Disney's Nine Old Men
Disney's Nine Old Men were Walt Disney Productions' core animators, some of whom later became directors, who created some of Disney's most famous animated cartoons, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs onward to The Rescuers, and were referred to as such by Walt Disney himself. They worked in both short films and feature films. Disney delegated more and more tasks to them in the animation department in the early 1950s when their interests expanded and diversified their scope. All members of the group are deceased. John Lounsbery was the first to die, in 1976 from heart failure, and the last survivor was Ollie Johnston, who died in 2008 from natural causes. All have been acknowledged as Disney Legends.
History
The first three "Old Men" hired by Walt Disney were Les Clark in 1927 and Eric Larson and Wolfgang Reitherman in 1933, but all the others were hired in 1934 and 1935. Almost all of the Nine Old Men began their careers at Disney by working on short films, but they all worked on Disney's first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when the film was in development. Progressively, many of them became animation directors. The first of them began this work in 1940, in the Pinochio film. Most of the Nine Old Men started working as animator directing in 1946, except Kimball and Reitherman, who were animator directing from 1947, and Johnston and Thomas, who were animator directing from 1949.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, there were nine members on the board and Walt Disney named the group "Nine Old Men". Since then, Walt Disney delegated more and more tasks to them in the field of animation as the work of the company diversified. As we can see in the table below, in general, the Disney's Old Nine did not work together in any film except in the two first feature films and in the period 1949-1953, when they worked in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Interestingly, almost all of them worked as directing animators in these films, except Les Clark and Marc Davis.
After 1961, Marc Davis stopped making films, but kept doing other works for the company. Ward Kimball retired in 1973, with the film Robin Hood being his last work. By the time Robin Hood was released, in November 1973, only four of the Nine Old Men still animated films regularly, although Eric Larson was still working for Disney as a talent scout and trainer and occasionally as an animator and director of animation, Wolfgang Reitherman and Les Clark were by then directing and producing films, and Marc Davis was helping to create Disney theme park attractions. Lounsbery died in 1976, Clark and Kahl retired the same year, with Man, Monsters and Mysteries and The Rescuers being the last Clark and Kahl films, respectively. Davis, Thomas and Johnston retired in 1978 after Thomas and Johnston created some animations for the film The Fox and the Hound, which was in development at the time, while Reitherman retired in 1981. After that, the only one who continued to work at the company was Larson but as an Animation Consultant. He retired in 1986. Thomas and Johnston later enjoyed cameos in the Brad Bird-directed films The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. Thomas died shortly afterward in 2004, and Johnston, who was by then the last surviving "Old Man", died in 2008.
As well as being honored as Disney Legends in 1989, all of the Nine Old Men were separately honored with the Winsor McCay Award during the 1970s and 1980s.
Members
- Les Clark, who joined Disney in 1927. Although Clark started his career at Disney working on the Alice comedies' shorts, his specialty was animating Mickey Mouse as 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 and made many animated featurettes and shorts, although since 1964 almost all the films in which Clark worked are short films.
- Marc Davis started in 1935 on Snow White, and later he went on to develop/animate the characters of Bambi and Thumper, Tinker Bell, Maleficent, Aurora and the raven, and Cruella de Vil. Davis was responsible for character design for both the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion attractions at Disneyland.
- with their wives in 1985 Ollie Johnston, 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, the Stepsisters, the District Attorney, and Prince John. 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 and Sir Hiss.
- Milt Kahl started in 1934 working on Snow White. His work included heroes such as Pinocchio, Tigger, Peter Pan, and Slue-Foot Sue and villains such as Madam Mim, Shere Khan, Edgar the butler, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Madame Medusa.
- Ward Kimball joined Disney in 1934. His work includes Jiminy Cricket, Lucifer, Jaq and Gus, and the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat. Specialized in drawing comic characters, his work was often more "wild" than the other Disney animators and was unique. In 1968 he created and released a non-Disney anti-Vietnam War animated short, Escalation.
- Eric Larson 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 ; and Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. Because of Larson's demeanor and ability to train new talent, Larson was given the task to spot and train 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.
- John Lounsbery 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.
