Best known for his work on SLEEPLING BEAUTY and LADY AND THE TRAMP, Eyvind Earle, creator of eclectic backgrounds for Disney cartoons, has passed away. He was 84 years old. Earle succumbed to esophageal cancer on Thursday, July 20, 2000. The 1953 Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival winning short film, TOOT, WHISTLE, PLUNK AND BOOM, is the film that made people truly notice Earle’s artwork. His other toon credits include PETER PAN, FOR WHOM THE BULLS TOIL, WORKING FOR PEANUTS, PIGS IS PIGS and PAUL BUNYAN. While at Disney, he also painted the first design for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The magical backgrounds he painted for SLEEPING BEAUTY have sold as high as US$29,000. Much of Earle’s work was influenced by his travels around the world with his father when he was young. At age 21, he bicycled across the U.S. and made money by selling watercolors. In 1998 at the Annie Awards, ASIFA bestowed Earle with the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement. Earle is survived by his wife, Joan; daughter, Kristin Thompson; his brother, Ferdinand; and a grandson. Any memorial gifts should be donated to the American Cancer Society.