Ted SearsFilmography

Disneyland: Title Makers and Nature's Half Acre

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello, Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara

Synopsis: The first half of this 1961 Walt Disney Presents episode shows the work that went behind the delightful animated opening titles of the upcoming Disney theatrical feature The Parent Trap. Famed studio artists Bill Justice, X. Attencio, and T. Hee are seen bringing the titles to life, from Read More

Disneyland: Escape to Paradise and Water Birds

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, Sessue Hayakawa

Synopsis: The first portion of this Walt Disney Presents episode is a behind-the-scenes preview of the upcoming Disney theatrical feature Swiss Family Robinson. Hosted by three of the film's stars, John Mills, Dorothy McGuire and Janet Munro, the segment details the difficulties encountered by the Read More

Sleeping Beauty

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton

Synopsis: Disney produced this lavish animated fairy tale, the most expensive cartoon ever made up to its release with a budget of $6 million. When the young princess Aurora is cursed at birth by the evil fairy Maleficent, the baby is kidnapped by a trio of good fairies who raise the girl themselves, hoping Read More

Disneyland: Faraway Places: High, Hot and Wet

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Winston Hibler

Synopsis: Herbert and Trudie Knapp, the husband-wife team of photographers who were largely responsible for the Disney theatrical-short series "People and Places", are the focus (no pun intended) of this Disneyland episode. The Knapps are shown in the Peruvian Andes, filming an ancient Incan temple; and in Read More

Disneyland: Operation Deepfreeze

Crew: Teleplay By

Actors: Winston Hibler

Synopsis: "Operation Deepfreeze" is the second of three Disneyland episodes commemorating the US-Antarctic participation in the International Geophysical Year of 1956. Like the earlier Antarctica, Past and Present", this installment details the activities of Navy Task Force 43, with narrator Winston Hibler Read More

Disneyland: To the South Pole for Science

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Winston Hibler

Synopsis: "To the South Pole for Science" is the last in a trio of Disneyland episodes commemorating Operation Deepfreeze, Antarctica's contribution to the International Geophysical Year of November, 1956 to February 1957. During this period, five naval bases are established, with the Disney camera crew Read More

Disneyland: The Tricks of Our Trade

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In one of the best-loved and mostly fondly remembered episodes of the TV anthology Disneyland, host Walt Disney discusses the nuts and bolts of animation, and how individual cartoon components ultimately make up the sum total. For example, Disney demonstrates how a bouncing ball inspire a sequence Read More

Disneyland: A Trip Through Adventureland and Water Birds

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Another of the "progress reports" presented on the TV anthology Disneyland to promote the new theme park of the same name, this episode was designed to bring viewers up to date on the section of the park known as "Adventureland." While there is a great deal of emphasis on "Davy Crockett" tie-ins Read More

Disneyland: Behind the Cameras in Lapland; Alaskan Eskimo

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Winston Hibler

Synopsis: In this "Adventureland" segment from the original Disneyland TV series, narrator Winston Hibler details the activities of Disney's documentary camera crew as they go to remote and frigid Lapland to film the migratory habits of the country's huge reindeer herds. It is shown how the nomadic Lapp Read More

The African Lion

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: The African Lion is a high-water mark in Walt Disney's "True Life Adventures" series. Filmed by Alfred and Elma Malotte, the team responsible for Disney's earlier Beaver Valley, this 75-minute documentary focuses not only on lions, lionesses and their cubs, but also such African wildlife as the Read More

Disneyland: A Progress Report and Nature's Half Acre

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This 1st-season Disneyland episode is a sequel to the series' premiere, with Walt Disney narrating films (mostly taken from a helicopter) of the construction work on the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. Not surprisingly, the most colorful exhibits are presented to the viewer, with Read More

Disneyland: Behind the True-Life Cameras--Olympic Elk

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: James Algar,the writer-director of Walt Disney's "True-Life Adventures" short subject series, takes the viewers of the TV anthology Disneyland behind the scenes to show how these remarkable documentaries are made. Segments include photographers Clare and Bill Anderson filming on location in the Read More

Disneyland: The Adventures of Mickey Mouse

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Another of Disneyland's many cartoon compilations, "The Adventures of Mickey Mouse" loosely bastes together several theatrical Mickey Mouse shorts into a story of sorts, with narration by host Walt Disney. The cartoons presented herein include Mickey's first color short, 1935's The Band Concert Read More

Disneyland: The Prairie and Seal Island

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: James Algar, Winston Hibler

Synopsis: James Algar, the producer-director of Disney's "True-Life Adventure" short subject series, explains the techniques used by cameraman to capture images of nature in this early Disneyland episode. These techniques are then shown in application in scenes of animals from the North American prairie. Read More

The Vanishing Prairie

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: The second of Walt Disney's feature-length "True Life Adventures", The Vanishing Prairie concentrates on that portion of the United States bounded by the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. After a brief tableux of extinct animal species, the film shows us several "endangered" types: The Read More

Peter Pan

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Bill Thompson, Heather Angel

