Tony Anselmo, joined Disney as an animator, but became
the voice of Donald Duck after the death on Clarence Nash, the
original voice of the character.
Sam Armstrong, storyman and background artists from
1934 to 1941, director on "Fantasia".
Xavier "X" Atencio, inbetweener and assistant
animator on "Fantasia".
Art Babbitt, animator of the Wicked Queen from "Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs", Geppetto in "Pinocchio",
the stork in "Dumbo",
and the mushrooms in "The Nutcracker Suite" segment
in the "Fantasia".
Carl Barks, started at Disney as an inbetweener and
worked on the story crew for many cartoon shorts. His most famous
creation is Uncle Scrooge and is well known as a Disney comic
book artist. Barks retired in 1966. He died at the age of 99,
Summer 2000.
Don Bluth, assistant animator on "Sleeping
Beauty", animator on "Robin
Hood" and "Winnie
the Pooh and Tigger Too", and was a directing animator
on "The
Rescuers". He left the Studio to form his own animation
studio.
Stuart Buchanan, Disney animation staff member who
voiced the Huntsman in "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs".
Tim Burton, hired on by Disney to be part of the concept
staff on "The
Black Cauldron". Also made a few short films while with
the company, including "Vincent" and "Frankenweenie".
Les Clark, known as one of Disney's "Nine Old
Men". He specialized in animating Mickey Mouse and later
worked on directing educational films.
Pinto Colvig, storyman at the Disney Studios and was
the original voice of Goofy.
Marc Davis, known as one of Disney's Nine Old Men.
Animator on "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" and character designer of
Young Bambi and Thumper. Also known for animating such female
characters as Cinderella, Tinker Bell, and Cruella de Vil. Davis
died in January, 2000.
Andreas Deja, began at Disney as a conceptual artist
for "The
Black Cauldron", also animated Mickey Mouse in "The
Prince and the Pauper", and was supervising animator on Gaston
("Beauty
and the Beast"), Jafar ("Aladdin"),
and Scar ("The
Lion King").
Eyvind Earle, background artist and color stylist on
such films as "Peter
Pan" and "Lady
and the Tramp". He is also credited with giving the 1959
animated feature "Sleeping
Beauty" its medieval look.. Earle first rose to prominence
at the studio in 1953, when an animated short that he worked on,
"Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom", won both an Academy
Award and a Cannes Film Festival Award. Earle died on July 20,
2000 of esophageal cancer.
Norm Ferguson, directing animator on such films from
"Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" to "Peter
Pan". He was responsible for the witch in "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" and Honest John and Gideon
in "Pinocchio",
and was known for his animation of Pluto.
Andy Gaskill, art director for "The
Lion King".
Blaine Gibson, inbetweener and assistant animator working
on most features through "101
Dalmatians".
Joe Grant, character designer and storyman at Disney
during the early years of the Studios. He worked on such films
as "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Fantasia",
"Saludos Amigos",
"Make Mine
Music", and "Alice
in Wonderland". He returned to working at the Studio
to work on the visual development on "Beauty
on the Beast" and was a story adviser on "Pocahontas".
Don Griffith, layout artist for animated features from
"Victory Through Air Power" through "The
Black Cauldron".
David Hall, storyman, who produced story sketches and
paintings for "Alice
in Wonderland", and a few for "Peter
Pan".
Jack Hannah, began working as an inbetweener and clean-up
artist on many early Mickey, Donald, and Silly Symphony cartoons.
He was a key animator on the Academy Award winning film "The
Old Mill".
T(hornton) Hee, worked for Disney has a caricaturist,
stylist, director, and storyman. He co-directed the "Dance
of the Hours" segment of "Fantasia",
directed the Honest John and Gideon sequence in "Pinocchio",
and worked on story on "Make
Mine Music".
John Hench, started in the Disney Story Department
and later painted backgrounds for "The Nutcracker Suite"
segment of "Fantasia".
He also worked on "Cinderella"
and "Alice
in Wonderland".
