Burt Gillett - Personal Life

Personal Life

According to fellow animator Shamus Culhane, Gillett was mentally unstable. In his autobiography, Culhane speculates that Gillett suffered from bipolar disorder and notes that he swung from excessive enthusiasm to violent rages to paranoia (once attacking Culhane himself with a spindle when they worked together at Van Beuren's studio), and that he was eventually institutionalized for many years. However, others who knew people Culhane mentioned in his book said that his statements in the book were not always the truth.

Burt's son Ted Gillett(e) was a noted aircraft designer and ham radio engineer in Southern California, where his family had moved when his father first worked for Disney.

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