{"id":792312,"date":"2026-07-30T00:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/792312\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T00:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:17:09","slug":"oscar-winning-disney-animator-rescued-from-arizona-mountain-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/792312\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar-winning Disney animator rescued from Arizona mountain trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar-winning animator Glen Keane was dramatically airlifted off an Arizona mountain<\/a> Wednesday after he found himself stranded near the summit<\/a> while hiking with his grandchildren in blistering heat.<\/p>\n

The 72-year-old realized the narrow trail on Mummy Mountain had become too difficult to navigate and made the call for help amid 109\u00b0F heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I really needed help,\u201d Keane told 12News.<\/p>\n

Oscar-winning animator Glen Keane was dramatically airlifted off an Arizona mountain Wednesday after he found himself stranded near the summit while hiking with his grandchildren in blistering heat. Stewart Cook\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The 72-year-old realized the narrow trail on Mummy Mountain had become too difficult to navigate and made the call for help amid 109F heat. FOX10<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I really needed help,\u201d Keane told 12News. FOX10<\/p>\n

The Phoenix Fire Department dispatched a rescue helicopter, which lifted Keane from the mountaintop and flew him to a nearby landing zone. FOX10<\/p>\n

The Phoenix Fire Department dispatched a rescue helicopter<\/a>, which lifted Keane from the mountaintop and flew him to a nearby landing zone, while his daughter and grandchildren were completely fine and safely navigated the trail back down.<\/p>\n

The fire department said its crews also made it safely back down the mountain.<\/p>\n

He declined transportation to a hospital after the rescue.<\/p>\n

Keane, who now lives in France, later said the Valley holds a special place in his heart, recalling that he grew up scrambling across the area\u2019s hills and mountains.<\/p>\n

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He is listed as a 1972 graduate of Phoenix\u2019s Brophy College Preparatory.<\/p>\n

The veteran animator is behind some of Disney\u2019s most beloved films, with credits on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Tarzan.<\/p>\n

He has also been honored as a Disney Legend by the Walt Disney Archives.<\/p>\n

Keane added an Academy Award to his resume in 2018 when he and the late Kobe Bryant won the Oscar for the animated short Dear Basketball. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The film was adapted from Bryant\u2019s retirement poem, first published by The Players\u2019 Tribune on Nov. 29, 2015, in which the five-time NBA champion and 18-time All-Star reflected on his lifelong love of basketball and admitted his body could no longer keep up with the game\u2019s demands. WireImage<\/p>\n

Keane added an Academy Award to his resume in 2018 when he and the late Kobe Bryant won the Oscar for the animated short Dear Basketball.<\/p>\n

The film was adapted from Bryant\u2019s retirement poem, first published by The Players\u2019 Tribune on Nov. 29, 2015, in which the five-time NBA champion and 18-time All-Star reflected on his lifelong love of basketball and admitted his body could no longer keep up with the game\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

After reaching safety, Keane said he felt blessed that Phoenix firefighters came to his rescue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar-winning animator Glen Keane was dramatically airlifted off an Arizona mountain Wednesday after he found himself stranded near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[2356,3716,88,7566,3031,5871,206,18740,194],"class_list":["post-792312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-california","tag-disney","tag-entertainment","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-los-angeles","tag-metro","tag-movies","tag-phoenix","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}