Ken Anderson (animator)
Kenneth B. (Ken) Anderson (March 17, 1909 – January 13, 1993) was an art director,and writer at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 44 years.
Anderson studied architecture at the University of Washington, graduating with a B.Arch. in 1934. He was particularly influenced by faculty member Lionel Pries.
With the delineation skills he learned in architecture school, he soon secured a position at Disney. Anderson was a key player in some of the studio's most well-known animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and The Jungle Book. He also worked on the development of Disneyland. Ken is a 1991 winner of the Disney Legends award for Animation & Imagineering.
Ken Anderson died in La Cañada Flintridge from a stroke at the age of 84.
Contents
Filmography
Writer
- Melody Time (1948)
- So Dear to My Heart (1948, cartoon story)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- The Aristocats (1970)
- Robin Hood (1973)
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
- The Rescuers (1977)
Art Director
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Symphony No. 6 Section of Fantasia (1940)
- The Reluctant Dragon (1941, cartoon sequences)
- Song of the South (1946, cartoon art director)
- Ben and Me (1953)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Animator
- The Goddess of Spring (1934, layout artist)
- Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
- Ferdinand the Bull (1938, layout artist)
- Saludos Amigos (1942, backgrounds, layout artist)
- Fun and Fancy Free (1947, layout)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951, color and styling, layout artist)
- Peter Pan (1953, layout artist)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955, layouts)
- Pete's Dragon (1977, character designer)
Art department
- The Three Caballeros (1944, art supervisor)
- Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955, special art work)
- Pete's Dragon (1977, animation art director)
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989, story sketches) (TMS Entertainment)
Production Designer
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- The Aristocats (1970)
Miscellaneous Crew
- Pete's Dragon (1977, creator of Elliot)
Architect/Designer
- Disneyland and the EPCOT Center
Honors
- Winsor McCay Award 1982
- Disney Legend (Animation & Imagineering) 1991
Further reading
- Allan, Robin, Walt Disney and Europe: European Influences on the Animated Feature Films of Walt Disney, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1999.
- Canemaker, John, Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists, Hyperion, New York 1996 (especially pages 168-182, a full chapter devoted to Ken Anderson).
- Ghez, Didier, Walt's People Volume 1: Talking Disney With The Artists Who Knew Him, Theme Park Press, 2005 (contains an entire interview with Ken Anderson from 1992 conducted by Paul F. Anderson).