Synopsis: A pet project of Walt Disney's since 1939, this animated version of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan reached full fruition in 1953. Eschewing much of Barrie's gentle whimsy (not to mention the more sinister aspects of the leading character), Disney and his staff fashioned a cheery, tuneful cartoon Read More

The Living Desert

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: The Living Desert was the first feature-length entry in Disney's "True Life Adventure" series. Co-written and narrated by Winston Hibler, the film opens with a close-up glance of percolating desert geysers, with appropriate musical accompaniment. Among the wildlife specimens depicted herein are Read More

The Olympic Elk

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Olympic Elk was the fourth entry in Disney's "True Life Adventures" series -- and like the first three, it was written and narrated by Winston Hibler and directed by James Algar. Most of the footage was purchased from the husband-wife naturalist team of Herb and Lois Crisler, who spent two years Read More

Alice in Wonderland

Crew: Screenwriter, Songwriter

Actors: Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna

Synopsis: This Disney feature-length cartoon combines the most entertaining elements of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Chasing after the White Rabbit, who runs into view singing "I'm Late! I'm Late!," Alice falls down the rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy alternate world Read More

Beaver Valley

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Beaver Valley was the second entry in Walt Disney's popular "True Live Adventures" series. Narrated by Winston Hibler, this 32-minute Technicolor documentary takes the viewer into the wilderness regions of Montana and Minnesota. Cinematographer Alfred Milotte, evidently an extremely patient man Read More

Cinderella

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Claire Du Brey, Helene Stanley

Synopsis: Cinderella was Walt Disney's return to feature-length "story" cartoons after eight years of turning out episodic pastiches like Make Mine Music and Three Caballeros. A few understandable liberties are taken with the original Charles Perrault fairy tale (the wicked stepsisters, for example, do not Read More

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore, Pat O'Malley, John Floyardt

Synopsis: Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a two-part Walt Disney cartoon feature based on a pair of well known stories. The first half of the film is an adaptation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, all about gawky 17th century schoolteacher Ichabod Crane and his love for the beautiful Katrina. The Read More

Melody Time

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Roy Rogers, Dennis Day

Synopsis: Disney was known for combining his musical cartoon shorts into interesting feature-length anthologies and Melody Time is one of the best. But for the fact that all of the featured segments have musical themes, they vary widely in musical and artistic style. Included are the exciting "Bumble Read More

So Dear to My Heart

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Bobby Driscoll, Beulah Bondi, Burl Ives, Luana Patten, Harry Carey

Synopsis: Like Disney's earlier Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart peppers its live action with animated sequences. In this film, however, it is the "live" story that lingers longest in the memory. Set in 1903, the film takes place on the small Kincaid farm. Twin sheep are born in the barn: one white Read More

Fun and Fancy Free

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Edgar Bergen, Dinah Shore, Luana Patten

Synopsis: A blend of live-action and animation, Fun and Fancy Free is comprised of two distinct tales linked by additional footage featuring Jiminy Cricket. Disney had been planning to use each story for separate feature films but the involvement of the United States in WWII disrupted his plans and the Read More

The Three Caballeros

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Aurora Miranda, Carmen Molina, Dora Luz, Clarence Nash, Joaquin Garay

Synopsis: Three Caballeros is the first Walt Disney feature to combine animation with live action footage. Originally conceived as World War II propaganda promoting good relations between the United States and Latin America, the film details the adventures of Donald Duck as he meets two Latin birds--Jose Read More

Saludos Amigos

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This 43-minute animated feature is Walt Disney's contribution to the wartime "Good Neighbor Policy" between the USA and Latin America. Opening with live-action footage of Disney and his staff (referred to by the narrator as a "group of artists and musicians") heading off to South America to glean Read More

The Reluctant Dragon

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, Nana Bryant, Claud Allister, Barnett Parker

Synopsis: The very first Disney feature to include live-action footage, this behind-the-scenes documentary about the studio's animation process includes the cartoon short of the title, which in later years was often exhibited separately from this film. Robert Benchley stars as himself, a visitor to the Read More

Pinocchio

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dick Jones, Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett, Frankie Darro, Charles Judels, Mel Blanc, Don Brodie, Evelyn Venable

Synopsis: When the gentle woodcarver Geppetto (Christian Rub) builds a marionette to be his substitute son, a benevolent fairy brings the toy to life. The puppet, named Pinocchio (Dick Jones), is not yet a human boy. He must earn the right to be real by proving that he is brave, truthful, and unselfish. Read More

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: It was called "Disney's Folly." Who on earth would want to sit still for 90 minutes to watch an animated cartoon? And why pick a well-worn Grimm's Fairy Tale that every schoolkid knows? But Walt Disney seemed to thrive on projects which a lesser man might have written off as "stupid" or Read More

The Three Little Pigs

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Synopsis: Originally produced in 1933 and the winner of an Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject, Three Little Pigs tells the classic fairy tale of two hasty pigs, one smart one, and the Big Bad Wolf they're all trying to escape from. Featuring the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?," the Read More

Dizzy Dishes

Crew: Animator

Fatal Footsteps

Crew: Screenwriter

A Wild Roomer

Crew: Screenwriter

Egged On

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Now You Tell One

Crew: Screenwriter