- Wolfgang Reitherman joined Disney in 1933 as an animator and director. He produced all the animated Disney films after Walt's death until his retirement; In the 1950s, Reitherman was promoted as a director. 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, The Headless Horseman, the Crocodile, and the Rat.
- Frank Thomas joined Disney in 1934. He went on to author the animator's bible The Illusion of Life with Ollie Johnston. His work included the wicked Stepmother, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook. Frank also was responsible for the iconic spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp.
Legacy
As part of their work for Disney, the Nine Old Men refined the 12 basic principles of animation:- Squash and stretch
- Anticipation
- Staging
- Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
- Follow Through and Overlapping Action
- Slow In and Slow Out
- Arcs
- Secondary Action
- Timing
- Exaggeration
- Solid Drawing
- Appeal
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.
Feature films
| Title | Les Clark | Marc Davis | Ollie Johnston | Milt Kahl | Ward Kimball | Eric Larson | John Lounsbery | Wolfgang Reitherman | Frank Thomas |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Animator | Animator and designer for Snow White | Assistant animator | Animator for The Prince, the Forest Animals | Animator | Animator for Forest Animals, Dwarfs on deer | Assistant animator | Animator | Animator for The Dwarfs |
| Pinocchio | Animator | Animator | Animator for Pinocchio | Animation director/animator for Pinocchio and some scenes of Jiminy Cricket | Animation Director/Designer and animator for Jiminy Cricket | Animation Director for Figaro, Cleo, Marionettes, Donkeys | Animator for "Honest" John Worthington Foutfellow, Gideon | Animation Director | Animator for Pinocchio |
| Fantasia | Animator | x | Animator for Centaurettes and Cupids in "Pastoral Symphony" Segment | x | Animation Supervisor for the segment "The Pastoral Symphony" | Animation Supervisor for the segment "The Pastoral Symphony" | Animator for the Segment "Dance of the Hours" | Animation Supervisor for the segment "The Rite of Spring | x |
| The Reluctant Dragon | x | x | x | x | Animator | x | x | Animator | x |
| Dumbo | Animator | x | x | x | Animation Director for Crows | Animator | Animation Director for Dumbo, Timothy Q. Mouse | Animation Director | x |
| Bambi | Animator | Animator and designer for Bambi, Faline, female rabbit, Flower and female skunk | Animator for Bambi's mother's death, Thumper reciting his father's lesson | Supervising animator for Bambi, Thumper, Deer | x | Supervising Animator for Thumper, Friend Owl | Supervising animator | Supervising animator | Animator for Bambi and Thumper ice-skating |
| Saludos Amigos | Animator | x | x | Animator for the rides a Llama sequence | Animator | x | x | Animator | x |
| The Three Caballeros | Animator | x | Animator for Donald Duck and "The Flying Gauchito" segment | Animator | Animator | Animator for "The Flying Gauchito", Donald Duck, Jose Carioca, Panchito and Aracuan segments | Animator for Donald Duck, Jose Carioca, Panchito | x | Animator for "The Flying Gauchito" segment |
| Make Mine Music | Animator | x | Animator for "Peter and the Wolf" and "Casey at the Bat" segments | Animator for "The Martins and the Coys", "All the Cats Join In" | Animator | Animator for "Casey at the Bat" "Peter and the Wolf" | Animator for Wolf in "Peter and the Wolf" and "The Whale who Wanted to the sing at the Met" | x | x |
| Song of the South | Directing Animator | Directing Animator, animator and designer for Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear | Animator for Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear | Directing animator for Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear | x | Directing Animator | Directing Animator | x | x |
| Fun and Fancy Free | Directing Animator | Animator and designer for Bongo, butterfly, and yawning trees | Animator for Jiminy Cricket | Lulubelle, Lumpjaw, bears | Directing Animator | Animator | Directing Animator for Jiminy Cricket, Mickey Mouse, Willie the Giant | Directing Animator | x |
