For some reason I have been thinking about Ollie Johnston for the last few days. I guess I miss calling and visiting him. It's been already seven years since Ollie passed away, to me it seems like only yesterday. It was always wonderful to get together, Ollie never minded answering all my questions regarding his work. One thing I remember was his utter respect and devotion to his boss Walt Disney. And I was stunned when, out of the blue, he once said: "I think Walt would have liked working with you." He knew I was passionate about animation, but hearing it like this....
The above image appeared in the trade papers when Ollie passed on, I was a little involved in designing this page.
As a train enthusiast Ollie drew this funny self portrait next to his lovely wife Marie.
Image/Howard Lowery Auctions.
A field day to the Johnston residence, which involved riding his train.
Ollie, Andy Gaskill, Steve Fiott (publisher of Storyboard Magazine), Hans Bacher and yours truly.
There was a party celebrating Ollie's 90th birthday at Disney Feature Animation. Next to me is Ed Oboza, Ollie's dedicated house keeper, and of course the one and only!
There is plenty of Ollie's work throughout this blog, here is a previous post that shows his range of characters:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/06/ollie-johnston.html
Seemed like a lovely guy.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that he was insecure about his skill. It all seems so perfect to somebody like me!
Did he ever see your animation of Lilo? I imagine he'd have enjoyed seeing you take on his lessons about animating emotionally
My favorite, I love his work so much, probably because most of those scenes remained in my head since my childhood. Baloo, Mr Smee, Pinocchio... all are my favorite.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know if some good books exists about Ollie Johnston ? We can see fantastic drawings and illustrations in this video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxTZJRr3iE
that would be great if this is the case.
Thank you for this blog, I try to archive each pictures , because it is a treasure that I really want to study. It takes me a long time ahah !
Baptiste
Rest In Peace Ollie!!! Thank you for Everything!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have this Christmas card of his on my desk, I like to pretend he sent it to me himself, heh. It would have been nice to have been able to thank him for everything. https://instagram.com/p/3mnGeXQkfG/
ReplyDeleteOllie is and will always be my absolute hero in terms of character animation. I LOVE his work and his skills in character performance.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who have not seen it Frank and Ollie created their own website in 2002. The link is HTTP://www.frankanollie.com. The videos don't work, and I am looking for input tochamge it.
ReplyDelete(-: Ollie drew that picture of me. Bless him.
ReplyDeleteWow he paid you the ultimate compliment by saying that about Walt. I bet you were on cloud nine for quite a while after that!
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to watch "Frank and Ollie" right now.
ReplyDelete