Fred Moore (animator)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2014) |
Fred Moore | |
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Born | Robert Fred Moore September 7, 1911 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Died | November 23, 1952 Burbank, California, U.S. | (aged 41)
Occupation(s) | Artist and animator |
Employer(s) | Walt Disney Animation Studios (1930–1946, 1948–1952) Walter Lantz Productions (1946–1948) |
Robert Fred Moore (September 7, 1911 – November 23, 1952), was an American artist and
Life and career
Early life and career beginnings
Moore was born in Los Angeles and is best known for being the resident specialist in the animation of Mickey Mouse. He is most notable for redesigning the character in 1938 for his landmark role in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in Fantasia, a look which remains Mickey's official look to this day. His animation of the earlier Mickey Mouse design was especially memorable in the 1938 short Brave Little Tailor, the last significant appearance of the "pie-eyed" Mickey.
Moore's other significant work at the studio included The Three Little Pigs, on which he was the principal animator; animation supervision of the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; most of Lampwick in Pinocchio (all of the poolroom scene and until halfway through his transformation to a donkey); and Timothy the mouse in Dumbo. Lampwick, who had red hair and buck teeth, has been largely believed to be a self-caricaturization of Fred Moore, as he was responsible for much of the character's designs and scenes. Moore animated some scenes of the mice from Cinderella, some scenes of the oysters as well as some of the later scenes of the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland, and did the mermaids in the Mermaid Lagoon for Peter Pan.
Moore was well known around the studio for his drawings of innocently
Moore's drawings and design style have come to epitomize the formative years of the studio in between
Moore was a close friend of fellow animators Ward Kimball and Walt Kelly, though he apparently had a quieter and more reserved nature than either of them. Many surviving gag drawings by Kelly from the period of Pinocchio show Kimball as the corrupt Lampwick, with boyish Moore as Pinocchio. Moore and Kimball were also caricatured as song and dance men in the 1941 Mickey Mouse short The Nifty Nineties. Moore makes a brief (and quiet) live-action appearance in the 1941 feature The Reluctant Dragon, along with Kimball and animator Norm Ferguson during one of the studio tour sequences. Kimball has discussed surreptitiously performing some of Moore's Disney work when Moore was too inebriated to finish it.[1]
He talked little about his family. His daughters were Sue Moore and Melinda Moore. Later on, his daughter Sue had married and had another daughter named Kelly Hall, who now resides in Tacoma, Washington, with her two children. Melinda married and had two children; her son Christian resides in the Bay Area and her daughter Timothia resides in Los Angeles.
Brief departure and return to Disney
Fred Moore was briefly fired from Disney Studios in 1946 due to his alcoholism. Through former Disney Animator Dick Lundy, he was hired at Walter Lantz Productions, where he redesigned the characters of Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda during a two-year stint that ended with his return to Disney in 1948 due to Lantz temporarily closing his studio because of financial Issues.
Accident and death
Moore was already at work animating the mermaids and the lost boys for
Fred Moore was posthumously inducted as a
Filmography
Year | Title | Credits | Characters |
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1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Supervising Animator | |
1940 | Pinocchio | Animation Director | |
Fantasia | Animation Supervisor - Segments "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Pastoral Symphony" | ||
1941 | The Reluctant Dragon | Animator | |
Dumbo | Animation Director | ||
1943 | Saludos Amigos (Short) | Animator | |
1945 | The Three Caballeros | Animator | |
1946 | Make Mine Music | Animator | |
1947 | Fun and Fancy Free | Directing Animator | |
1948 | The Mad Hatter (Short) |
Animator | Woody Woodpecker |
Wacky-Bye Baby (Short) | Animator | Woody Woodpecker | |
Playful Pelican (Short) | Animator[2] | Andy Panda | |
Pixie Picnic (Short) | Animator | ||
Wet Blanket Policy (Short) | Animator[3] | Woody Woodpecker | |
Wild and Woody! (Short) | Animator[4] | Woody Woodpecker | |
1949 | The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad | Character Animator | |
1950 | Cinderella | Character Animator | |
The Brave Engineer (Short) | Animator | ||
1951 | Plutopia (Short) | Animator | |
Alice in Wonderland | Character Animator | ||
R'coon Dawg (Short) | Animator | ||
Fathers Are People (Short) | Animator | ||
1952 | Pluto's Party (Short) | Animator | |
Pluto's Christmas Tree (Short) | Animator | ||
1953 | Peter Pan | Character Animator | |
The Simple Things (Short) | Animator | ||
Football Now and Then (Short) | Animator | ||
1954 | Casey Bats Again (Short) | Animator | |
1957 - 1979 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (TV Series) |
Animator - 6 Episodes |
|
1980 | Mickey Mouse Disco (Short) | Animator | |
1987 | The Puppetoon Movie | Puppetoon Creative Artist: United States | |
1995 | Frank and Ollie (Documentary) | Caricaturist | |
2000 | Fantasia 2000 | Animation Supervisor - Segment "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" |
See also
- A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios, a documentary from 1937
References
- ^ "Ward Kimball's Final Farewell, Hogan's Alley #11". Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- ^ "Andy Panda in "Playful Pelican" (1948) |".
- ^ ""Wet Blanket Policy" (1948) |".
- ^ "Dick Lundy's "WILD AND WOODY!" (Redux) |".
External links
- Fred Moore at IMDb
- Blackwing Diaries blog postings on Fred Moore--with extensive examples of artwork.
- A Blackwing Diaries editorial from Jennifer Lerew exposing attempts to smear Fred Moore.
- A Cartoon Brew editorial from Amid Amidi exposing inaccuracies about Fred Moore in Jeff Lenburg's Who's Who in Animated Cartoons.