Joy Batchelor

Joy Batchelor
Born12 May 1914
Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Died14 May 1991(1991-05-14) (aged 77)
London, England
OccupationAnimator
Years active1937–1991
Spouse
(m. 1940)
Websitehalasandbatchelor.co.uk

Joy Ethel Batchelor (12 May 1914[1][2] – 14 May 1991) was an English animator, director, screenwriter, and producer. She married John Halas in 1940[3] and subsequently co-established Halas and Batchelor cartoons, whose best known production is the animated feature film Animal Farm (1954), which made her the first woman director of an animated feature since Lotte Reiniger. Together they created over 2000 shorts/films,[4] and produced roughly 70 propaganda pieces during World War II for the British government.[3][5] She helped co-write, write, animate, produce, and direct many of their productions.

One of her projects as an art director was Cinerama Holiday (1955). Joy directed and wrote Ruddigore (1967), a television-film adaptation of W.S. Gilbert's opera of the same name, which became the first opera to be adapted into an animated film.[5] She later worked in television, directing series, including animated shows like The Jackson 5ive (1971). Batchelor died on 14 May 1991, just two days after her 77th birthday.

  1. ^ "BFI Website". Archived from the original on 15 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Halas & Batchelor Collection website". Halasandbatchelor.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b Shail, Robert (2007). British Film Directors: A Critical Guide. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0809328338.
  4. ^ Wells, Paul (2010). "2. Halas & Batchelor's Sound Decisions: Musical Approaches in the British Context". In Coyle, Rebecca (ed.). Drawn to Sound. London: Equinox Publishing. pp. 40–58. ISBN 978-1845533526.
  5. ^ a b Wells, Paul (2015). Nelmes, Jill; Selbo, Jule (eds.). Women Screenwriters: An International Guide. UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 649–652. ISBN 978-1-137-31237-2.