John Freeman (animator)
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John Freeman | |
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Born | John H. Freeman December 14, 1916 Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
Died | January 1, 2010 Burbank, California, U.S. | (aged 93)
Occupation | Animator |
John H. Freeman (December 14, 1916 – January 1, 2010) was a character animator for
Career
Freeman worked as an animator for Disney for a total of 16 years beginning at the age of 22. He also worked with Marvel Studios and directed several
Born December 14, 1916, in Spokane, Washington, and died January 1, 2010, in Burbank, California, where he resided with his wife, Lois Cameron Freeman, who survives him as well as three daughters, Catherine, Melissa and Marci. Mr. Freeman also has two grandsons, Jason and Casey.
He received a Character Animator credit on Lady and the Tramp in 1955.
Received a Golden Award in 1992 from the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Animation Guild.
Also won an award from CBS for his direction of the series, Hot Wheels, for Best Saturday Morning Animation show.
John Freeman began his animation career at
After a brief stint in the army (drafted) he returned to work at the Disney studio, where he began as an inbetweener on Fantasia and worked at Disney's for sixteen years, animating on features such as Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and also animated some Disney 'shorts'.
He was a "story man" and often was the point or front person for promoting various Disney projects. For example, some of his drawings and other artwork for Lady and the Tramp were published in the Chevrolet Friends magazine in 1955.
John also innovated the amphitheater-style of seating while teaching life drawing at Disney's wherein the artists could view and sketch the model from various vantage points.
John went on to work at TV Spots in San Francisco in 1956, where he immediately went to work laying out, animating, and completing camera-ready finished drawings for four one-minute spots within one week on six hours sleep, and met the deadline for all four agencies. "Everybody was happy as hell. Those people up there thought I was Paul Bunyan or something."
His animation, direction, and/or writing ability shone in some notable TV specials such as
Numerous other projects include Transformers, The Flintstones, and several afternoon specials for television.
In 1981, John Freeman was also asked to travel to Madrid, Spain, to animate on Katy the Caterpillar at the Moro Creativos Asociados Studio.
Other studios where he lent his talents were:
Death
Freeman died in Burbank, California on January 1, 2010, at the age of 93.
TV Specials
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
- Clerow Wilson and the Miracle of P.S. 14 (1972)
- The Incredible, Indelible, Magical Physical, Mystery Trip (1973)
- Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973)
- The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (1973)
- The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975)
TV Series
- Bailey's Comets (1973-1975)
- The Oddball Couple (1975)