Joe Ranft
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Henry Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for
Pixar Animation Studios Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...
and
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
at
Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...
and
Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA; also shortened to Disney TVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is an American animation production company that serves as the television a ...
. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films. Ranft's first film was '' The Brave Little Toaster'' in 1987. He received an
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...
nomination as one of the writers of ''
Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...
'' (1995), and was also the co-director on ''
Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
'' (2006), his final work before his death.


Early life

Joseph Henry Ranft was born in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
, on March 13, 1960, and raised in Whittier. His parents were James and Melissa Ranft. As a child, Ranft developed a love for magic, storytelling, film and comedy. At age 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the
California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...
alongside
John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...
and
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 ...
. After two years, Ranft's student film ''Good Humor'' caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job.


Career

In 1980, Ranft joined Disney as a writer and storyboard artist. During his first five years with Disney, he worked on a number of television projects that were never produced. Later in his Disney career, he was promoted into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later spoke about Larson's training: "He always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know, it's like, animation is so complex; 'How many drawings are in there?' and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; 'What does the audience perceive?'" Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings. Ranft stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, writing the story on many animated features, including '' Oliver & Company'', ''
The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...
'' and ''
Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...
''. He also worked on ''The Brave Little Toaster'' in 1987 for Hyperion Animation and '' James and the Giant Peach'' in 1996 for Allied Filmmakers. Ranft reunited with Lasseter after joining
Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
in October 1992 as their head of story. There he worked on all of their films produced up to 2006; this included ''Toy Story'' (for which he received an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
nomination for Best Original Screenplay) and ''
A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...
'', as the co-story writer and others as story supervisor. He also voiced characters in many of the films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in ''A Bug's Life'', Wheezy the penguin in ''
Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and the first sequel to Toy Story. It is the second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and was directed by J ...
'', and Jacques the shrimp in ''
Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
''. In the film '' Monsters, Inc.'', Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff. Ranft was also given lead story credit on ''The Brave Little Toaster'' (1987) and voiced Elmo St. Peters, the appliance salesman. His favorite writers were
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...
, Hunter S. Thompson, and
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
. His favorite magicians were John Carney, Daryl, Michael Ammar, Ricky Jay and Jimmy Grippo. Ranft was posthumously honored in 2006 as a Disney Legend and in 2016 with the
Winsor McCay Award The Winsor McCay Award is given to individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, professio ...
, the lifetime achievement award for animators.


Death and legacy

On August 16, 2005, Ranft, 45, and his friend Eric Frierson, 39, were passengers in Ranft's 2004
Honda Element The Honda Element is a crossover SUV, compact crossover SUV manufactured by Honda and marketed in North America over a single generation for model years 2003–2011 — and noted for its boxy exterior styling with bi-parting side doors and i ...
, which was being driven by another friend, Elegba Earl, 32. Earl suddenly lost control and crashed through a
guard rail Guard rails, guardrails, railings or protective guarding, in general, are a boundary feature and may be a means to prevent or deter access to dangerous or off-limits areas while allowing light and visibility in a greater way than a fence. Commo ...
while northbound on Highway 1 in
Mendocino County, California Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...
. The SUV tumbled down a cliff and plunged into the mouth of
Navarro River The Navarro River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 9, 2011 river in Mendocino County, California, United States. It flows northwest through the California Coas ...
, killing Ranft and Earl instantly. Frierson was injured, but survived by escaping through the sunroof. ''Cars'' and '' Corpse Bride'', for which he was respectively a director and producer, were released posthumously and dedicated to him. His remains were
cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...
. Ranft has been recognized by colleagues and in various tributes in animated films released after his death.
Henry Selick Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his work in stop motion animation and for directing the films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ''James and the Giant Peach (film) ...
called him "the story giant of our generation." In honor of Ranft, in Selick's animated film production ''
Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...
'', the moving SUV that moves Coraline into her new apartment is emblazoned with a "Ranft Moving, Inc." logo. The movers themselves are modeled after Ranft and his brother
Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...
, who voiced one of the movers. Jerome took over most of Ranft's voice roles following his death. The 2010 Blu-Ray and DVD re-release of ''
Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and the first sequel to Toy Story. It is the second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and was directed by J ...
'' includes a special feature that focuses on Ranft and his accomplishments titled "Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft". Ranft did early drawings for the character of Finn McMissile in an unused scene from the film ''Cars'', and his drawings were later used in creating the character for ''
Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to '' Cars'' (2006), the second film in the ''Cars'' franchise, and the 12th animated film from the studio ...
''.
John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...
has cited Ranft as being one of the main inspirations for the character of Mater from the ''Cars'' films and described his influence as being "all over ''Cars 2''". In the film '' Inside Out'', the character of Jangles the clown is based on a character created by Ranft outside of Pixar named "Buttocks the Clown", according to co-director Ronnie del Carmen and story artist Domee Shi. The end credits of the Pixar film ''
Coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...
'' showcase a digital ofrenda with pictures of many Pixar employees and their loved ones who had previously died, including Ranft. Additionally, the 2020 film ''
Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
'' includes his name on a wall of previous mentors to the character 22.


Filmography


Films


Short films and TV specials


Documentaries


Video games


Theme parks


References


External links

*
Pixar Artist's Corner
with Joe * Michael Sragow (November 23, 1999
"Toy" Story Man
''Salon.'' * Peter Hartlaub (September 17, 2003
The secret of Pixar's magic can be found at CalArts...
''San Francisco Chronicle.''
Disney Legends profile



Remembering Joe Ranft
by
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 ...
, via Pixar Planet. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranft, Joe 1960 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American screenwriters Accidental deaths in California American magicians American male screenwriters American male voice actors American male film actors American storyboard artists Animators from California Animation screenwriters California Institute of the Arts alumni Male actors from Pasadena, California Pixar people Road incident deaths in California Walt Disney Animation Studios people Writers from Pasadena, California