Mark Henn, animated Mickey Mouse in "Mickey's
Christmas Carol" and worked on Oliver and the Artful Dodger
in "Oliver
& Company". In 1989 he moved to Florida to help establish
the feature animation studio there. He animated Ariel in "The Little
Mermaid", Belle in "Beauty
and the Beast", and young Simba in "The
Lion King".
Ub Iwerks, animator and special effects artist. Iwerks
helped Disney in the creation of the Mickey 
Mouse character.
Iwerks animated the Mickey Mouse film "Plane Crazy"
all by himself and is renowned for drawing 700 drawings in a day,
which is seven times the amount of drawings a current Disney animator
produces in a week. He animated most of the Mickey Mouse cartoon
and also painted the backgrounds and drew the posters. Iwerks
also invented a multihead optical printer, used to combine live
action and animation in "Melody
Time" and "Song of the South". He also modified
the Xerox process transfer pencil animation to cel without hand
inking. Two Academy Award were won by Ub Iwerks, for designing
an improved optical printer for special effects and for collaborating
on the perfection of color traveling matte photography.
Ollie Johnston, known as one of Disney's "Nine
Old Men". He worked on 24 animated features beginning with
"Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", many as directing animator.
Bill Justice, animator on "Fantasia",
"Bambi",
"Alice
in Wonderland", "Peter
Pan" and others. He developed characters such as Thumper
and Chip and Dale.
Walt Kelly, he specialized in animation of Mickey Mouse.
He started as a storyman, did some animation on "The Pastoral"
sequence of "Fantasia".
He animated on "The Reluctant Dragon" and "Dumbo". He is
also known for his character of Pogo.
Ward Kimball, known as one of Disney's "Nine Old
Men". He was an animated on "Pinocchio"
(created the character of Jiminy Cricket), "Dumbo",
and "The
Three Caballeros".
Jack Kinney, animator/sequence director of films such
as "Pinocchio"
and "Dumbo".
He first directed Goofy in "Goofy's Glider" and soon
became established as the director of the Goofy cartoons.
Eric Larson, known as one of Disney's "Nine Old
Men". Larson began his career at Disney, as an animator or
directing animator on such films as "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Bambi",
"Cinderella",
"The
Jungle Book", and "The
Great Mouse Detective". With his talent and skills, Larson
became a trainer and mentor to many of the new animators that
came to work with the Studios in the 1970's.
John Lounsberry, known as one of Disney's "Nine
Old Men". Lounsberry began his career at Disney as an animator
on "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs". He also worked as an animator
and directing animator on such features as "Pinocchio",
"Peter Pan",
"Lady
and the Tramp", and "The
Rescuers".
Dan MacManus, effects animator, working on most of
the Disney features during the period between 1935 until 1973.
Rob Minkoff, began his career in the Studios as an
inbetweener on "The
Black Cauldron", he helped design the character of Basil
in "The
Great Mouse Detective" and Ursula in "The
Little Mermaid". He is associated with the character
Roger Rabbit as the director of "Tummy Trouble" and
"Roller Coaster Rabbit" and co-producer of "Trail
Mix-up". He directed "The
Lion King" with Roger Allers.
Fred Moore, animator on "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" and credited with updating
Mickey Mouse's appearance in the late 1930s. Moore also served
as an animator or directing animator for most of the animated
features from "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" to "Peter
Pan".
Grim Natwick, was known for designing Betty Boop before
joining the Disney Studios. He specialized in the development
of female characters, including animating Snow White.
Charles "Nick" Nichols, animation director
of shorts and television shows. He began as an animator on the
shorts and had most of the responsibility on the Pluto cartoons.
He animated the coachman in "Pinocchio".
Kay Nielsen, sketch artist, storyman, and designer.
Nielsen created designs for "The Night on Bald Mountain"
segment in "Fantasia".
During the 1940s, he worked on concept designs for "The
Little Mermaid" and "Ride of the Valkyries".
In the mid-1980s, his sketches were brought out of the Disney
Archives to inspire the animators who worked on 1989's "The Little
Mermaid".
