American director and producer David Hand was involved with such animation studios as Fleischer and Disney. Following studies at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to Hollywood around 1919. In 1931, he began working for Disney and was involved with over 50 cartoon shorts. He then became the supervising director on Disney's ground-breaking Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and on Bambi. Following WW II, he founded an animation department for J. Arthur Rank, and began producing cartoons and shorts until 1951 when he came back to U.S.