William Moritz - Early Life

Early Life

Moritz was born in Williams, Arizona and raised in California and Arizona. His father Edward Moritz, a German immigrant, influenced his son's interest in music and literature. In an interview with Cindy Keefer of the Center for Visual Music in Los Angeles, Moritz relateed the importance of his early experiences with animation:

"I saw a lot of animation in movie theatres, while growing up (there was no television then), like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Porky Pig, Woody Woodpecker cartoons, character animation made by studios. This was a vital part of everyday life. The big transformation for me was seeing interesting animation — the UPA cartoons in particular were really a completely different change. I saw things that were actually art, and not just cartoons."

Moritz received his Ph.D in comparative literature from the University of Southern California in 1968; though he took courses in Cinema Studies, his degrees were in comparative literature, possibly due to what one colleague speculates was the lack of "a credible Cinema Studies program until the 1980s." (Deneroff 2004)