Ollie Johnston, Disney Animator: 1912 - 2008
By Craig Kennedy - April 15th, 2008; 4:28 pm
Disney Animator Ollie Johnston Immortalized in The Incredibles
Ollie Johnston, the last of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men” has died of natural causes at age 95.
Johnston was a part of the core of the Disney animating team from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937 until his retirement following 1977’s The Rescuers. The other 8 were with Les Clark, Frank Thomas, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl and Marc Davis.
Johnston was immortalized with an animated cameo in Brad Bird’s terrific Iron Giant and again in The Incredibles.
Filed under: News, Obituaries
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All the great ones are going. :-(
RIP.
This is indeed very sad news. Ollie and the gang of nine at Disney created what would essentially become the pinnacle of modern animation through the remainder of the 20th century. He lived a long, full life and that is some comfort, but it’s sad to see the last of these guys finally go.
As I stated elsewhere today, we can take some comfort in the fact that the Disney vision of quality animation coupled with quality storytelling is not completely dead, at least not amongst the studios or Disney. Pixar has taken up a banner that many had long since thought was dead and gone and their own John Lassetter is now head of all Disney animation. Great animation is still being done by independent animators here and abroad as well as by major studios overseas. The collected works of Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli as well as films such as the Triplets of Belleville and Persepolis are testament to that.
Still, it’s always sad to see a trailblazer leave us for the great beyond. RIP, Ollie.
It is terribly sad indeed.
I cannot believe how many obituaries there are to post recently, it is scary.
RIP Ollie.
I’ll talk about The Pixar Story until I’m blue in the face, or until all animated film fans see it - whichever comes first.
Johnston and his cohorts will one day receive the recognition they deserve for essentially creating a new dimension in film. I mean really, they took Steamboat Willie and just blew open to doors of creativity and storytelling with their own visionary projects. I love Pixar because I’m used to it now, but seeing 2-D animation can still be a thrill, and Joel mentions several people that are still exploring its boundaries.
There’s still something about hand drawn 2D animation that’s very appealing, but I have to admit I’m getting used to the Pixar stuff.
I watched Iron Giant recently and it was fabulous, but it also seemed so…old fashioned. Ultimately in a good way, but still.
I still love 2D animation as well. As much as I like Pixar, a big part of me misses it.
RIP, Ollie Johnston. He was an enormous force in animation, needless to say. A real “trailblazer” as Joel said.
Craig, Iron Giant is such a wonderful giant that the old fashioned animation makes no difference. :-)
In the end Alison, I think the 2D makes it even better.
It takes a minute to get used to, but it’s lovely.