| Melody Time | Directing Animator | x | Animator for Johnny Appleseed, Johnny's Guardian Angel, Johnny's Ghost, Little Toot | Directing animator for the Johnny Appleseed, Johnny's Guardian Angel, Pecos Bill, Widowmaker and Slue Foot Sue segments | Directing Animator for Pecos Bill y his sequences | Directing Animator for "Once Upon A Wintertime", "Johnny Appleseed" and "Little Toot" segments | Directing Animator for "Once Upon A Wintertime", "Blame it on the Samba" and "Pecos Bill" | x | x |
| So Dear to My Heart | Animator | x | x | Animator | x | Animator | Animator | x | x |
| The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad | Animator | Animator and designer for Mr. Toad, Cyril Proudbottom, Rat, Mole, Angus MacBadger, Mr. Winkie and the weasels | Directing animator/Animator for J.Thaddeus Toad, Ratty, Moley, Angus Macbadger, The Prosecutor, The Judge, Ichabod Crane, Katrina Von Tassel, Baltus Von Tassel, Brom Bones | Directing animator for Angus MacBadger, Rat, Mole, angry mob and Brom Bones | Directing Animator and character animator of both shorts | Animator | Directing Animator for Ichabod Crane's introductory scenes | Directing Animator | Directing animador/Animator for Mr. Toad, Cyril Proudbottom, Rat, Mole, Ichabod Crane and his horse, Katrina Von Tassel, Brom Bones, laughing fat lady |
| Cinderella | Directing Animator | Animator and designer for Cinderella, Stepsisters, Prince Charming, the King and the Grand Duke | Directing animator/Animator for Stepsisters, Lackey | Directing animator for Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, the King and the Grand Duke | Directing Animator for Jaq and Gus and Lucifer the Cat | Directing Animator for Cinderella, Prince Charming | Directing Animator for Jaq, Gus, Lucifer, Mice, Bruno, Major | Directing Animator | Directing animador/Animator for Lady Tremaine, Grand Duke |
| Alice in Wonderland | Directing Animator | Animator and designer for Alice and the eyeglasses creature | Directing animator/Animator for Alice, King of Hearts | Directing animator for Alice, the White Rabbit, the Dodo, Flamingo and Hedgehog | Directing Animator/Designer and animator for Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and Tea Party sequence | Directing Animator for Alice, Dinah, Caterpillar, Queen Of Hearts | Directing Animator for Flowers, Catepillar, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Strange Creatures | Directing Animator | Directing animador/Animator for Queen of Hearts, Doorknob, strange creatures, a few scenes of the King of Hearts, Cheshire Cat |
| Peter Pan | Directing Animator | Animator and designer for Tinker Bell and Mrs. Darling | Directing animator/Animator for Mr. Smee, a few scenes of Captain Hook | Directing animator for Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, John Darling, Michael Darling, Mr. Darling, Mrs. Darling, Nana | Directing Animator | Directing Animator for Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook | Directing Animator for George Darling, Wendy, John, Michael, Mary, Nana, Lost Boys, Indians, Pirates, Captain Hook | Directing Animator | Directing animador/Animator for Captain Hook and a few scenes of Mr. Smee |
| Lady and the Tramp | Directing Animator | x | Directing animator/Animator for Lady, Jock and Trusty | Directing animator for Lady, Tramp, Mr. Busy the Beaver, Trusty | x | Directing animator for Lady, Tramp, Beaver, Peg | Directing Animator for Lady, Tramp, Tony, Joe, Bull, Toughy, Boris, Peg, Professor, Cop | Directing Animator | Directing animador/Animator for Lady, Tramp and Jock |
| Sleeping Beauty | Sequence Director | Animator and designer for Aurora, Maleficent, Diablo the Raven, Prince Phillip, King Stefan, and Queen Leah | Directing animator/Animator for Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather | Directing animator for Prince Phillip, King Hubert, King Stefan, Maitre D', animals, Samson | x | Sequence Director | Directing Animator for Prince Philip, King Hubert, King Stefan, Animals, Goons | Sequence Director | Directing animador/Animator for Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather |
