Walt Disney and the Nine Old Men
Walt was a great man and started something that changed the world of animation forever but he didn't do it alone.Have you ever heard of Walt's nine old men?If not I'm here to tell you who they are.Walt's nine old men were a core supervising animators who created Walt Disney Studious' most famous work some which you've already heard of.Some examples are :Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Rescuers.These are just two examples of many amazing works of art that Disney has worked on.
One day Walt jokingly called them his Nine Old men even though the majority at the time were really young. One of them was Les Clark. Clark was born in Utah 11/17/07. He started off as an inbetweener. He made contributions to all of the classics such as- Fantasia and Dumbo and later became directing animator for features like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Sadly he passed away in September 1979 after suffering from cancer.
The next man is named Wolfgang Reitherman. He worked on shorts such as funny Little Bunnies and The Wise Little Hen.during World War ll, Reitherman left the Studio to enlist with the U.S Air Force.He Retired in 1981 but sadly passed away 4 years later at the age of 75.The third man was Eric Larson another member of Walt's Nine Old Men. Larson began to work at Walt Disney's studios the same day as Wolfgang June 1,1993.He started off as an assistant animator on the shorts The Tortoise and the Hare and Two-Gun Mickey.Larson assisted Marc Davis in creating the title character of the 1950 Cinderella and animated Caterpillar for the 1951 Alice in Wonderland.His most famous sequence was Never land in the 1953 Peter Pan. He was born on March 4,1914 but passed away on July 8,2002.
The next man I'm going t be talking about is Milt Kahl. Kahl was born on 3/22/09 and he started to work at Disney Studios on June 25,1934 and was inspired and starting to seek employment after seeing The Three Little Pigs.His earliest works were : Mickey's Service station and Mickey's Fire Brigade.He also made contributions of Snow White and the seven Dwarfs he was the one who animated the animals and Ferdinand the Bull. Later he became directing animator of Lady and the tramp and sleeping Beauty. He retired in the on April 30, 1975.
Ward Kimball was another member of Walt's Nine Old men. Ward was born on 3/4/14 in Minnesota.He began to work at Disney's Studio on April 2,1934. Kimball started off ,like others, as an inbetween artist on such short's such as Orphan's Benefit and The Goddess of spring. He has worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon,Dumbo,Cinderella, Toot Whistle Plunk and Bloom, Mickey Mouse Disco. He retired in 1972.
The next man is Frank Thomas was born on 9/5/12 and joined Disney's Studio September 24,1934. He started out working on shorts like Mickey's Circus and More kitten's.He worked on Brave Little Tailor, Melody time, Sleeping Beauty,The AristoCats, Robin Hood, Winnnie the Pooh and Tigger too and The fox and the Hound .He retired 4/1/78 and passed away 3 days after his 92 in September 2004.
The next man was Ollie Johnston.Ollie was born on 10/31/12 and hired January 21, 1935.He also began as an inbetweener on shorts like Mickey's Garden and Mickey's Rival. He worked on Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, The Pelican and the Snipe,Cinderella,Sleeping Beauty,The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Fox and the Hound,He retired on January 31,1978 and He passed away in April 2008 in Washington.
The next man is John Mitchell Lounsbery from Cincinnati,Ohio was born 3/9/11 was hired by the Disney Studios on July 2,1935. His first assignment was as an assistant animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He worked on Song of the South,Ben and Me,Sleeping Beauty,Goliath ll, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The AristoCats and Robin Hood. He passed away February 13,1976 which sadly made him the first to pass away from the nine old men.
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The last but not least man is Marc Fraser Davis. He was the last man to join Disney's Nine Old Men 12/2/35.He began as an apprentice for Snow White. He worked on Song of the south,Fun & Fancy Free,The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.Toad,The Little House,Melody and Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom.He retired in 1978 and passed away in January 2000.That was all I've got to say about Walt's Nine Old Men.
