I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to think I could write an obituary of Joe Grant, the veteran Disney artist who died on Friday: try Jim Hill Media or LaughingPlace for that. But I did want to write a little bit about what a symbolic moment this is, particularly coming so soon after the death of legendary animator Frank Thomas (the second-last of Disney’s so-called “Nine Old Men”) last September.
Grant was the most tangible link between old Disney and new Disney. He started at the studio in 1933, and worked through its peak period. He was founder of the Character Model Department that designed the key characters for the classic features (Snow White, Pinocchio etc). He also made story contributions: Lady and the Tramp was inspired by his pet cocker spaniel. This phase of his career finished when he left Disney in 1949.
Remarkably, however he returned to the studio in 1987, after a break of nearly forty years, aged nearly eighty (he was born in 1908). Grant came back to the staff as an inspirational artist just as the studio was cranking up for its early 90s renaissance. He would continue to work five day weeks well into his nineties, contributing story ideas and character concepts throughout the period that saw the release of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Hercules. Last year saw the release of the acclaimed short Lorenzo, for which he shared story credit. According to Jim Hill, he was doing consultative work the day before he died, at age 96.
It’s a career that’s remarkable in its own right. Yet Grant was a physical embodiment of the studio’s link with its heritage. Even in the dark days of the last two years – with the resignation of Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, and the studio’s abandonment of traditional animation – he was continuing to try to find new ways to forge ahead. In some ways, he was a more inspirational figure than the more famous “Nine Old Men:” where they had essentially presided over the death of old-school Disney animation in the 60s and 70s, Grant returned to the studio to help in its rebirth.
For the Disney studio, heritage is everything. It is the studio’s heritage that keeps Disney from being just another media conglomerate. The heritage of the company has been trashed lately, with direct-to-video films of dubious quality, the loss of Roy, and the abandonment of hand drawn features. It is obviously sad in its own right that Grant is gone: he was clearly a remarkable man. Yet it is made even sadder when there are so few links left with the golden age of Disney animation.