Trivia

In addition to his skill as an animator, he became an expert in special visual effects. Outside of Disney, he did special effects work on such films as Alfred Hitchcock's Les Oiseaux (1963).

Walt Disney referred to him as "the greatest animator in the world."

He co-created (with Walt Disney), designed, and animated the first version of Mickey Mouse in 1928.

The DC Comics supervillian Dr. U'bx was named in his honor.

He was regarded as a technical genius in the areas of animation and special visual effects. He never finished high school.

The 1964 film "Mary Poppins," Ub Iwerks modified the technicolor camera that was used to mix live action and animation, also known as the "Sodium Vapor Process." This camera had a prism installed to separate the sodium vapor lights from the rest of the color. Ub Iwerks, Petro Vlahos & Wadsworth E. Pohl received an Academy Award in 1965 for its use in Mary Poppins. Alfred Hitchcock went to Walt Disney asking to borrow Ub to help make the film "The Birds." In 1964 Ub was nominated for a Academy Award for "Best Effects, Special Visual Effects", but lost to the film Cleopatra.

He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1989.

He was known as the fastest animator in the business in early sound period. He animated Mickey's first short, L'avion fou (1928) by himself in only two weeks (700 animation drawings a day!).

Father of Don Iwerks.

He developed new apparatuses and processes for the photography and optical compositing necessary to combine live-action and animated characters in films such as Les Trois Caballeros (1944), Mélodie du sud (1946), and Mary Poppins (1964).

In 1930, he left Disney to start his own animation studio. Among the creations of his own studio was the "Flip the Frog" series.

Despite an extremely common myth, the famous character of Mickey Mouse was --not first drawn by Walt Disney himself. It was --actually Iwerks who did it.

Iwerks' unusual name is of Dutch origin.

Father of Dave Iwerks. Grandfather of Leslie Iwerks.

The sodium-vapor process, developed in England by the J. Arthur Rank Organization, was brought to the United States by Iwerks where he made further refinements.

Biography in: "American National Biography." Supplement 1, pp. 290-291. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Ub Iwerks widow, Mildred, died in 1992.

He was in charge of Research and Development at the Disney studio.