Frank Thomas (animator)
Frank Thomas | |
---|---|
Born | Franklin Rosborough Thomas September 5, 1912 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Died | September 8, 2004 | (aged 92)
Alma mater | Stanford University |
Occupation | Animator |
Years active | 1935–2004 |
Employer(s) | Walt Disney Animation Studios (1934-1982) TMS Entertainment (1982-1988) |
Known for | One of Disney's Nine Old Men |
Spouse | Jeanette A. Thomas |
Children | 4, including Theodore Thomas |
Franklin Rosborough Thomas (September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004) was an American animator and pianist. He was one of Walt Disney's leading team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.
Biography
Thomas was born on September 5, 1912, in
Career
His work in
In feature films, among the characters and scenes Thomas animated were the dwarfs crying over Snow 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 and Madam Mim in The Sword in the Stone (in which he was paired with animator Milt 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, and Winnie The Pooh and Piglet in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too. Thomas was directing animator for several memorable villains, including the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, Captain James Hook in Peter Pan, and story consultant in Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. He retired from Disney on January 31, 1978. In the 1980s and 1990s, Thomas served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute and often was a presenter at the annual film festival's award ceremonies.[7][8]
Thomas co-authored, with fellow Disney legend Ollie Johnston, the comprehensive book
Thomas and Johnston were also profiled in the 1995 documentary Frank and Ollie, which screened at the 20th Toronto 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. In 2012, Theodore Thomas also directed another short documentary, "Growing up with Nine Old Men", included in the Diamond edition of Disney's Peter Pan DVD.
Thomas's last work in an animated film before his death was for The Incredibles (directed by Brad 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. Thomas died in La Cañada Flintridge, California, on September 8, 2004, three days after his 92nd birthday. His widow, Jeanette A. Thomas, died on September 29, 2012.[9]
The 2001 biography Walt Disney's Nine Old Men & The Art of Animation by
On the Animation Podcast, Disney director John Musker discussed Frank Thomas, and mentioned that at one time, fellow animation great Chuck Jones had christened Thomas the "Laurence Olivier of animators."
Filmography
Films
Year | Title | Credits | Characters | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1935 | The Cookie Carnival (Short) | Animator | uncredited | |
Music Land (short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1936 | Orphans' Picnic (Short) | Animator | uncredited | |
Mickey's Circus (short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
Mickey's Elephant (short) |
Animator | uncredited | ||
More Kittens (short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarves | Animator | The Seven Dwarfs | |
Little Hiawatha (short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1938 | Brave Little Tailor (short) | Animator | uncredited | |
1939 | The Practical Pig (short) | Animator | uncredited | |
The Pointer (short) | Animator: "Mickey looking for Bear" | uncredited | ||
1940 | Pinocchio | Animation Director | Pinocchio | Credited as Franklin Thomas |
1942 | Bambi | Supervising Animator | Bambi, Thumper, Faline | Credited as Franklin Thomas |
All Together (short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1943 | The Grain That Built a Hemisphere (Documentary) | Animator | ||
Victory Vehicles (Short) |
Animator | uncredited | ||
The Winged Scourge (Documentary short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (short) |
Animator | uncredited | ||
1944 | Position Firing | Animator | ||
Camouflage (short) | Director | |||
1945 | The Three Caballeros | Animator | "The Flying Gauchito" | Credited as Franklin Thomas |
1946 | In Dutch (Short) | Animator | ||
1949 | The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad |
Directing Animator | Mr. Toad, Water Rat, Mole, Cyril Proudbottom, Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, Katrina | |
Pueblo Pluto (Short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1950 | Cinderella | Directing Animator | Lady Tremaine, a few scenes of the Grand Duke | |
1951 | Alice in Wonderland | Directing Animator | Doorknob, Queen of Hearts | |
1953 | Peter Pan | Directing Animator | Captain Hook, a few scenes of Smee | |
1955 | Lady and the Tramp | Directing Animator | Lady, Tramp, Jock, Trusty | |
1959 | Sleeping Beauty | Directing Animator | Three Good Fairies |
|
Donald in Mathmagic Land (Short) | Animator | uncredited | ||
1961 | One Hundred and One Dalmatians | Directing Animator | Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Roger, Anita, Nanny, Labrador | |
1963 | The Sword in the Stone | Directing Animator | Wart, Merlin, Archimedes, Squirrels, Madam Mim | |
1964 | Mary Poppins | Animator | Dancing Penguins | |
1967 | The Jungle Book | Directing Animator | Mowgli, Baloo, King Louie, Kaa | |
1968 | Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Short) | Animator | Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Christopher Robin | |
1970 | The Aristocats | Story / Directing Animator | Duchess, O'Malley, Amelia and Abigail Gabble, Napoleon, Lafayette, Edgar | |
1973 | Robin Hood | Directing Animator / Story Sequences | Robin Hood in stork disguise, Sheriff of Nottingham, Skippy, Bunnies, Maid Marian, Prince John, Little John | |
1974 | Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (Short) | Directing Animator | ||
1977 | The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | Animator | Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Christopher Robin | |
The Rescuers | Story / Directing Animator | Bernard, Miss Bianca, The Chairman, Orville, Brutus, Nero, Ellie Mae, Luke, The Swamp Folk | ||
1981 | The Fox and the Hound | Supervising Animator | Tod, Copper | |
1987 | The Chipmunk Adventure | Special Thanks | ||
1992 | Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland | Story Consultant | ||
1995 | Frank and Ollie (Documentary) | Himself | ||
1999 | The Iron Giant | Additional Voices | Himself | |
2004 | The Incredibles | Additional Voices / Special Thanks | Himself |
Television series
Year | Title | Credits | Characters | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1961–82 | Disneyland |
Animator (3 episodes, 1961–1970), directing animator (1 episode, 1982) | 4 episodes |
Books (all with Johnston)
- Disney Animation: 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 book
References
- ^ 1920 United States Federal Census
- ^ U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007
- ^ 1930 United States Federal Census
- ^ U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007
- ^ The Stanford University Quad, 1932
- ^ "Frank Thomas, 92; One of Disney's 'Nine Old Men'". Los Angeles Times. September 10, 2004.
- ^ National Student Film Institute/L.A: The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 10, 1994. pp. 10–11.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Los Angeles Student Film Institute: 13th Annual Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 7, 1991. p. 3.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Remembering Jeanette Thomas 1921–2012
External links
- Frank Thomas at IMDb
- Frank and Ollie's official site
- Disney Legends
- Camouflage – A Cartoon in Technicolor, World War II animated training film directed by Frank Thomas, via the Internet Archive