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Eric Larson

Eric Larson

Born: September 3, 1905
Died: October 25, 1988
in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Born to Peter and Nora Larson. In 1915 his family moved to Salt Lake City, where he became interested in journalism and also secretly took drawing lessons. In 1925, he entered the University of Utah, later moving to Los Angeles to look for a job in journalism and writing, unfortunately unsuccessfully. He then decided to rekindle his ambition to become an artist, and was offered a job at Walt Disney Productions in 1933, as an `in-betweener'. Later the same year, he married Gertrude Jannes (although sadly, the couple remained childless). Animator Hamilton Luske recognized Larson's talent and promoted him to assistant animator; Luske, who had joined the studio two years previously, later became his mentor. Further promotion followed, with Eric as animator on Walt Disney's first feature length cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); along with future veteran animators Milt Kahl and James Algar, he animated the forest animals that followed Snow White throughout. In 1940, he was promoted to animation director for Pinocchio (1940), and in that film he created the kitten, Figaro, who became one of his favorite characters. In Fantasia (1940), he created the centaurs and the horses in the "Pastoral Symphony" segment of the musical feature.  By 1942, he had become a supervising animator for Bambi (1942) along with fellow workers Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, and Milt Kahl, with whom he had worked on Snow White. In Bambi, he created Friend Owl, and subsequently worked on birds for the next two assignments, creating the mad Aracuan Bird in The Three Caballeros (1944), and Sasha the Bird in Make Mine Music (1946). Larson also worked on Fun and Fancy Free, Song of the South, Melody Time, and So Dear to My Heart (1949). He later became part of the Animation Board, and Walt Disney appointed him as one of his Nine Old Men, who consisted of Les Clark, Woolie Reitherman, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery and Marc Davis; all considered to be Walt's most trusted associates.  -From IMDB

Movies for Eric Larson...

Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo
Title: Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 22, 2010
Type: Movie
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The making of Dumbo (1941).
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Waking Sleeping Beauty
Title: Waking Sleeping Beauty
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 5, 2009
Type: Movie
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By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.
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The Making of 'Pinocchio': No Strings Attached
Title: The Making of 'Pinocchio': No Strings Attached
Character: Self (Archive Footage)
Released: March 10, 2009
Type: Movie
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Documentary focusing on the making-of the 1940n adaptation of Pinocchio by the Disney studio, often considered the artistic pinnacle of the Disney feature.
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The Pixar Story
Title: The Pixar Story
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 28, 2007
Type: Movie
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A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.
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From Walt's Table: A Tribute to Disney's Nine Old Men
Title: From Walt's Table: A Tribute to Disney's Nine Old Men
Character: Self (Archive Footage)
Released: January 1, 2005
Type: Movie
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Film critic Joel Siegel gets together with a group of animators, directors and producers to discuss and pay tribute to their mentors and Walt Disney's core group of animators, The Nine Old Men
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The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born
Title: The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born
Character: Self - supervising animator, Bambi (Archive Footage)
Released: June 2, 1994
Type: Movie
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The making of this classic Disney masterpiece about the life of a young faun. Includes archive footage of Walt Disney and his team of animators.
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