Joe Ranft

Infobox Actor
name = Joe Ranft
birthname = Joseph Henry Ranft
birthdate = birth date|1960|3|13
location = Pasadena, California
deathdate = death date and age|2005|8|16|1960|3|13
deathplace = Mendocino County, California
spouse = Sue Barry
children = Jordan Ranft (b.1991)
Sophia Ranft (b.1995)
academyawards =

Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft (March 13, 1960 - August 16, 2005) was a magician, animation storyboard artist, and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies.

Early life

Born in Pasadena, California, but raised in Whittier, California, Ranft spent much of his youth practicing magic tricks and playing the accordion. At 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. After two years, Ranft's student film "Good Humor" caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job.

Career

During his first five years with Disney, Ranft worked on a number of television projects that never got made. Furthering into his Disney career, he was bumped up into the Feature Animation department, where he received training from Eric Larson. Ranft remembers his training under the Disney Legend as, “ [Eric] always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know it like, animation is so complex; ‘how many drawings are in there?’ and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; ‘What does the audience perceive?’” [cite web | url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EMZrbS7N_k | title=Eric Larson, Disney Family Album: Part Three] Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings. He stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, doing story work on animated features including "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast. Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations."

Ranft reunited with John Lasseter, whom he had previously met at California Institute of the Arts during the late 70's, when he joined Pixar in 1992. He worked on story development for all of Pixar's feature film releases, most recently as Head of Story on "Cars."

In the movie "Monsters Inc.", Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the Scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff.

In the DVD of "Cars" Ranft can be seen in an interview about the movie.

He voiced the following Pixar characters:
* "Toy Story" - Lenny the Binoculars
* "A Bug's Life" - Heimlich the Caterpillar
* "Toy Story 2" - Wheezy the Penguin
* "Monsters, Inc." - additional voices
* "Finding Nemo" - Jacques the Shrimp and Phil, Tad's father
* "The Incredibles" - additional voices
* "Cars" - Red and a Peterbilt aka. "jerry Recycled Batteries" that Lightning McQueen encounters en route to Radiator Springs

He was also given lead story credit on 1987's "The Brave Little Toaster" and voiced Elmo St. Peters, the appliance salesman.

His favorite writers were Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe.

Death

On August 16, 2005 Ranft was killed when his car crashed through a guardrail on Highway 1 and plunged into the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County, California. [cite news|url=http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_framed_roger_rabbit/news/1645631/pixars_joe_ranft_falls_to_a_tragic_death|title=Pixar's Joe Ranft Falls to a Tragic Death|accessdate=2008-06-26|date=2005-08-19|author=Scott Weinberg|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes]

Ranft died during production of "Cars" which he co-directed. The film ends with a dedication to him, as does Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride", which Ranft executive produced. He is remembered by Henry Selick as "the story giant of our generation." [cite web | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001017138 | title=Pixar's Ranft dies in crash by Sheigh Crabtree]

elected filmography

*"The Brave Little Toaster" (1987)
*"Oliver and Company" (1988)
*"The Little Mermaid" (1989)
*"The Rescuers Down Under" (1990)
*"Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
*"The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)
*"The Lion King" (1994)
*"Toy Story" (1995)
*"A Bug's Life" (1998)
*"Toy Story 2" (1999)
*"Fantasia 2000" (1999)
*"Monsters, Inc." (2001)
* "Monkeybone" (2001)
*"Finding Nemo" (2003)
*"The Incredibles" (2004)
*"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" (2005)
*"Cars" (2006)
*"Coraline" (2009) (archive footage)
*"Toy Story 3" (2010) (archive footage)
*"The Bear and the Bow" (2011) (archive footage)
*"Cars 2" (2012) (archive footage)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0710020|name=Joe Ranft
* [http://www.pixar.com/artistscorner/joe/index.html Pixar Artist's Corner] with Joe
* Michael Sragow (Nov. 23, 1999) [http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/1999/11/23/story/ "Toy" Story Man] . "Salon."
* Peter Hartlaub (Sep. 17, 2003) [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/17/DD237617.DTL The secret of Pixar's magic can be found at CalArts...] . "San Francisco Chronicle."
* [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/people/obit_brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001017139 Hollywood Reporter] Obituary
* [http://www.ronniedelcarmen.com/blog1/2005/08/joe-ranft-1960-2005.html Remembrance by Ronnie del Carmen]
* [http://mb.laughingplace.com/default.asp?WCI=MsgBoard&WCE=T-67957-P-1&Refresh=1024203238 Obituary by the former President of the Northern California Disneyana Enthusiasts club] , citing comments made at Joe Ranft's memorial
* [http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Joe%20Ranft Disney Legends profile]
* [http://www.james-baker.com/news/2005/08/joe-ranft.html Remembrance by James S. Baker]
*