Ollie Johnston
Animator, Film director
1912 – 2008
Who was Ollie Johnston?
Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death from natural causes. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.
He was an animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978, and became a directing animator beginning with Pinocchio, released in 1940. He contributed to most Disney animated features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Bambi. His last full work for Disney came with The Rescuers, in which he was caricatured as one of the film's characters, the cat Rufus.
Johnston co-authored, with Frank Thomas, the reference book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, which contained the 12 basic principles of animation. This book helped preserve the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the studio. The partnership of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston is fondly presented in the documentary Frank and Ollie, produced by Thomas' son Theodore, who in 2012 also produced another documentary, Growing up with Nine Old Men, included in the Diamond edition of the Peter Pan DVD.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Oct 31, 1912
Palo Alto - Also known as
- Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr.
- Oliver M. Johnston
- Oliver Johnston
- Oliver M. Johnston Jr.
- Spouses
- Marie E. Johnston
(1943/01/23 - 2005/05/20)
- Marie E. Johnston
- Children
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley
- Stanford University
- Palo Alto High School
- Chouinard Art Institute
- Lived in
- Palo Alto
- Died
- Apr 14, 2008
Sequim
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Ollie Johnston." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/ollie_johnston>.
Discuss this Ollie Johnston biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In