- Frank Thomas (animator)
Infobox Person
name = Frank Thomas
image_size =
caption = Frank Thomas (center) with best friendOllie Johnston and their wives in (1985)
birth_date = birth date|1912|9|5|mf=y
birth_place = Fresno,California
death_date = death date and age|2004|9|8|1912|9|5|mf=y
death_place =Flintridge, California [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117910227.html?categoryid=25&cs=1&query=%22lady+and+the+tramp%22+ Obituary] , Associated Press, "Variety" magazine]
occupation =Animator
spouse =Franklin "Frank" Thomas (
September 5 ,1912 –September 8 ,2004 ) was an Americananimator . He was one ofWalt Disney 's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.Born in Fresno,
California , Frank Thomas attendedStanford University , where he worked on campus humor magazine "TheStanford Chaparral " withOllie Johnston . After graduating from Stanford, he attendedChouinard Art Institute , then joinedThe Walt Disney Company onSeptember 24 ,1934 as employee number 224. There he animated dozens of feature films and shorts, and also was a member of theDixieland bandFirehouse Five Plus Two , playing thepiano .His work in
animated cartoon shorts included "The Brave Little Tailor ", in which he animated scenes ofMickey Mouse and the king; Mickey and the bear in "The Pointer ", and German dialogue scenes in theWorld War II propaganda short "Education for Death " (shortly before Thomas enlisted in the Air Force).In
feature film s, among the characters and scenes Thomas animated were the dwarfs crying overSnow White 's "dead" body,Pinocchio singing at the marionette theatre,Bambi and Thumper on the ice,Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti, the three fairies in "Sleeping Beauty", Merlin and Arthur as squirrels and the "wizard's duel" between Merlin andMadam Mim in "The Sword in the Stone", in which he was paired with animatorMilt Kahl to great effect, King Louie in "The Jungle Book" (the song number "I Wan'na Be Like You" featuring King Louie and Baloo the Bear re-teamed him with Kahl), the dancing penguins in "Mary Poppins", andWinnie The Pooh and Piglet in the Winnie The Pooh featurettes. Thomas was directing animator for several memorable villains, including the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine in "Cinderella", the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland", andCaptain Hook in "Peter Pan".He retired from Disney on
January 31 ,1978 .Thomas co-authored, with fellow Disney legend
Ollie Johnston , the comprehensive book "The Illusion Of Life ", first published byAbbeville Press in 1981. Regarded as the definitive resource book on traditional hand-drawncharacter animation (particularly in the Disney style), the book has been republished numerous times, and is widely considered "the bible" among character animators. The book summarised the Disney approach to animation through the so-called12 basic principles of animation .Thomas and Johnston were also profiled in the 1995 documentary "
Frank and Ollie ", which screened at the 20thToronto International Film Festival , directed by Thomas's son Theodore Thomas. The film profiled their careers, private lives, and the personal friendship between the two men.Thomas's last appearance in an animated film before his death was in "
The Incredibles " (directed byBrad Bird ), although he voiced a character, rather than animating one. Frank and his friend and colleague Ollie Johnston voiced and were caricatured as two old men saying "That's old school..." "Yeah, no school like the old school." The pair had previously been heard, and caricatured, as the two train engineers in Bird's "The Iron Giant ". Frank Thomas died inFlintridge, California at age 92.An excellent biographical profile of Thomas can be found in the 2001 book "Walt Disney's Nine Old Men & The Art of Animation" by
John Canemaker (ISBN 0-7868-6496-6).On the "Animation Podcast", Disney director
John Musker discussed Frank Thomas, and mentioned that at one time, fellow animation greatChuck Jones had christened Thomas the "Laurence Olivier of animators."Books (all with Johnston)
* "
The Illusion Of Life "
* "Too Funny For Words: Disney's Greatest Sight Gags"
* "The Disney Villain" (ISBN 1-56282-792-8)
* "Bambi: The Story and the Film", accompanied by a flip bookReferences
External links
*
* [http://www.frankandollie.com/ Frank and Ollie's official site]
* [http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Frank+Thomas Disney Legends]
* [http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=all&sort=date&article_no=2305&page=1 AWN's tribute to Frank Thomas]
* [http://www.animationartconservation.com/remembering_frank_thomas.html Remembering Frank Thomas]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.