Retta Davidson

Retta Davidson

Background information

Born

November 1,1921
Arcadia,California,United States

Died

June 12,1998 (aged 76)
Carlsbad, California, United States

Nationality

American

Occupation

Animator

Years active

1980-1985

During her career at Disney, she helped train younger animators along withEric Larson. After graduating from high school in1939, Davidson joined Disney as an inker and painter, where she worked onPinocchio,Bambi,Fantasia, andSleeping Beauty. The Disney studios were affected by the resultant labor shortage from World War II, and many of their lead animators were drafted to serve in the First Motion Picture Unit. In1941, the studio asked members of the Ink and Paint Department to submit artwork to be considered for animation training and jobs in the animation department. Davidson was one of a group of ten women accepted to the program. Davidson worked as an animator for a year before taking leave from the studio in1942 to enlist in the United States Navy, which she served for four years inWashington, D.C.

She returned to Disney Studios after the war, where she worked as an animator until1966, working as a freelance artist, animating on commercials and became an early animation educator at Concordia University in Montreal and Sheridan College in Toronto. Retta later returned to Disney in the early 1980s as Coordinating Animator onThe Black Cauldron to help train the young crop of animators—many of whom became today's leaders of the animation industry.

Filmography[]

External links[]

• Retta Davidson onWikipedia
• Retta Davidson onIMDb
• The Mystery of the Female Animator
• Remembering Animator Retta Davidson

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