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2005 National Medal of Arts Recipient. Burbank, California. President George W. Bush and Laura Bush present the National Medal of Arts award to Ollie Johnston. White House photo by Eric Draper. Bio. Ollie Johnston is renowned for his role in pioneering film animation with the Walt Disney Studios.
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In November 2005, Johnston received the prestigious National Medal of Arts by the then President of the United States George Walker Bush (1946-, term 2001-2009). In April 2008, Johnston died of natural causes.
- January 1, 1
- Palo Alto, California, USA
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- Sequim, Washington, USA
Apr 15, 2008 · In November 2005, Johnston became the first animator to be honored with the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony. Behind every great animated character is a great animator and in the case of some of Disney’s best-loved creations, it was Johnston who served as the actor with the pencil.
Nov 8, 2005 · Legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston was among the names announced yesterday as President George W. Bush unveiled the recipients of the 2005 National Medal
- Overview
- Personal life
- Characters animated by Johnston
Oliver Martin "Ollie" Johnston, Jr. was an American animator, who was one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men. Ollie was best friends with fellow animator Frank Thomas.
He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.
He was an animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978, and became a directing animator beginning with Pinocchio, released in 1940. He also contributed to most Disney animated features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, and Bambi. His last full work for Disney came with The Rescuers, in which he was caricatured as one of the film's characters, the cat Rufus.
Johnston co-authored, with Frank Thomas, the reference book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, which contained the 12 basic principles of animation. This book helped preserve the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the studio.
In a likely reference to the book, the Adventures of the Gummi Bears episode "Light Makes Right" contains a scene featuring the children's book Tall Tales of The Gummi Bear, which features a page with the words "Two of Gummi's famous Nine Old Bears, Frank and Ollie", honoring both animators with a blink-and-you-miss-it inside joke.
The partnership of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston is fondly presented in the documentary Frank and Ollie, produced by Thomas' son Theodore.
Born in Palo Alto, California, Johnston attended Stanford University, where he worked on the campus humor magazine Stanford Chaparral with fellow future animator Frank Thomas. He then transferred to the Chouinard Art Institute in his senior year.
Ollie married a fellow Disney employee, ink and paint artist Marie Worthey, in 1943. Marie Johnston died May 20, 2005. Ollie's lifelong hobby was live steam trains. Starting in 1949, he built a 1" scale backyard railroad, with three 1/12 scale locomotives, now owned by his sons. This railroad was one of the inspirations for Walt Disney to build his own backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which again inspired the building of the railroad in Disneyland. Ollie was a founding Governor of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society along with his fellow Disney animator and railfan, Ward Kimball. The 1/4 scale Victorian depot from Ollie's backyard was moved and restored to a location near Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn at the area of the Los Angeles Live Steamers club in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
In the 1960s Ollie acquired and restored a full-size narrow-gauge Porter steam locomotive, which he named the "Marie E." On May 10, 2005 it ran during a private early morning event on the Disneyland Railroad. To date, the only time The Walt Disney Company permitted outside railroad equipment to run at any Disney Resort. This engine and its consist were sold to John Lasseter of Pixar Animation Studios fame. The engine is fully operational and ran at the Santa Margarita Ranch near San Luis Obispo, California in May 2007.
Brad Bird paid a tribute to Ollie Johnston with an animated cameo of Johnston in the 2004 Pixar film, The Incredibles, as well as a cameo in his 1999 film, The Iron Giant, where he voiced a train engineer.
•Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Dopey
•Pinocchio - •Fantasia - Cupids in "Pastoral Symphony", Centaurettes by the lake
•Bambi - Bambi, Thumper
•The Three Caballeros - "The Flying Gauchito", Donald Duck, Panchito Pistoles, Jose Carioca
•Make Mine Music - "Casey at the Bat", "Peter and the Wolf"
•Song of the South - Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear
- 3 min
Ollie was the last of the Old Men to die away; he was 95 years old. Ollie received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush a few years before he passed away. Marc Davis
Legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston the last of the fabled Nine Old Men will be the first animator to receive the prestigious National Medal of Arts in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House on Thursday.
