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Thursday, December 15, 2005

GRANT, Joe

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Birth/Death

Occupation/Title

Bio Summary

Early Life/Family

Education/Training

Career Outline

Comments On Style

Influences

Personality

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Filmography

Honors

Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1985


Related Links

Bibliographic References

Contributors To This Listing


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posted by Stephen Worth @ 3:00 PM   Read Comments Or Post Yours

1 Comments:

At 5:44 AM, Anonymous Kaitlin Sullivan said...

Kaitlin Sullivan


Birth/Death
Born on May 15, 1908 in New York, NY

Died on May 6, 2005 in Glendale, CA at his drawing table

Occupation/Title
Animator/Story Artist/Character Designer

Bio Summary

Early Life/Family
Joe Grant was born in New York City and his family moved to Los Angeles when Joe was still young. His father was a newspaper editor. Grant was hired by the Los Angeles Record to draw cartoons of famous people.

Education/Training

Career Outline
Grant started working at Disney in 1933 as an animator on 'Mickey's Gala Premiere' and 'Who Killed Cock Robin'. He designed the Evil Queen for 'Snow White' and eventually became head of the character design department. No design was final until it was given the okay by Grant with a stamp of 'O.K., J.G.' . He wrote 'Dumbo' with Dick Huemer, did character design for 'Pinocchio', was story director on 'Fantasia', and selected the music to be used in the film. He also co-wrote the story for 'Fantasia's 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' and 'Alice in Wonderland'. Grant and his wife, Jennie, came up with the idea for 'Lady and the Tramp' and developed it into production. He also wrote 'Thru the Mirror', 'The Reluctant Dragon', 'Der Fuhrer's Face', and 'Saludos Amigos'.

In 1949, he left Disney when the character design department was dissolved. He formed the greeting card company, Castle Ltd, and ran Opechee Designs, a ceramics studio, with Jennie.

He returned to Disney in 1989. He designed Mrs. Potts for 'Beauty and the Beast', Abu for 'Aladdin', Meeko, Flit, and Grandmother Willow for 'Pocahontas', and Cri-Kee for 'Mulan'. In addition to his contribution to character design, he worked in visual development for the same four films. In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his short film, 'Lorenzo'. His talent as a story man showed in films such as 'Fantasia 2000' since Grant came up with sequence of the flamingo playing with his yo-yo and set to the finale of 'Carnival of the Animals'.

Comments On Style
"The drawings I make are not storyboard drawings. They are inspirational drawings. I always like to have an idea in each drawing, so if they look at it they can say that's a possibility, we can build on that. I think that's my function, always has been."

Influences
Vladislav Theodor Benda
Wilhelm Busch
Heinrich Kley

Personality
Grant was described by Eric Goldberg as “...a nonstop flood of creativity and imagination...” He was always putting new ideas on paper and was known to be a charming and witty man. Grant was always excited for new projects and concepts. He was also known for a “B.S. detector”.

Anecdotes
Grant's Springer Spaniel was the inspiration for Lady of 'Lady and the Tramp'.

Over seventy of his caricatures are owned by the Smithsonian Museum.

The Evil Queen and her alter-ego were based off a woman who lived across the street from Grant, except her basket was filled with persimmons. Grant hesitated to reveal this information until several decades after the film's release.

Miscellaneous

Filmography
Lorenzo (2004) (story)
Fantasia/2000 (1999) (creator: original concept)
Mulan (1998) (story)
Hercules (1997) (visual development)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (character designer)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (visual development)
Pocahontas (1995) (character designer)
Pocahontas (1995) (story)
Pocahontas (1995) (visual development)
The Lion King (1994) (character designer)
The Lion King (1994) (visual development)
Beauty and the Beast (1991) (visual development)
"Popeye" (1 episode, 1960)
Lady and the Tramp (1955) (concept) (uncredited)
Alice in Wonderland (1951) (writer)
Make Mine Music (1946) (production supervisor)
Saludos Amigos (1942) (story)
Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) (written by)
Dumbo (1941) (story)
The Reluctant Dragon (1941) (story) (segment "Baby Weems")
Fantasia (1940) (story director) (uncredited)
Pinocchio (1940) (character designer)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) (character designer)
Thru the Mirror (1936) (writer)
Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935) (animator)
Mickey's Gala Premier (1933) (animator)
Parade of the Award Nominees (1932) (animator) (uncredited)

Honors
Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1985
Disney Legend – 1992
Ruben Award - 1996
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards – 2001


Related Links
Joe Grant's work on 'Lorenzo': http://www.animationartconservation.com/lorenzo.html

Bibliographic References
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
John Canemaker, Before the Animation Begins: The Life and Times of Disney inspirational Sketch Artists
Disney Legends – Joe Grant: http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Joe+Grant
The Legacy of Joe Grant: http://www.jakefriedman.net/writings/092005-grant_1.html
Not Just Your Average Joe: Disney Legend Joe Grant: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.08/4.08pages/lyonsgrant.php3
Joe Grant, 96, Artist and Writer for Disney's Most Beloved Films, Dies: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/movies/11grant.html

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