Ken O'Connor, layout artist on 13 features and 100
shorts. Features including "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Fantasia",
and "Lady
and the Tramp". After a short retirement, O'Connor returned
to Disney to help develop shows such as World of Motion and Universe
of Energy at EPCOT, and the film Back to Neverland for the Animation
Tour at the Disney/ MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Dave Pruiksma, animator of Mrs. Potts in "Beauty and
the Beast".
Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman, one of Disney's
"Nine Old Men". Director of such features as "Sleeping Beauty"
and "The
Sword in the Stone". After Disney's death in 1966, Reitherman
took over producing and director of all of the animated features
until his retirement in 1980.
Webb Smith, storyman, he is credited with coming up
with the idea of the storyboards.
Dan St. Pierre,
Frank Thomas, known as one of Disney's "Nine Old
Men". Animator on such features as "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", 18 other features up to
"The Fox
and the Hound". Currently works with friend and fellow
animator Ollie Johnston, on books about Disney Animation and both
were featured in a film called "Frank and Ollie".
Past and Present Head Members of Walt Disney Feature
Animation.
Roy Edward Disney, son of Roy O. Disney and nephew
to Walt Disney. Became Vice Chairman of the Walt Disney Company
Board and head of the animation department in 1984.
Walter Elias Disney, along with his brother Roy O,
began the Walt Disney Studios to produce and created cartoon shorts
featuring characters of the Disney Studios. The Disney Studios
produced and created the first ever fully animated feature, "Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs". Other firsts in the film world were,
the first synchronized sound cartoon, the first use of the storyboard,
the first full color cartoon, the first stereophonic theater installations
with Fantasound, the first CinemaScope cartoon, the first use
of the Xerox process to assist in the animation process, and the
first 3D cartoon. Disney also developed the Multiplan Camera,
first used in "The Old Mill". This gave the feel of
depth to an animated film, simply using layers of backgrounds
on painted glass. This processed was used on such features as
"Pinocchio",
"Fantasia",
and "Bambi".
Disney helped director and produce most of the films that came
from the Disney Studios, until his death in 1966. "The
Jungle Book" was the last feature he personally supervised,
but did not see the entire film finished.
Richard Berger, served as the first president of the
new company division named Walt Disney Pictures for two years
beginning in 1982. Berger left when Jeffrey Katzenberg was brought
in as chairman of Walt Disney Pictures.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios
from 1984 to 1994. Katzenberg helped develop such Disney features
as "The
Little Mermaid", "Beauty
and the Beast", "Aladdin",
and "The
Lion King".
Joe Roth, was named Chairman of the Walt Disney Motion
Pictures Group in 1994 on the resignation of Katzenberg.
Peter Schneider, named President of Feature Animation
in 1992, he had joined Disney in 1985 as Vice President of Feature
Animation.
Pam Coats, Vice President of Feature Animation, she
received a BFA degree in acting from Utah State University and
a MFA in directing from the University of Oregon. She moved to
Los Angeles, CA, in 1984 and became involved with Equity Waiver
Productions. She was offered by two different people to fill the
production assistant job at Disney. In 1989 she joined, and worked
as the assistant production manager of backgrounds, animation
check, and color models for "The
Rescuers Down Under". She played a key role in the development
of "Mulan",
keeping it on course throughout it's five year schedule.
Academy Award Winning Advances At Walt Disney Feature
Animation.
1932 - A Special Award was given to Walt Disney for the creation
of Mickey Mouse.
1938 - Top Technical Award to Walt Disney Productions for
the design and application to production of the Multi-Plane Camera.
1939 - A Special Award was given to Walt Disney for "Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs," recognized as a significant screen
innovation.
1942 - A Special Technical Award for outstanding use of sound
in a motion picture, "Fantasia".
1960 - Special Technical Award to Ub Iwerks for the design
of an improved optical printer for special effects and matte shots.
1986 - Technical Achievement Award to David W. Spencer for
the development of an Animation Photo Transfer process (APT).
1992 - Scientific/Technical Award to Members of the Walt Disney
Feature Animation Department, for CAPS (Computer Animated Production
System). The system enables the seamless combination of hand-drawn
and computer animation.
Reference:
1A/2A