Oscar Winner Went Up the Mountain, Couldn't Come Down

Oscar-winning animator Glen Keane needed a rescue Wednesday morning—not from a deadline, but from an Arizona mountaintop. The 72-year-old, known for his work on Disney classics including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, fell ill and became dizzy while hiking Mummy Mountain in Paradise Valley around 8am, Phoenix fire officials said, per AZFamily. Keane, who won an Oscar for his work on the short Dear Basketball with Kobe Bryant, later said he used up his energy climbing the mountain with his grandchildren, then thought, "What the heck did I do?"

Fire crews reached him on a narrow ridge—Keane described it as "like a razor's edge"—but determined he couldn't safely hike down, even with assistance. They used a rope system to hoist him into a Phoenix Firebird helicopter; he was flown to the base, evaluated by paramedics, and released without further treatment. Keane, who grew up in Arizona as the son of The Family Circus creator Bil Keane and now lives in Paris, said he was revisiting his younger days scaling the area's hills and mountains, per KPNX. He called the rescue "a real blessing" as officials urged hikers to respect the Valley's summer heat and changing trail conditions.