The Story of Frank Thomas: Animator of Winnie the Pooh and Other Disney

Frank Thomas (whose full name was Frank Rosborough Thomas) was one of the most notable and important figures of animation in the History of Animation. Frank Thomas was famously known for working for Disney in the early formative years of the Walt Disney Company. Later on, he would be known as one of Disney’s Nine Old Men. Frank Thomas was born on September 5, 1912 in Frenso California where he lived out his childhood. As a child Frank had strong interests in drawing that would blossom and grow later on in his life. Frank later took up an interest in filmmaking in his teenage years. After high school, Frank would go on to study at Stanford University before studying at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Once for a school project, Frank directed and wrote a film about college life which was shown in local theaters. One of the best things that happened while Frank attended Stanford was when he met his lifelong best friend and work partner, Ollie Johnson. Those two would go on to work on almost 20 feature films together at the Walt Disney Studios.

After Franks College days, he was hired at the Walt Disney Studios where he worked on his first short film called Mickey’s Elephant. Frank made a name for himself and stood apart from the other animators when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1927. The Scene Frank animated was when the Dwarfs were crying over Snow White as they thought she was dead. The personality and raw emotion Frank was able to capture in his drawings received Walt’s attention. This scene landed Frank Thomas a higher role at the Studio with more projects, assignments and opportunities. Frank worked on almost 20 animated feature films, many short films and other animation related projects in his life time. After Snow White, Frank worked on some other Disney Classics where he animated some very iconic scenes. One of those being Pinocchio during his marionette show. Another where he animated Bambi and Thumper on Ice. After Pinocchio, Frank went on to work on many other classic Iconic Disney movies that would build the brand into the huge company it is today.

Some of these films being Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. Frank was well known at the Disney Studios for his scenes on major Disney Villains such as Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts as well as Captain Hook. Another huge iconic Disney Scene Frank animated was the Spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp. What made Frank such an amazing animator was the way he brought his characters to life. He pushed and exaggerated the characters movements and expressions to emphasise emotion. Frank showed the importance of giving a character personality. He wanted the character’s emotions and feelings to be believable and for the audience to relate and empathise with the characters. Frank continued to work on other Disney Films such as the Aristocrats in 1970, Robin Hood in 1973, The Rescuers and The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh in 1977, and his final Disney animated feature film, The Fox and The Hound in 1981. Aside from feature films, Frank also worked on a number of different short films from his first animation in 1936, Mickey’s Elephant, to his last, Winnie The Pooh and The Blustery Day in 1968. Frank retired from the Walt Disney Studios in 1978 however that was not the end of his Animation career. Frank along with other experienced Disney Animators taught new animators coming out into the industry and continued to help them thorough challenges with their work into the 80’s and 90’s.

Frank also worked on other Animation related projects during his retirement. He co authored four books titled Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. His other books were titled, Too Funny For Words: Disney’s Greatest Sight Gags, Walt Disney’s Bambi: The Story and the Film, and The Disney Villain. Frank also made an appearance with his lifelong friend Ollie in the 1995 documentary “Frank and Ollie” which talks about their careers and contributions to Animation at the Walt Disney Studios. Frank won many awards around the end of his career. The greatest one being the ultimate Disney honor as he was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1989. Other awards he won include the Winsor McCay Award in 1980, the Grand Prix Special Des Ameriques at the Montreal World Film Festival shared with his best friend ollie Johnston in 1995 On the occasion of the centennial of cinema, for his exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art. Frank also won the Golden ward in 1986 from the MOTION Picture Screen Cartoonists Awards.

Lastly, he won one of his greatest awards, the Lifetime Achievement in Animation award in 2001 from the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. Frank remained friends with Ollie for the rest of his life. He was happily married and also had 4 kids. Frank Thomas passed away on September 8, 2004 in LA Canada Flintridge, California. Prior to my research on Frank Thomas, I wasn’t aware of Disney’s team of Nine Old Men and just how much they have contributed to the Animation Industry. I’ve since learned about the importance about putting emotion and often exaggerating different expressions to give the emotion more emphasis. Also, by watching the scenes Frank Thomas worked on, it taught me that very calculated measurement by measurement animation is not always the best way to go about doing things. In real Life, there are many different arcs of motion, movement and when Frank Thomas animates a character; he animates with exaggerated expressions and movements while still being anatomically correct. Instead of leaving the emotions robotic, he pushes and exaggerates the characters emotions and movements to the point where if the movie had no words, you could tell what was happening just by the characters expressions and actions.