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