Disney's Nine Old Men were a group of Walt Disney Productions' core animators,[1] who worked at the studio from the 1920s to the 1980s. Some of the Nine Old Men also worked as directors, creating some of Disney's most popular animated movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Rescuers. The group was named by Walt Disney himself,[Note 1] and they worked in both short and feature films. Disney delegated more and more tasks to them in the animation department in the 1950s when their interests expanded, and diversified their scope. Eric Larson was the last to retire from Disney, after his role as animation consultant on The Great Mouse Detective in 1986.[2][3] All nine members of the group were acknowledged as Disney Legends in 1989 and all would receive the Winsor McCay Award for their lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation.
The nine were all hired by Disney in the 1920s and 1930s, working initially on Disney's shorter productions, and later on theatrical projects. All nine were present by the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). According to researcher Neal Gabler and animator Frank Thomas, a board was formed to study all possible problems affecting the company in relation to its work between 1945 and 1947. One day in the early 1950s, Disney named the nine members on the board "Nine Old Men".[4] Disney delegated more and more tasks to them in the field of animation as the work of the company diversified. As well as being honored as Disney Legends in 1989, all of the Nine Old Men were separately honored with the Winsor McCay Award (the lifetime achievement award for animators) during the 1970s and 1980s.
They began to retire one by one in the 1970s, with Eric Larson's 1986 animation consultancy for The Great Mouse Detective being the group's last animation work at Disney. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in particular continued on outside of Disney for some time and were credited on several films in the 1980s and 1990s, including The Chipmunk Adventure (1987), Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) and The Iron Giant (1999). A documentary which interviewed the duo, entitled Frank and Ollie, was released by Disney in 1995. They were honoured with a final voiced cameo in The Incredibles in 2004, which was produced by Disney but animated by a then-independent Pixar. Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of the group, died in 2008.
(November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979), "The Mickey Mouse Master", who joined Disney in 1927. Although Clark started his career at Disney working on the Alice comedies shorts, his specialty was animating Mickey Mouse, since he was the only one of the Nine Old Men to work on that character from its origins with Ub Iwerks. Les did many scenes throughout the years, animating up until Lady and the Tramp. He moved into directing in the late 1950s and made many animated featurettes and shorts, although since 1964 almost all the films on which Clark worked are short films.
Frank Thomas (center) and Ollie Johnston (right) with their wives in 1985.Ollie Johnston (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008), who joined Disney in 1935, first worked on Snow White. He went on to author the animator's bible The Illusion of Life with Frank Thomas. His work includes Mr. Smee (in Peter Pan), the Stepsisters (in Cinderella), the District Attorney (in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), and Prince John (in Robin Hood). According to the book The Disney Villain, written by Johnston and Frank Thomas, Johnston also partnered with Thomas on creating characters such as Ichabod Crane (in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad) and Sir Hiss (in Robin Hood). Johnston, alongside Thomas, retired from Disney in 1978, with their final animation appearing in The Fox and the Hound. During the working on their books, they often stayed at the studio, selecting illustrations from the studio's archive.
(March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) joined Disney in 1934 and retired in 1974.[5] His work includes Jiminy Cricket (in Pinocchio), Lucifer, Jaq, and Gus (in Cinderella), and the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat (in Alice in Wonderland). Specializing in drawing comic characters, Kimball produced work that was often more "wild" than the other Disney animators. In 1968 he created and released a non-Disney anti-Vietnam War animated short, Escalation.
Ward Kimball
(September 3, 1905 – October 25, 1988) joined in 1933. One of the top animators at Disney, he animated notable characters such as Peg (in Lady and the Tramp), the Vultures (in The Jungle Book), Peter Pan's flight over London to Neverland (in Peter Pan), and Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear (in Song of the South). Because of his demeanor and ability to train new talent, Larson was given the task of spotting and training new animators at Disney in the 1970s. Many of the top talents at Disney in later years were trained by Eric in the 1970s and 1980s.
Eric Larson
(March 9, 1911 – February 13, 1976) started in 1935 and, working under Norm "Fergy" Ferguson, quickly became a star animator. Lounsbery, affectionately known as "Louns" by his fellow animators, was an incredibly strong draftsman who inspired many animators over the years. His animation was noted for its squashy, stretchy feel. Lounsbery animated J. Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon (in Pinocchio), Ben Ali Gator (in Fantasia), George Darling (in Peter Pan), Tony, Joe, and some of the dogs (in Lady and the Tramp), Kings Stefan and Hubert (in Sleeping Beauty), The Elephants (in The Jungle Book), and many others. In the 1970s, Louns was promoted to Director and co-directed Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too and his last film, The Rescuers, which was completed and released posthumously.
John Lounsbery
(June 26, 1909 – May 22, 1985) joined Disney in 1933 as an animator. In the late 1950s, Reitherman was promoted to director. Beginning with The Sword in the Stone in 1963, he directed all animated Disney films until his retirement in 1980. He also directed a sequence in Sleeping Beauty which featured Prince Phillip's escape from Maleficent's castle and his eventual battle against her as a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Some of his work includes Monstro (in Pinocchio), The Headless Horseman (in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), the Crocodile (in Peter Pan), and the Rat (in Lady and the Tramp). Demoted following creative conflicts during production of The Fox and the Hound, Reitherman ultimately retired in 1980.
Woolie Reitherman
(September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004) joined Disney in 1934. He went on to author the animator's bible The Illusion of Life with Ollie Johnston. His work included Lady Tremaine (in Cinderella), the Queen of Hearts (in Alice in Wonderland), and Captain Hook (in Peter Pan). Frank also was responsible for the iconic spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp. He departed Disney alongside Johnston in 1978, but often returned while working on their books.
Frank Thomas
In 2012, Frank Thomas' son Theodore Thomas produced Growing up with Nine Old Men, a documentary featuring the children of the animators remembering their fathers. The documentary was included in both the Diamond edition of the Peter Pan DVD[6] in the US, and the re-release of The Jungle Book in Europe.
In 1981, after retiring, Johnston and Thomas published the book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, which sets out the 12 basic principles of animation and helps to preserve the animation techniques that the Disney company created.
Another important component of the Nine Old Men's legacy are the many animators in the contemporary animation industry who can directly or indirectly trace their training to someone who was either their apprentice at Disney Animation or their student at CalArts. For example, Wayne Unten, the supervising animator for Elsa in Disney's Frozen, has noted that he apprenticed with John Ripa, who in turn apprenticed with Glen Keane, who in turn apprenticed with Johnston.[7]