| One Hundred and One Dalmatians | Character Animator | Animator and designer for Cruella de Vil and Anita | Directing animator/Animator for Pongo, Perdita, Nanny | Directing animator for Roger and Anita, Pongo, Perdita, Labrador | x | Directing animator for Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Colonel, Tibbs | Directing Animator for Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Colonel, Tibbs, Jasper, Horace, Danny, Captain Horse | Director | Directing animador/Animator for Pongo, Perdita, Puppies |
| The Sword in the Stone | Animator | x | Directing animator/Animator for Merlin, Wart, Archimedes, Sugar Bowl | Character design/directing animator for Wart, Merlin, Sir Ector, Kay, Archimedes, Kitchen Woman, Madame Mim, Dogs | x | Animator for Wart, Merlin, Archimedes, Sir Ector, Madam Mim | Directing Animator for Wart, Merlin, Archimedes, Sir Ector, Sir Kay, Sir Pelinore, Wolf, Pike, Madam Mim, Scullery Maid | Director | Directing animador/Animator for Wart, Merlin, Squirrel Scene, Madam Mim |
| Mary Poppins | x | x | Animator for the Penguins | Animator for the Master of hounds, hounds, fox, stewards | Animator | Animator for Forest animals, Racers | Animator for Farm Animals, Huntsman and Horse | x | Animator for the Penguins |
| The Jungle Book | x | x | Directing animator/Animator for Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo, Shanti | Directing animator for Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Shere Khan, King Louie, monkeys, Kaa, the Vultures | x | Animator for Mowgli, Bagheera, Vultures | Directing Animator for Colonel Hathi, Winifred, Junior, Elephants, Bugler elephant, Baloo, Mowgli, Bagheera, King Louie, Shere Khan, Vultures, Monkeys | Director | Directing animador/Animator for Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, King Louie, Flunkey Monkey |
| The Aristocats | x | x | Directing animator/Animator for Duchess, Thomas O' Malley, Marie, Berlioz, Toulouse, Amelia and Abigail Gabble, Uncle Waldo | Directing animator for Thomas O'Malley, Duchess, Madame Bonfamille, Edgar and George | x | Animator for Roquefort, Kittens, Scat Cat | Directing Animator for Edgar, George Hautecourt, Alley Cats, Roquefort | Producer and Director | Directing animador/Animator for Duchess, Thomas O' Malley, Edgar, Napoleon, Lafayette |
| Bedknobs and Broomsticks | x | x | x | Animator for King Leonidas, Secretary Bird and the animals | Animation Director | Animator | Animator | x | x |
| Robin Hood | Animator | x | Directing animator/Animator for Prince John, Sir Hiss, Robin Hood and Little John disguised as fortune tellers, Maid Marian, Lady Cluck | Directing animator for Robin Hood, The Sheriff of Nottingham, Little John, Allan-a-Dale, Maid Marian, Lady Kluck, Friar Tuck, Skippy, King Richard | Character animator | Character Animator for Robin Hood, Little John, Vultures | Directing Animator for Robin Hood, Little John, Sheriff of Nottingham, Wolf Arrowmen, Otto | Producer and Director | Directing animador/Animator for Robin Hood disguised as stork, Sheriff of Nottingham, Maid Marian and Skippy |
| The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | Animator | x | Animator for Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit | Animator for Tigger, Winnie the Pooh and a few scenes of Roo | x | Animator for Kanga, Roo, Winnie The Pooh | Animator / Director | Producer and Director | Animator for Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Christopher Robin |
| The Rescuers | x | x | Directing animator/Animator for Bernard, Bianca, Penny, Rufus, Orville | Directing animator for Madame Medusa, Mr. Snoops, Penny, Brutus and Nero, a few scenes of Bernard and Bianca | x | Titles | Director | Producer and Director | Directing Animator/Animator for Bernard, Bianca, Chairmouse, Nero and Brutus |
| The Fox and the Hound | x | x | Animator for Tod, Copper, Vixey, Chief walking in a busted leg | x | x | Animation Consultant | x | He devised the adaptation of the novel and co-produced the film | Supervising animator for Tod and Copper |
| The Black Cauldron | x | x | x | x | x | Animation Consultant | x | x | x |
| The Great Mouse Detective | x | x | x | x | x | Animation Consultant | x | x | x |