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Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
Background information
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Born
Died
Cause of death
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AmericanOccupation
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Born in Fresno,California, Frank Thomas attended Stanford University, where he worked on campus humor magazineThe Stanford Chaparral withOllie Johnston. After graduating from Stanford, he attended Chouinard Art Institute, then joinedThe Walt Disney Company onSeptember 24,1934, as employee number 224. There he animated dozens of feature films and shorts, and also was a member of the Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, playing the piano.
His work in animated cartoon shorts includedBrave Little Tailor, in which he animated scenes ofMickey Mouse and the king; Mickey and the bear inThe Pointer, and German dialogue scenes in the World War II propaganda shortEducation for Death (shortly before Thomas enlisted in the Air Force).
In feature films, among the characters and scenes, Thomas animated were the dwarfs crying overSnow White's "dead" body;Pinocchio singing and dancing at the marionette theatre,Bambi andThumper having fun on the ice;Lady and theTramp eating spaghetti on their date inLady and the Tramp;Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather inSleeping Beauty; Merlin and Arthur as squirrels, and the "wizard's duel" betweenMerlin andMadam Mim inThe Sword in the Stone (in which he was paired with animatorMilt Kahl to great effect);King Louie inThe Jungle Book (the song number "I Wanna Be Like You" featuring King Louie andBaloo the Bear dancing, which re-teamed him with Kahl); thedancing penguins inMary Poppins; andWinnie the Pooh andPiglet in theWinnie the Pooh featurettes. He was also a directing animator for several memorable villains, including the evil stepmotherLady Tremaine inCinderella,Queen of Hearts inAlice in Wonderland,Captain Hook inPeter Pan, andAunt Sarah inLady and the Tramp and other characters inThe Fox and the Hound.
He retired from Disney onJanuary 31,1978.
Thomas co-authored with fellow Disney legendOllie Johnston on the comprehensive bookThe Illusion of Life, first published by Abbeville Press in 1981. Regarded as the definitive resource book on traditional hand-drawn character animation (particularly in the Disney style), the book has been republished numerous times and is widely considered "the bible" among character animators. The book summarized the Disney approach to animation through the so-called 12 basic principles of animation.
In a likely reference to the book, theAdventures of the Gummi Bears episode "Light Makes Right" contains a scene featuring the children's bookTall Tales of The Gummi Bear, which contains a page with the words "Two ofGummi's famous Nine Old Bears, Frank and Ollie", honoring both animators with a blink-and-you-miss-it inside joke.
Thomas and Johnston were also profiled in the 1995 documentaryFrank 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.
Thomas' last appearance in an animated film before his death was inThe 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'sThe Iron Giant. Three days after his 92nd birthday, Frank Thomas died in Flintridge, California.
The 2001 biographyWalt Disney's Nine Old Men & The Art of Animation by John Canemaker (ISBN 0-7868-6496-6) chronicles Thomas' life.
On theAnimation Podcast, Disney directorJohn Musker discussed Frank Thomas, and mentioned that at one time, fellow animation great Chuck Jones had christened Thomas the "Laurence Olivier of animators".
Characters animated by Thomas[]
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Dwarfs crying over Snow White'sdeath body
- Pinocchio:Pinocchio
- Bambi:Bambi
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad:J. Thaddeus Toad,Cyril Proudbottom,Water Rat,Mole,Brom Bones
- Cinderella:Lady Tremaine
- Alice in Wonderland:Queen of Hearts
- Peter Pan:Captain Hook
- Lady and the Tramp:Aunt Sarah,Lady and theTramp eating spaghetti on their date
- Sleeping Beauty:Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather
- The Sword in the Stone:Girl Squirrel,Merlin,Madam Mim
- Mary Poppins:Penguins Waiters
- The Jungle Book:King Louie,Baloo,Mowgli,Kaa
- The Aristocats:Thomas O'Malley,Edgar Balthazar,Abigail and Amelia Gabble,Napoleon and Lafayette
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:Winnie the Pooh,Piglet
- The Rescuers:Bernard,Miss Bianca,Brutus and Nero
- The Fox and the Hound:Copper
Gallery[]
Known artwork[]
Miscellaneous[]
Books (all with Johnston)[]
- The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
- 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
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