Frank Thomas (animator)
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Franklin Rosborough Thomas (September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004) was an American
animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...
and pianist. He was one of
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
's leading team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.


Biography

Thomas was born on September 5, 1912, in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, to Frank Thomas, a teacher, and Ina Gregg. He had two older brothers, Lawrence and Welburne. He grew up in
Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
. Frank Thomas attended
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and worked on campus humor magazine ''The Stanford Chaparral'' with Ollie Johnston. After graduating from Stanford in 1933, he attended Chouinard Art Institute, then joined
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
on September 24, 1934, as employee number 224. There he animated dozens of feature films and shorts, and also was a member of the
Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
band Firehouse Five Plus Two, playing the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
.


Career

His work in
animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
shorts included '' Brave Little Tailor'', in which he animated scenes of
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
and the king, Mickey and the bear in '' The Pointer'', and German dialogue scenes in the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
short '' Education for Death'' (shortly before Thomas enlisted in the Army Air Forces). During World War II he was assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit where he made training films. In
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
s, among the characters and scenes Thomas animated were the dwarfs crying over Snow White's "dead" body, Pinocchio singing at the marionette theatre, Bambi and Thumper on the ice, ''Lady and the Tramp'' eating spaghetti, the three fairies in ''Sleeping Beauty'', Merlin and Arthur as squirrels and the "wizard's duel" between Merlin and Madam Mim in ''The Sword in the Stone'' (in which he was paired with animator Milt Kahl to great effect), King Louie in ''The Jungle Book'' (the song number "I Wan'na Be Like You" featuring King Louie and Baloo the Bear re-teamed him with Kahl), the dancing penguins in ''Mary Poppins'', and Winnie The Pooh and Piglet in ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' and ''Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too''. Thomas was directing animator for several memorable villains, including the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine in ''Cinderella'', the Queen of Hearts in ''Alice in Wonderland'', Captain James Hook in ''Peter Pan'', and story consultant in ''Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland''. He retired from Disney on January 31, 1978. In the 1980s and 1990s, Thomas served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute and often was a presenter at the annual film festival's award ceremonies. Thomas co-authored, with fellow Disney legend Ollie Johnston, the comprehensive book '' Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life'', first published by
Abbeville Press Abbeville Publishing Group is an independent book publishing company specializing in fine art and illustrated books. Based in New York City, Abbeville publishes approximately 40 titles each year and has a catalogue of over 700 titles on art, arch ...
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. Thomas and Johnston were also profiled in the 1995
documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
''Frank and Ollie'', which screened at the 20th
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
, directed by Thomas's son Theodore Thomas. The film profiled their careers, private lives, and the personal friendship between the two men. In 2012, Theodore Thomas also directed another short documentary, "Growing up with Nine Old Men", included in the Diamond edition of Disney's ''Peter Pan'' DVD. Thomas's last work in an animated film before his death was for ''The Incredibles'' (directed by
Brad Bird Philip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning over four decades in both animation and Live action, live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up in Oregon. He ...
), 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's ''The Iron Giant''. Thomas died in
La Cañada Flintridge, California La Cañada Flintridge, commonly known as just , is a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Crescenta Valley, in the western edge of the San Gabriel Valley, it is the l ...
, on September 8, 2004, three days after his 92nd birthday. His widow, Jeanette A. Thomas, died on September 29, 2012.Remembering Jeanette Thomas 1921–2012 The 2001 biography ''Walt Disney's Nine Old Men & The Art of Animation'' by John Canemaker () chronicles Thomas' life. On the ''Animation Podcast'', Disney director
John Musker John Edward Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director Ron Clements and is best known for writing and directing the Disney animated films ''Th ...
discussed Frank Thomas, and mentioned that at one time, fellow animation great
Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
had christened Thomas the "
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
of animators."


Filmography


Films


Television series


Books (all with Johnston)

* '' Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life'' * ''Too Funny For Words: Disney's Greatest Sight Gags'' * ''The Disney Villain'' () * ''Bambi: The Story and the Film'', accompanied by a flip book


References


External links

*
Frank and Ollie's official site

Disney Legends

''Camouflage – A Cartoon in Technicolor''
World War II animated training film directed by Frank Thomas, via the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Frank 1912 births 2004 deaths Animators from California Disney Legends Dixieland pianists Firehouse Five Plus Two members First Motion Picture Unit personnel People from Fresno, California People from La Cañada Flintridge, California Walt Disney Animation Studios people Articles containing video clips