Last of Original Disney Animators Gone
RIP...
Last of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men" dies
(Reuters) The last of Walt Disney's original team of animators, known as the Nine Old Men, has died at the age of 95, a Walt Disney Co spokesman said on Tuesday.
Ollie Johnston worked for Disney for 43 years, drawing characters for animated Mickey Mouse short films before contributing to such classics such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Pinocchio," "Peter Pan" and "The Jungle Book."
Johnston died of natural causes in a long-term care facility in Sequim, Washington on Monday.
Born in Palo Alto, California in 1912, Johnston showed early artistic promise and attended Chouinart Art Institute in Los Angeles. During his final year of college in 1935, Disney approached Johnston to join his fledgling animation studio.
Starting with "Song of the South" in 1946, Johnston became directing animator and served in that capacity in nearly every subsequent film. He retired in 1978 after completing some work on his final film, "The Fox and the Hound."
Johnston devoted his retirement to writing, lecturing and consulting and to model trains, of which he was considered one of the world's foremost experts.
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