[Archive 2008-04-16] Disney animator Ollie Johnston dies at 95

Historical archive — originally published 2008-04-16. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

American animator Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney's so-called "Nine Old Men", has died at the age of 95.

Johnston died of natural causes on Monday in Sequim, Washington, according to Walt Disney Studios Vice President Howard E. Green.

Johnston worked on many of the Disney's classic films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinnochio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942), and many others.

Johnston worked extensively with his best friend Frank Thomas, a fellow "old man" who died in 2004. The pair met at Stanford University in the 1930s and worked together until Thomas' death. They retired from animation in 1978, but remained popular speakers and authors about Disney and animation.

Johnston devoted much of his retirement to writing and lecturing, but perhaps even more to model trains, a field in which he became considered one of the world's foremost experts.

Ollie Johnston's last film was The Fox and the Hound (1981) on which he worked as a supervisor.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Disney animator Ollie Johnston dies at 95 by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.