Ruthie Tompson Dies: Disney Animation Legend & Hollywood Trailblazer Was 111

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Ruthie Tompson, pioneering Disney animator, dies aged 111

The longtime Disney employee worked on 1937 hit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and remained with the studio for four decades

www.theguardian.com

Woah one of Disney's original staff members is gone and contributed to some of Disney's earliest movies. This was when Disney was a startup company when Tompson entered Disney inc under Walt Disney's management.

Having joined Disney studio after leaving school, Tompson was promoted to final checker (checking the animation cels before filming) and subsequently to scene planning, working on a string of Disney classics (largely uncredited) including Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins and The Aristocats, as well as the 1960s TV cartoon Popeye the Sailor. Bob Broughton, Disney supervisor of special photographic effects, recalled: “Ruthie was mechanically inclined. She was excellent at figuring out the mathematical and mechanical logistics of camera moves.”

In 1952 she became one of the first three women invited to join the International Photographers Union. Tompson was named as a Disney Legend in 2000, and appeared alongside Whoopi Goldberg at Disney’s D23 Expo in 2020. Tompson retired from Disney in 1975 aged 65 after completing work on The Rescuers (which was released in 1977), but continued to work on other projects, including Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 adaptation of Lord of the Rings.