Last of Disney's " Nine old men" Ollie Johnston passed away on monday

jjpenguin

<font color=red>A penguin with mouse ears & wooden
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From the BBC site:

The last of the great artists from Walt Disney's "golden age" of animation has died at the age of 95, said Disney.

Ollie Johnston was the last surviving member of an elite group of Disney animation pioneers known as the "Nine Old Men".

His films included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Peter Pan.

"Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art," said Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney.

Bambi scene

Mr Johnston studied at Los Angeles' Chouinard Art Institute and was approached by the then-fledgling Disney studio in 1935 to work on animated shorts including Mickey's Garden, Pluto's Judgement Day and Mickey's Rival.

His first feature film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, and he went on to work on classic Disney animated films such as Fantasia, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and The Jungle Book.

His famous scenes included the heartbreaking death of Bambi's mother at the hands of a hunter.

Mr Johnston retired in January 1978 to devote his time to writing, lecturing and consulting.

In 1989, he received a Disney Legends Award, and in 2003, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a tribute to him.

In 2005, Mr Johnston received the National Medal of Arts, becoming the first animator to ever receive the honour.

Mr Johnston, who died in Washington state, is survived by his sons, Ken and Rick.
 

Very sad, but what a wonderful long life he had.
 
In addition to being the gifted animator who gave us so many precious Disney movie memories, Ollie was the train hobbyist who had a full sized train in his backyard, complete with train station and telegraph office, that Walt saw, fell in love with, and envied so much he built his own home train set. History says that Walt's backyard train system got so out of hand that Lillian had to ask him to stay out of her flower beds. That's when Walt decided it was time to find some place else for his beloved trains and so began planning in earnest for Disneyland. When he was asked what Disneyland would look like, Walt said something like--I'm not sure what it will look like, but it will be big and it will have a train running around it. So, thank you, Ollie, for getting Walt to make his Disneyland dream come true and bringing us all together here today.
 
Here's the article on Laughing Place, a fitting tribute and a reminder of what Ollie and his compatriots contributed to our lives. If you can read this eloquent article and the touching comments made by readers without tears coming to your eyes . . . well, that won't happen.
http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID512060.asp
 














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