Joy Batchelor

Biography

Joy Ethel Batchelor (12 May 1914 – 14 May 1991) was an English animator, director, screenwriter, and producer. She married John Halas in 1940 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, and produced roughly 70 propaganda pieces during World War II for the British government. 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. 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.

Directed

1. Animal Farm (1954) — Director
2. The Candlemaker (1956) — Director
3. Ruddigore (1967) — Director
4. 6 Little Jungle Boys (1945) — Director
5. Handling Ships (1945) — Director
6. Filling the Gap (1942) — Director
7. Charley Junior's Schooldays (1949) — Director
8. Dustbin Parade (1942) — Director
9. Dolly, Put the Kettle On (1947) — Director
10. Charley in New Town (1948) — Director
11. Your Very Good Health (1948) — Director
12. Train Trouble (1946) — Director
13. Carnival in the Clothes Cupboard (1941) — Director
14. Abu's Dungeon (1943) — Director
15. Charley's March of Time (1948) — Director
16. DoDo, The Kid from Outer Space (1965) — Director
17. R.A.F.: First Line of Defence (1949) — Director
18. Robinson Charley (1948) — Director
19. The Shoemaker and the Hatter (1950) — Director
20. Cold Comfort (1944) — Director
21. Christmas Wishes (1944) — Director
22. Farmer Charley (1949) — Director
23. A Modern Guide to Health (1946) — Director
24. Abu and the Poisoned Well (1943) — Director
25. Fable of the Fabrics (1942) — Director
26. Little Tom Thumb (1966) — Director
27. The Five (1970) — Director
28. Piping Hot (1959) — Director
29. Charley's Black Magic (1949) — Director
30. Fly About the House (1949) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Secrets of British Animation (2018) — Self (archive Photos)
2. Ode to Joy (2014)