Hubert G. Wells, a longtime Hollywood animal trainer whose many credits include the original Doctor Dolittle, Out of Africa, Babe: Pig in the City and, in 1970, the bizarre kids tv series Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, died Dec. 25 of natural causes at his home in Thousand Oaks, California. He was 88.
His death was announced on social media by friends and animal training colleagues.
Born in Hungary, Hubert Geza Wells defected to the West following Russia’s crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956.
“Eight years later I moved to California with my Indian leopard and golden pointer,” Wells, the author of the 2017 memoir Lights, Camera, Lions, wrote, referring to the dog-and-leopard show he staged on the East Coast. “A job awaited us, a two-part T.V. show for the Disney Studios. In the following years my animals and, at times, myself as a stunt double, appeared in over 150 films, T.V. shows and commercials.
His death was announced on social media by friends and animal training colleagues.
Born in Hungary, Hubert Geza Wells defected to the West following Russia’s crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956.
“Eight years later I moved to California with my Indian leopard and golden pointer,” Wells, the author of the 2017 memoir Lights, Camera, Lions, wrote, referring to the dog-and-leopard show he staged on the East Coast. “A job awaited us, a two-part T.V. show for the Disney Studios. In the following years my animals and, at times, myself as a stunt double, appeared in over 150 films, T.V. shows and commercials.
- 1/11/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Hubert G. Wells, who trained animals for films including the original Doctor Dolittle, Out of Africa, Wolf, Sheena and The Ghost and the Darkness, has died. He was 88.
Wells died on Christmas Day of age-related illnesses at his home in Thousand Oaks, fellow animal trainer Doree Sitterly told The Hollywood Reporter.
Sitterly and Wells worked together for 20 years — she doubled for Meryl Streep on Out of Africa while Wells was serving as chief animal trainer on the 1986 Oscar best picture winner — and for 10 of those they lived on a compound in the Santa Monica Mountains that was filled with trained wild animals. (They raised lion cubs in the laundry room.)
The Hungarian-born Wells got his start in Hollywood at Jungleland, a 27-acre theme park and private zoo in Thousand Oaks that was used to rent and train animals for movies, TV shows and commercials. After it closed in 1969, he created Animal Actors of Hollywood,...
Wells died on Christmas Day of age-related illnesses at his home in Thousand Oaks, fellow animal trainer Doree Sitterly told The Hollywood Reporter.
Sitterly and Wells worked together for 20 years — she doubled for Meryl Streep on Out of Africa while Wells was serving as chief animal trainer on the 1986 Oscar best picture winner — and for 10 of those they lived on a compound in the Santa Monica Mountains that was filled with trained wild animals. (They raised lion cubs in the laundry room.)
The Hungarian-born Wells got his start in Hollywood at Jungleland, a 27-acre theme park and private zoo in Thousand Oaks that was used to rent and train animals for movies, TV shows and commercials. After it closed in 1969, he created Animal Actors of Hollywood,...
- 1/11/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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