Oscar-Winning Disney Animator Rescued from Mountain Hike by Helicopter: ‘It Was Like a Razor’s Edge Up There’

Glen Keane, the animator behind Disney’s ‘90s classics like ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ fell ill while hiking with his grandchildren

NEED TO KNOW

• Animator Glen Keane was rescued by firefighters from the top of Arizon’s Mummy Mountain on July 29
• Keane said he was hiking with his grandchildren and praised first responders for their help
• The 72-year-old is the Oscar-winning animator behind Disney’s ‘90s classics like ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as well as Dear Basketball

Glen Keane, the Oscar-winning former Disney animator, was rescued by Phoenix first responders after falling ill during a hike in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Phoenix firefighters received reports of a hiker with a medical emergency at the top of Mummy Mountain after 8 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29. Phoenix Fire Captain Todd Keller told AZFamily the hiker was identified as Keane, 72.

The animator reportedly began feeling dizzy and could not walk down the mountain without firefighters’ help. 

Keane was hiking with his grandchildren at the time of the incident, he told 12News. When he reached a narrow path, he knew it was too hard to continue on his own and contacted firefighters.

“I knew that I really needed help,” Keane said.

The fire department sent a helicopter to Mummy Mountain to help bring Keane to a landing zone. They offered to take him to the hospital, but he declined, the fire department told 12News.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I was being lifted up [in the helicopter], and I was looking at all the areas that I used to climb around as a kid. And I thought, Lord, thank you. This was just a real blessing to have that crew,” Keane told AZFamily. “And they were really risking their own lives on the edge of that narrow little ledge. I mean, it was very much just like a razor’s edge up there.”

The Phoenix Fire Department shared video of Keane’s rescue on Facebook.

Although the Mummy Mountain trail does not close on days with extreme heat warnings, according to AZFamily, Keller told the outlet that hikers should think about the dangers of hiking during extreme heat before they go out.

“You need to do a gut check and say, ‘Hey listen, is it really smart for me to be out on this trail when it’s 93 degrees at seven in the morning?’ ” Keller told the outlet.

Keane was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Paradise Valley. He told AZFamily he now lives in Paris.

Keane worked at Disney for more than three decades, starting in the 1970s. He played a prominent role in the Disney Renaissance of the late 1980s and 1990s, working on The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Tarzan. 

Since leaving Disney in 2012, he has continued working in animation. In 2018, he and the late Kobe Bryant won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball, which was inspired by Bryant’s poem. He also directed Netflix’s Oscar-nominated 2020 film Over the Moon.

Read the full article here