Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men
Have you ever wondered where we would be today if Disney had never brought any stories to life with such beautiful characters like Snow White, Dumbo, Bambi, and Jiminy Cricket? Walt Disney hired many extremely talented people to work at his studio from animators, to musicians, to cinematographers, to directors, etc. Together, under Walt’s supervision, they all created the magical motion pictures, animated and live-action, that we know and love today. Of all of the animators that he hired, he had nine men whom he nicknamed “The Nine Old Men,” because they were the core animators for the studio. He named them that after the same nickname that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt named the nine members of the United States Supreme Court at the time. Those men were nine gritty old men that FDR disliked, but Walt’s Nine Old Men were very young, and he loved them dearly.
Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men consisted of Les Clark, Ward Kimball, Marc Davis, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Milt Kahl, Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, and Eric Larson (Animator of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear in Song of the South (1946)). Each of these men had their own unique body of work for the studio. Because they were the immediate animators for the studio, their work was primarily character animation. Today, these men are all deceased, but their work continues to stand the test of time. They all also served as mentors for the new animators who would come to work at the Disney studios in the 1970s and 1980s.
Les Clark was an animator of Mickey Mouse, and he was the only member of the “Nine Old Men,” to work on that character. Ward Kimball’s work was mostly non-human supporting characters, i.e. Jiminy Cricket, Lucifer, Gus and Jaq in Cinderella (1950), and the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951). Marc Davis started out for the studio animating the Princesses like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and also Tinker Bell, but his best known work for the studio is the villains, including Maleficent and Cruella De Vill. Marc Davis also designed the characters for the “Haunted Mansion” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” attractions at Disneyland. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, who were very close in real life, animated characters that always played opposite of each other, for example, Frank Thomas animated Captain Hook, while Ollie Johnston animated Mr. Smee, and Frank Thomas also animated Cinderella’s Stepmother, while Ollie Johnston animated the Stepsisters. One might think that these characters relationships with one another were parodies of the real friendship that these two men had with one another.
John Lounsbery’s best known Disney work can be seen on Mr. Darling in Peter Pan (1953), the Kings in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Tony and Joe in Lady and the Tramp (1955). Milt Kahl began his career at Disney in 1934, but he really didn’t get up to the top of his game until after Walt’s passing in 1966, animating the villains of the movies that came out after that time, including Shere Kahn in The Jungle Book (1967), Edgar the Butler in The Aristocats (1970), the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (1973), and Madame Medusa in The Rescuers (1977). Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman animated characters such as the Crocodile in Peter Pan (1953) the Dragon in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and the rat in Lady and the Tramp (1955). He and John Lounsbery both, however, were promoted to directing the all of the animated films after Walt’s passing, and their directing work includes Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) and The Rescuers (1977). Reitherman also had 3 sons (Robert, Richard, and Bruce) that were all fortunate enough to be cast in Disney animated features. Richard and Robert shared the role of Wart in The Sword in the Stone (1963) with another actor named Rickie Sorenson, while Bruce voiced Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) and Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967). And last but not least, Eric Larson worked on Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear in The Song of the South (1946), Peg in Lady and the Tramp (1955), and the Vultures in The Jungle Book (1967). He was one of the studio’s top mentors for the talent at the studio today.
All Disney lovers really need to tip their hats off to these nine guys for their incredible talent. It is because of their talent that we get to see Disney characters cavort about the screen, communicate with each other, and ultimately find an extraordinarily beautiful happily ever after. Although Walt did have other animators in addition to these men, it was this group of men who served as the foundation for the term “animated motion picture.”
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