Faith Hubley (16 September 1924 - 7 December 2001) was an animator, known for her experimental work both in collaboration with her husband John Hubley, and on her own following her husband's death.
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Born as Faith Chestman to Sally and Irving Chestman, Hubley grew up on the west side of Manhattan in the 1920s and 1930s. She spoke little about her childhood, except that her behavior became somewhat of a burden to her parents. She left home at age 15 to work in the theater and adopted the name Faith Elliott. Aged 18, she moved to Hollywood, starting as a messenger at Columbia Pictures. She subsequently worked as a sound-effects and music editor, and then script clerk for Republic Pictures. She later worked as a script supervisor (12 Angry Men) and editor (Go, Man, Go; with the Harlem Globetrotters).
Faith and John Hubley were married in 1955. They founded Storyboard Studios as an independent animation studio, vowing to make one independent film a year. They collaborated on 21 short films, up until John Hubley's death during open-heart surgery in 1977.
At that time they were working on the Doonesbury television cartoon, A Doonesbury Special. Faith Hubley, with Garry Trudeau and Bill Littlejohn, completed the special despite the doubts of NBC executives. The Hubleys won Oscars for their shorts: Moonbird (1959), The Hole (1962) and A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966); they also received Oscar nominations for Windy Day, Of Men and Demons, Voyage to Next and A Doonesbury Special.
Hubley was often regarded as simply an assistant to John, who was always credited as director on their films. However her many solo projects established her as a significant film creator in her own right. She began her first solo project, W.O.W. (Women of the World), after being diagnosed with cancer in 1975.
Between 1976 and 2001, she completed 24 further solo animated films. Her films often feature abstract imagery and non-linear stories; many draw on themes of mythology and indigenous art. She was also a painter, with her works being exhibited in galleries in Europe and the United States.
Faith Hubley received honors from the Cannes, Venice, London, and San Francisco film festivals.
She won fourteen CINE Golden Eagle awards, and received honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Hofstra University. Her 1981 animated film "Enter Life" can be seen at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, as part of the Early Life exhibit. In 1995, the National Gallery of Art presented a retrospective program of her works.
Faith Hubley died in 2001, aged 77, in New Haven, Connecticut, from cancer, 26 years after her initial diagnosis.
John and Faith Hubley had four children: Mark Hubley, animator Emily Hubley, musician Georgia Hubley, and Hamp Hubley. Their children's voices were featured in a number of their films.