82] In 1980, the Los Angeles Times reported that Reitherman and artist Mel Shaw were developing Musicana, a follow-up anthology project to Fantasia (1940).
[85] All three of Reitherman's sons—Bruce, Richard and Robert—provided voices for Disney characters, including Mowgli in The Jungle Book, Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, and Wart in The Sword in the Stone.
Two blocks away from his Burbank, California residence, Reitherman apparently suffered cardiac arrest while driving from a bank, and his vehicle veered to the right and struck a tree.