list_text=          One of Walt Disney Studio's premier lovers of cameras and animals is Larry Lansburgh.  Among the 18 television and feature productions he directed were the Academy Award-winning "The Wetback Hound," in 1957, and "The Horse with the Flying Tail," in 1960. An accomplished horseman, Larry often filmed and directed on horseback as he did with the 1966 "Run, Appaloosa, Run."
          Larry was particular about his animal stars, hand-picking magnificent creatures, many of which retired to live on his Southern California ranch.  
          As vice chairman Roy E. Disney recalled, "I once suggested to Larry what I thought was a great idea, that he direct a story I'd found about an ugly - although heroic - little half-breed pony. He quickly dismissed the suggestion saying, "I don't do stories about ugly horses."
          Born in San Francisco, California, on May 18, 1911, Larry graduated from Mt. Tamalpais School in nearby Mill Valley in 1929. A lover of horses, he gained employment as a ranch-hand in Texas and later, returned to California. Through an acquaintance, he broke into the movie business as a stunt artist on such films as "The Woman in Red," starring Barbara Stanwyck. 
          After severely breaking his leg in a fall off of a horse, Larry gave up stunt work and joined The Walt Disney Studios in the late 1930s, as a traffic boy running errands. He said, "It was the best break I ever had because it put me behind the camera." 
          Larry soon moved into the Editing department and in 1940, accompanied Walt Disney and a select group of artists on a Goodwill Tour of South America, on behalf of the U.S. Government. Larry recorded the trip using a 16mm hand-held camera and some of his footage was featured in the 1943 "Saludos Amigos," a combination live-action/animated film.
          Among his early credits, Larry served as an associate producer on "The Three Caballeros" and technical advisor and production assistant on "So Dear To My Heart."
          In 1954, he directed "Stormy, the Thoroughbred with an Inferiority Complex," and in 1955, submitted to Walt the story idea for "The Littlest Outlaw," about a young boy in Mexico and his love for a horse, which he rescues from a bullring. Larry produced the film, which was shot twice in Mexico: once in English and once in Spanish, for its simultaneous release on both sides of the border. The next year, he won an Oscar nomination for his featurette "Cow Dog."
          In 1971, after more than 30 years at The Walt Disney Studios, Larry Lansburgh retired to his Oregon ranch, where he continued to produce films including Disney's "Chester, Yesterday's Horse," "Runaway on the Rogue River" and "Twister, Bull from the Sky."&