Ollie Johnston, 1912-2008

8:38 pm EST April 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in The Incredibles

Ollie Johnston is what you call a complete artist. I spent many a day as a child reading his book The illusion Of Life (co-written with fellow master artist Frank Thomas) and it was a major contributor to my lifelong love of animation. They were two of Disney’s “Nine Old Men” who changed film and entertainment as we know it, for the better.

Ollie Johnston, who died on Monday aged 95, was a leading animator with Walt Disney and the last survivor of the “Nine Old Men” who had shaped the style of the studio’s films from Snow White onwards.

Johnston’s particular contribution was the injection of emotion and his insistence that the characters should seem naturally involved in the situations demanded by the plot.

According to his friend and principal collaborator, Frank Thomas, “Ollie was the only one of the Studio animators who was sensitive to character relationships and how they affected story.

Back then cartoon characters seldom touched unless they hit each other. But one day Ollie said, ‘You know, the act of two people holding hands communicates in a powerful way.’ And he was right. His warmth made a difference in so many of our characters.”

Among the friendships Johnston created in his work for Disney were Baloo and Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967), the villainous, sycophantic relationship between Prince John and Sir Hiss in Robin Hood (1973) and the parents, Pongo and Perdita, in 101 Dalmatians (1961).

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8 Responses to “Ollie Johnston, 1912-2008”

  1. Phil Barron says:
    April 15, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    I never knew. Thanks, Oliver.

  2. Sean D. Martin says:
    April 15, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    I always thought the little tribute in The Incredibles* was a very nice touch. “Yep. That’s old school.”

    .
    * One of the best movies ever. Animated or otherwise.

  3. Rheinhard says:
    April 15, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    Don’t forget Frank and Ollie’s cameo appearance in one of my other most favorite American animated films ever (also directed by Brad Bird!), THE IRON GIANT!

  4. jerry says:
    April 15, 2008 at 11:46 pm

    I’ll have to rewatch The Iron Giant.

    However, I came here to point you to this FARK headline:

  5. Sean D. Martin says:
    April 16, 2008 at 12:57 am

    Gah! They were in The Iron Giant?! Dang, I missed that.

    Now I have to wonder if they also showed up somewhere in Ratatouille.

  6. leemoder says:
    April 16, 2008 at 2:13 am

    Sad to see Ollie leave us. The guy was an all-around artist…never stopped exploring his talent.

  7. Scratch says:
    April 16, 2008 at 5:35 am

    I get the feeling sometimes that many or most people see this 3-D computer animation as “better” than traditional hand-drawn animation, rather than just a different art form. As cool as the 3-D stuff is, it would be (is) a shame to see the old art go away.

  8. SpiderJ says:
    April 16, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    I don’t view the 3-D animation as the reason PIXAR’s films are superior to most films in general, (not just animated), I view PIXAR’s commitment to script and character development as the key ingredient to their excellence.

    Ollie Johnston clearly felt the same way about traditional animation. I’m glad his gauntlet is still being carried.