Roland Dimon "Doc" Crandall (August 29, 1892 - August 14, 1972) 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 ...

. He is best known for his work at Fleischer Studio, especially on the

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

film '' Snow-White'' and as lead animator with

Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel (March 16, 1908 – July 30, 1964) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Early years Kneitel was born in New York City where he graduated from P.S. 10 in Manh ...

on the first year of the " Popeye" the Sailor cartoons starting in 1933. Crandall was born in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. About an hour from New York City by train, the town ...

, and attended the

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Master of Fine Arts, Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in g ...

. He was one of the first employees of Fleischer Studio, working on the early

Koko the Clown Koko the Clown is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer. His first appearance as the main protagonist in ''Out of the Inkwell'' (1918–1929), a major animated series of the silent era. Throughout the series, he goes on many adven ...

shorts in the 1920s. Crandall's drawing ability was legendary; he animated virtually the entirety of the 1933

cartoon, ''

Snow White "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' himself. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

. In 1994 it was voted #19 of the

50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck, with a foreword written by Chuck Jones. The book features the fifty greatest cartoons of all time, selected by a group o ...

of all time by members of the animation field. The film is now

Public Domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

. Crandall retired from animation in 1941 when

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...

acquired Fleischer Studios. He moved to

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, where he worked as a commercial illustrator.
Golden Age Cartoons forum, comments by Ray Pointer. Last accessed 2/16/2007. Crandall died on August 14, 1972, in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

Notes

External links

* 1892 births 1972 deaths Artists from New Canaan, Connecticut Animators from Connecticut Fleischer Studios people {{US-animator-stub