From cartoonbrew.com:
The end of an era.
The last of the Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnston, passed away today in Sequim, Washington at the age of 95. Jenny Lerew confirms it.
UPDATE: Howard Green sent us this quote from Roy Disney…
“Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today. One of Ollie’s strongest beliefs was that his characters should think first, then act…and they all did. He brought warmth and wit and sly humor and a wonderful gentleness to every character he animated. He brought all those same qualities to his life, and to all of our lives who knew him. We will miss him greatly, but we were all enormously enriched by him.”
Such awful news just a few days after The Walt Disney Company’s announcement of their plans for their next 10 major animated motion pictures, which may bring Disney back to the animation glory they once enjoyed while Ollie Johnston and the other eight “old men” worked so diligently and creatively on what have become classics.
