Last Survivor Of Disney's "Nine Old Men" Dies At 95
Posted almost 4 years ago
Last Survivor Of Disney's "Nine Old Men" Dies At 95
Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Walt Disney's "nine old men" who created such classic animated films as *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*, *Pinocchio*, *Cinderella*, *Fantasia*, *Sleeping Beauty*, and *Alice in Wonderland*, died in Sequim, Washington Tuesday at age 95.
In a statement, Roy Disney, Walt's nephew and the third-largest shareholder in the company (after Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner), said, "Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today."
Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter said that Johnson "taught me to always be aware of what a character is thinking, and we continue to make sure that every character we create at Pixar and Disney has a thought process and emotion that makes them come alive."
(That's fellow "Old Man" *Frank Thomas* in the photo; the twoof them lent their voices and faces to characters in *The Iron Giant* and *The Incredibles*; i think Thomas died before *The Incredibles* was released or shortly thereafter.)
Locating MOG account...
Comments (8)
Heard the news yesterday and it is truly an end of an era. Ollie and the other eight were so influential to more than one generation. An incredible legacy.