Ollie Johnston

Ollie Johnston was an American animator and the last of Disney's Nine Old Men. Born in Palo Alto, he worked for Walt Disney Studios between 1934 and 1981, starting as an animator and becoming a directing animator with Pinocchio (1940). He contributed to most of Disney's animated features, including Fantasia and Bambi, and his character work included Mr. Smee in Peter Pan, the Stepsisters in Cinderella, the District Attorney from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and Prince John in Robin Hood. His last full Disney work was The Rescuers, where he was caricatured as the cat Rufus, and his final film was The Fox and the Hound. With Frank Thomas, he co-wrote Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (1981), which set out twelve basic principles of animation, and their partnership was the subject of the documentary Frank and Ollie (1995). Johnston received the Disney Legend Award in 1989 and the National Medal of Arts in 2005.