September 8 - Frank Thomas

On this day, in 2004, Franklin Rosborough Thomas passed away in La Canada Flintridge, California.

 Born in Fresno, California in 1912, Frank grew up the son of the President of Fresno State College. He figured out what he wanted to do in life pretty early. By the time Frank was nine, he'd already asked his dad how to make a living drawing pictures. When he was a sophomore at (surprise!) Fresno State, Frank wrote and directed a movie poking fun at college life. The local theater even ran it for a while. Frank's career was on its way.

After finishing his schooling at Stanford University, Frank enrolled in the Chouinard Art Institute. He moved into a rooming house in Hollywood where one of the other boarders worked for a little outfit called the Walt Disney Studio. That boarder told Frank he should apply and on September 24, 1934, he became Disney employee no. 224.

For Frank, animation was all about personality. Doing funny things in interesting places wasn't enough for him. "Until a character becomes a personality, it cannot be believed," he said. And no one could infuse their characters with more personality than Frank. Some of the most iconic scenes are as memorable as they are because Frank animated them. Think of the following:

The dwarfs crying at Snow White's grave.

Bambi and Thumper learning how to skate on the ice.

Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti.

Pinocchio singing in the marionette theater.

Merlin and Madame Mim in their wizard's duel.

King Louie singing "I Want to be Like You" with Baloo.

Scenes with Winnie the Pooh and Piglet exploring life together.

Every one of these scenes has become so much more than ink and paint on acetate because Frank was a master at infusing personality into his drawings. And it wasn't just about touching or rambunctious scenes either. Frank was a directing animator for some fantastic villains, too: Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts and Captain Hook.

Frank easily earned his place as one of Walt's Nine Old Men. He even joined Walt on his goodwill tour of South America in 1941. Frank was absent from the studio from 1942-46 as he had joined the Air Force as part of the First Motion Picture Unit, creating training movies, but hit the ground running on his return like he'd only been on a short vacation.

After Walt's death, Frank would spend another 11 years at the studio creating such characters as Pongo and Perdita for 101 Dalmatians, Baloo, Mowgli and Kaa for The Jungle Book, Prince John and Sir Hiss for Robin Hood, and Bernard and Bianca for The Rescuers. After more than 43 years of outstanding animation artistry, Frank retired from the Disney Studio on January 31, 1978. But his work didn't end there.

Throughout his career, Frank was best friends with another of the Old Men, Ollie Johnston. The two were practically inseparable at Disney and they would remain so in retirement. After both had laid down their drawing pencils in 1978, they began new careers as authors. The first book they published together was called "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life". It is generally recognized as the bible of hand drawn animation. I have a copy myself, not because I'm an artist but because it's a gorgeous, richly detailed book. The duo went on to co-write three other books: Too Funny for Words, Walt Disney's Bambi, and the Disney Villain (which I also own, a signed copy no less, be very jealous).

Several homages have been given to Frank and Ollie over the years. In the 1995 Mickey Mouse short "Runaway Brain", the mad scientist's name is Dr. Frankenollie. Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles movies, loved Frank and Ollie so much he immortalized them in not one but two of his films. He made them the train engineers in The Iron Giant and the two geezers talking about the "old school" in the first Incredibles, which would come out after his death. 

Frank was named a Disney Legend in 1989 along with the other Nine Old Men.