(as posted on Animated News - Posted by Ben at 8:56 am)
.04/15/2008: "Last remaining of the Nine Old Men, legendary animator Ollie Johnston dies at 95"
As was inevitably always going to be the case, the last of Walt Disney’s fabled Nine Old Men - the artists he bestowed the legacy of his animation production to as he moved into other areas of entertainment - has passed away in Sequim, Washington. Ollie Johnston began his career at the Disney Studios in 1935, on a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and he often worked in tandem with Frank Thomas, whom Johnston had met in school at Stanford, and would be inextricably linked to for life, until Thomas passed away four years ago. Together the pair joined the seven other Old Men to create a lasting series of animated features, including the groundbreaking Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and all of the early Disney pictures (Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, Song Of The South, Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty) all now regarded as animation masterpieces, and in which Johnston and Thomas’ scenes are often cited as those movies’ highlights.
After retirement in 1978, Ollie remained on tap to the next generation of Disney artists, supervising The Fox And The Hound in 1981, and tutoring such new talents as Andreas Deja and Glen Keane. Ollie also committed his vast experience and knowledge to the printed page, in four books co-written with Frank: Walt Disney’s Bambi: The Story And The Film, Too Funny For Words, The Disney Villain and, perhaps most importantly, Disney Animation: The Illusion Of Life, still regarded as the animator’s bible. Johnston and Thomas’ relationship in life and work was captured on film in the charming 1995 documentary Frank And Ollie, their names, characteristically describing the closeness of their friendship, rolling off the tongue “like they were one person”, as Glen Keane put it. Indeed, in the same year’s Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, one character is named Dr Frankenollie in tribute to the pair.
In recent years, Frank and Ollie pursued personal interests - particularly Ollie with his lifelong fascination with railroad trains (he also owned a full size narrow gauge engine, named Marie E for his wife, later sold to Pixar’s John Lasseter) - though they continued to spread their words of wisdom on animation, this time online, in the shape of the FrankAndOllie.com website. They were likewise revered by the animation community, especially by director Brad Bird, who memorably gave them both cameo appearances (voiced by the gentlemen themselves) in his features The Iron Giant (1999) and The Incredibles (2004), in which the perfectly appropriate line “There’s no school like the old school” was uttered. Not only is that truer than ever today, but Ollie Johnston’s life, and death this past Monday evening, means it will never be the same again.
.04/15/2008: "Last remaining of the Nine Old Men, legendary animator Ollie Johnston dies at 95"
As was inevitably always going to be the case, the last of Walt Disney’s fabled Nine Old Men - the artists he bestowed the legacy of his animation production to as he moved into other areas of entertainment - has passed away in Sequim, Washington. Ollie Johnston began his career at the Disney Studios in 1935, on a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and he often worked in tandem with Frank Thomas, whom Johnston had met in school at Stanford, and would be inextricably linked to for life, until Thomas passed away four years ago. Together the pair joined the seven other Old Men to create a lasting series of animated features, including the groundbreaking Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and all of the early Disney pictures (Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, Song Of The South, Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty) all now regarded as animation masterpieces, and in which Johnston and Thomas’ scenes are often cited as those movies’ highlights.
After retirement in 1978, Ollie remained on tap to the next generation of Disney artists, supervising The Fox And The Hound in 1981, and tutoring such new talents as Andreas Deja and Glen Keane. Ollie also committed his vast experience and knowledge to the printed page, in four books co-written with Frank: Walt Disney’s Bambi: The Story And The Film, Too Funny For Words, The Disney Villain and, perhaps most importantly, Disney Animation: The Illusion Of Life, still regarded as the animator’s bible. Johnston and Thomas’ relationship in life and work was captured on film in the charming 1995 documentary Frank And Ollie, their names, characteristically describing the closeness of their friendship, rolling off the tongue “like they were one person”, as Glen Keane put it. Indeed, in the same year’s Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, one character is named Dr Frankenollie in tribute to the pair.
In recent years, Frank and Ollie pursued personal interests - particularly Ollie with his lifelong fascination with railroad trains (he also owned a full size narrow gauge engine, named Marie E for his wife, later sold to Pixar’s John Lasseter) - though they continued to spread their words of wisdom on animation, this time online, in the shape of the FrankAndOllie.com website. They were likewise revered by the animation community, especially by director Brad Bird, who memorably gave them both cameo appearances (voiced by the gentlemen themselves) in his features The Iron Giant (1999) and The Incredibles (2004), in which the perfectly appropriate line “There’s no school like the old school” was uttered. Not only is that truer than ever today, but Ollie Johnston’s life, and death this past Monday evening, means it will never be the same again.