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Robert Fred Moore (September 7, 1911 – November 23, 1952), was an American artist andanimator forWalt Disney Animation Studios. Often called "Freddie," he was born and raised inLos Angeles,California. Despite limited formal art training, he rose to prominence at Disney very quickly in the early 1930s, due to his great natural talent and the tremendous appeal of his drawings. His drawings are still greatly admired by animators and animation fans.

Moore was born in Los Angeles and is best known for being the resident specialist in the animation ofMickey Mouse. He is most notable for redesigning the character in 1938 for his landmark role in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" inFantasia, 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 shortBrave Little Tailor, the last significant appearance of the "pie-eyed" Mickey.^[1]

Moore's other significant work at the studio includedThe Three Little Pigs, on which he was the principal animator; animation supervision of the dwarfs inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs; most of Lampwick inPinocchio (all of the poolroom scene and until halfway through his transformation to a donkey); and Timothy the mouse inDumbo.^[1] 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 fromCinderella, some scenes of the oysters as well as some of the later scenes of the White Rabbit inAlice In Wonderland, and did the mermaids in the Mermaid Lagoon forPeter Pan.^[2]

Moore was well known around the studio for his drawings of innocentlysexy, oftennude,women, referred to as "Freddie Moore Girls." Some of his girl designs found their way into Disney films: for example, thecentaurettes inFantasia and the teenage girls in the "All the Cats Join In" segment ofMake Mine Music. (In "All The Cats Join In", Moore personally animated the sequence at the beginning, when the girl answers the telephone and then quickly showers and dresses, through to her scene putting on lipstick in front of her mirror). Moore's enduring influence can also be seen in the design of Casey's daughters in the 1954 short "Casey Bats Again". Hisgood girl art remains iconic and influential. A model sheet forAriel in the 1989 Disney filmThe Little Mermaid made specific distinctions between the design of that character and a "Freddie Moore Girl."

Moore's drawings and design style have come to epitomize the formative years of the studio in betweenUb Iwerks' departure in 1930 and the ascension of the "Nine Old Men", after which studio design was dominated by animatorMilt Kahl, along with storyboard artistBill Peet, and later production designerKen Anderson. During the 1930s, Moore,Art Babbitt,Norm Ferguson,Bill Tytla, and Ham Luske were the dominant Disney animators whose pioneering work culminated in 1937 with the breakthrough ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Moore was a close friend of fellow animatorsWard Kimball andWalt Kelly, though he apparently had a quieter and more reserved nature than either of them. Many surviving gag drawings by Kelly from the period ofPinocchio 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 shortThe Nifty Nineties. Moore makes a brief (and quiet) live-action appearance in the 1941 featureThe Reluctant Dragon, along with Kimball and animatorNorm 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.^[3]

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.

Fred Moore was briefly fired from Disney Studios in 1946 due to his alcoholism. Through former Disney AnimatorDick Lundy, he was hired atWalter Lantz Productions, where he redesigned the characters ofWoody Woodpecker andAndy 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.

Moore was already at work animating the mermaids and the lost boys forPeter Pan when both he and his second wife, Virginia, were injured in a traffic accident early on the evening of Saturday, November 22, 1952, when their car was struck head-on while she made a U-turn on a rural highway throughBig Tujunga Canyon near theAngeles National Forest. The Moores were reportedly returning from a day spent watching anAmerican football game with fellow Disney artistJack Kinney. Moore died the following day at St. Joseph's Hospital inBurbank, California, located across the street from the Disney Studios, from acerebral hemorrhage resulting from a concussion.^[4] Moore is interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in a plot overlooking the Disney Studios.

Fred Moore was posthumously inducted as aDisney Legend by the studio in 1995,^[1] and posthumously received the animation industry's Winsor McCay Award in 1983.^[5]

• A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios, a documentary from 1937

• Fred Moore atIMDb
• 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'sWho's Who in Animated Cartoons.

• 1911 births
• 1952 deaths
• 20th-century American illustrators
• Animators from Los Angeles
• Road incident deaths in California
• Walt Disney Animation Studios people
• Walter Lantz Productions people
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)

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