Disney's Nine Old Men: Eric Larson
Animated Figaro in Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland
Who were Disney's Nine Old Men? I run down the careers of the influential animators. This installment honours Eric Larson (September 3, 1905 - October 25, 1988).
Walt Disney's Nine Old Men were the greatest group of animators in the 20th Century, artists who wrote the book on cinematic animation.
Eric Larson (September 3, 1905 – October 25, 1988) was possibly the least famous of the Nine but, thanks to his Talent Program at Disney, he taught many future animators, including Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Andreas Deja, Don Bluth, and Glen Keane.
Deja, who animated Jafar for 1992's Aladdin and Scar for 1994's The Lion King, called him, "The best animation teacher ever."
Eric Larson: Animated Owl in Bambi
Eric Cleon Larson was born in Cleveland, Utah, on September 3, 1905. In 1915, his family moved to Salt Lake City, where Larson developed interests in journalism and drawing. In 1925, he attended the University of Utah for journalism and, after getting his degree, moved to Los Angeles.
Larson wasn't able to keep a job, but a friend saw his drawings and recommended that he try out for Disney Studios. Larson joined Disney as an in-betweener in 1933. Hamilton Luske recognized Larson's talent and mentored him, promoting Larson to assistant animator for the 1934 short "Two-Gun Mickey."
He became an animator for 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Along with Milt Kahl and James Algar, he animated the forest creatures in the "Whistle While You Work" sequence.
In 1940, Larson became an animation director and designed Figaro the cat in Pinocchio. He also animated the horses and centaurs for the "Pastoral Symphony" sequence in Fantasia.
1942 brought another promotion (to Supervising Animator) for Bambi, working with Kahl and the "Frank and Ollie" team of Johnston and Thomas. Larson created Friend Owl for the flick, and was so successful that he worked on birds for his next two films: the mad Aracuan in 1944's The Three Caballeros, and Sasha in 1946's Make Mine Music.
Larson assisted Marc Davis in creating the title character of 1950's Cinderella, and also became a directing animator. He animated Caterpillar in 1951's Alice in Wonderland and his most famous sequence, the flight to Neverland, in 1953's Peter Pan. He also animated Peg for 1955's Lady and the Tramp, and was promoted to sequence director for 1959's Sleeping Beauty and 1961's 101 Dalmations.
However, Larson was demoted to character animator for 1963's The Sword in the Stone, 1964's Mary Poppins and 1967's The Jungle Book. He continued to animate in the early 1970's, working on The Aristocats, the live-action/animated hybrid Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and 1973's Robin Hood.
The Animator Becomes a Teacher
By the beginning of the 1970's, it was obvious that an era was coming to a close at Disney. Walt died in 1966 and the other Nine Old Men were either contemplating retirement or becoming disenchanted with the course the company was taking.
In 1973, Larson announced that he was expanding Disney's Talent Program to mentor the next generation of animation talent. Despite animation becoming scorned and marginalized at the Mouse House during the 1970's and 1980's, Larson was undefeatable. During his tenure at the Talent Program, he discovered and trained countless young talents like Joe Ranft, Henry Selick, and Ron Clements and John Musker.
Larson still did animation work for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Rescuers, and was an animation consultant on 1981's The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron (1985), and The Great Mouse Detective (1986).
Eric Larson finally retired from Disney in 1986 and died two years later in La Cañada-Flintridge, California, of natural causes.
Tributes to Eric Larson
Although Larson never became a filmmaker in his own right, nor did his sequences become as famous as those produced by his fellow animators, Eric Larson's legacy is possibly even more influential than any of the other Nine Old Men. While others merely inspired through their work, he trained directly.
"(Many people) owe their first break in the animation business to Larson's training program . . . Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, Brad Bird, John Lasseter," said ASIFA-Hollywood director Stephen Worth.
"Eric Larson may not be the first name you think of when you think of the Nine Old Men, but he's the one who ultimately had the greatest impact on the art of animation."
"No one was more concerned with passing on the Disney legacy than Eric," said Andreas Deja.
Next Up: John Lounsbery, animator and co-director of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! and The Rescuers.
(Thanks to ASIFA-Hollywood, IMDb, and the Disney site for research materials for this article)
