Oliver Johnston's fingerprints are all over some of the most beloved films of the 20th century. As the last survivor of Walt Disney's famous animation team, dubbed “Nine Old Men,” Johnston brought Bambi and Thumper to life. Johnston also had a hand in other classics, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio and The Jungle Book.
Ollie Johnston, '35, died April 14 in Sequim, Wash. He was 95. He was born in Palo Alto in 1912, the son of a professor of Romance languages at Stanford. As a student at Stanford, he met Frank Thomas, '33, his lifelong friend and another of the Nine Old Men. They were two of only six students in Stanford's art department at the time.
They both went to work for Disney, and their 1981 book, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, is considered the field's bible. Thomas died in 2004.
Johnston's work was praised for its sentiment; one of his finest moments was bringing audiences to tears when Bambi's mother is killed by a hunter. The scene proved that the fledgling field of animated work could be nuanced and sympathetic enough to elicit real emotion in viewers.
Johnston's farewell to Disney came with The Rescuers. His work on Rufus the cat was considered something of a self-caricature: the furry animal wore a mustache and glasses just like Johnston's.
In 2005, Johnston became the first animator honored with a National Medal of Arts. Aside from his work, Johnston's passion was steam trains. He and Thomas purchased a 40-acre plot of land in Julian, Calif., a small town near San Diego, and used it as a home for the Marie E., a full-size antique locomotive named for Johnston's wife. With the help of his sons, Johnston also built a track at his home in Flintridge, Calif., for his miniature railroad, considered to be one of the best in existence.
Johnston is survived by his sons, Ken and Rick. His wife of 63 years, Marie, died in 2005.
