What animator hasn’t learned from Frank and Ollie’s book The Illusion of Life?

My departure from the Disney organization in September of 1979 did not sit well with Frank. I was no longer working with him and did not consult him on our planned resignation. He and Ollie had retired a year earlier and were only coming into the studio a few days a week to work on their book, The Illusion of Life. When Don Bluth, John Pomeroy and I left Disney, it represented a sort of betrayal that he may have taken personally as we were abandoning the company to which he had given so much of his life.

The last time I saw Frank was at a dinner at the Los Angeles chapter of A.S.I.F.A. It was the summer of 1982 and we had just completed and released The Secret of NIMH. We had not yet been seated when Frank and Ollie entered the lobby. It excited me to see Frank and I went over and greeted him, proud of our first independent production and hoping he would be proud of our work, too, like a father or teacher. He was polite to me, but I could tell that he was still disappointed about our departure from the house that Walt built. It’s not what he said. It’s what he didn’t say. We never met or spoke again. I have missed him over the years and now we’ll all miss him. He has left a magnificent legacy.

Gary Yager
Animator — Kansas, USA

I was very lucky to have met Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson the two legendary animators and the two main artists out of The Nine Old Men, They are and were the pioneer’s for Walt Disney Animation. I got to meet both them in 1991 in Philly, Pennsylvania. Why I was going to school at the university of the Arts. They were having a Disney animation cels and drawings at the Philly art league for the arts. They had invited both Frank and Ollie and the remaining Nine Old Men to the show.

They had a dinner for all the people and the animators, I was lucky to get a chance to go to the dinner, I was invited by the curator of the art show. My mouth drop open kind of like a Tex Avery cartoon and I thought to myself I didn’t have money to spend on this dinner, but the curator said it wouldn’t cost me any thing I was so thrilled and that day and later that night I was on cloud nine for the whole day and then some. I was able to get autographs from all the artists that show up for the show and the great animators. This was the best thing in the world that had ever happen to me in my life and I was so thrilled and happy to been able to go and meet all these fine people and artists and eat dinner with these fine people. I so thankful for that dream to come too and the chance to meet all of those people I met at the show and dinner that night. There will never be anyone like him and his partner, and the nine old men and I’m grateful for the chance in a lifetime.

Thank you for all the Nine Old Men.

Ron Clements
Animation Director, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin

Frank was my mentor. I worked with him as an animation trainee, and later animator, for about two years during the making of The Rescuers. I was in my early 20s and he was in his early 60s. I was well aware of who he was and at least somewhat familiar with his amazing accomplishments. So it was an unbelievable thrill for me and I was totally in awe of him.

He was extremely intelligent and articulate, yet folksy and unpretentious, thoughtful and analytical, with a wry sense of humor. His technique was flawless but he never really emphasized technique. It was all about getting inside the character, finding the dynamics in relationships, sincerity, communicating thought processes and just plain good acting. He always stressed the importance of observing everyone and everything around you and exploring multiple approaches to any given scene in order to find the absolutely most entertaining way to do it.

I was surprised to find, after having been doing this for so many years, it didn’t seem to come easy to him. Frank still struggled with his own animation, worked over his scenes intently and flipped his drawings so relentlessly the paper had the dog-eared, wrinkly texture of an old treasure map (which, in a way, it was). Frank once told me that in his entire animation career he had only done maybe three or four scenes he was entirely satisfied with. That was pretty intimidating to a newcomer like me but I soon came to realize that it was this ongoing struggle that made it fun for Frank. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Chuck Jones once called Frank the Laurence Olivier of animation and I believe that’s an apt description. It still surprises me that some people have difficulty understanding the concept that, beyond anything else, animators are basically actors. That is essentially what they do. Of course, they’re not all good actors. But Frank was a truly great actor, one of the very best of all time, and his amazing performances will be with us forever. He was a huge inspiration to me and one of the most brilliant men I have ever known.