Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Jump to content

Les Clark: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
KasparBot (talk | contribs)
1,549,811 edits
authority control moved to wikidata
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
{{No footnotes|date=September 2012}}
{{No footnotes|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Les Clark
|birth name=Leslie James Clark
|birth_date={{birth date|1907|11|17|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]], [[Utah]], [[United States]]
|death_date={{death date and age|1979|9|12|1907|11|17|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Santa Barbara, Califorina|Santa Barbara]], [[California]], [[United States]]
|death_cause=[[Cancer]]
|spouse={{plainlist|
* Georgia Vester (August 11, 1967 – September 12, 1979) (his death)
* Miriam Lauritzen (? – 1952) (divorced) (2 children) }}
}}

'''Les Clark''' (November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979) was the first of [[Disney's Nine Old Men]]. Joining Disney in 1927, he was the only one to work on the origins of [[Mickey Mouse]] with [[Ub Iwerks]].
'''Les Clark''' (November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979) was the first of [[Disney's Nine Old Men]]. Joining Disney in 1927, he was the only one to work on the origins of [[Mickey Mouse]] with [[Ub Iwerks]].


Revision as of 21:10, 8 June 2015

Les Clark
Born(1907-11-17)November 17, 1907
Ogden, Utah, United States
DiedSeptember 12, 1979(1979-09-12) (aged 71)
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Cause of deathCancer
Spouses
  • Georgia Vester (August 11, 1967 – September 12, 1979) (his death)
  • Miriam Lauritzen (? – 1952) (divorced) (2 children)

Les Clark (November 17, 1907 – September 12, 1979) was the first of Disney's Nine Old Men. Joining Disney in 1927, he was the only one to work on the origins of Mickey Mouse with Ub Iwerks.

The Disney Studio

Walt Disney complimented Les on the lettering he made for the menus on the mirrors at the candy store. Two years later in 1927, about to graduate from Venice High School, Clark got up the nerve to ask Walt for a job. "Bring some of your drawings in and let's see what they look like," he recalled Walt saying. At the Hyperion studio in the Silver Lake area east of Hollywood, Clark showed his samples, which he admitted were freehand copies of cartoons in College Humor. Walt admired his "swift, deft" graphic line and hired him.

Clark graduated from high school on a Thursday and jubilantly reported to work the following Monday, February 23, 1927 though Walt warned him "it might just be a temporary job." The "temporary" job lasted nearly half a century. By the time he retired in 1975, Les Clark was a senior animator and director, and the "longest continuously employed member of Walt Disney Productions."

Disney's job offer changed Clark's life. Throughout his lengthy career he repaid Walt with loyalty and a dogged striving to improve his work. In return, he gained a knowledge of the animation business from the ground up. During Clark's first year at the studio, he happily toiled in the industry's lowest entry-level positions: for his first six months he operated the animation camera, then spent a subsequent six months as an inker-painter. That is, he traced hundreds of animation drawings onto sheets of clear celluloid acetate ("cels") in ink with a crow-quill pen and painted them on the reverse side with opaque colors (black, white, and gray only, in those pre-Technicolor days).

Clark entered animation at a pivotal time and participated in events that shaped not only Disney's future but the history of the art form itself. When he arrived, the Alice Comedies were winding down and a series starring a new character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was beginning. Ub Iwerks, who became Clark's mentor, was the studio's top animator, capable of turning out large numbers of cleverly animated drawings each day.

Animation

Ub Iwerks animated Steamboat Willie at his usual breakneck speed (it was completed in two months), Clark assisted by in-betweening drawings, and Wilfred Jackson animated a brief scene of Minnie Mouse running along a riverbank.

To handle the increased production load, Walt began recruiting experienced New Yorks animators; Ben Sharpsteen, Burt Gillett, Jack King, and Norman Ferguson ("Fergy") who arrived at the studio between March and August 1929.

Les Clark's debut as an animator came in the first Silly Symphony, The Skeleton Dance (delivered on May 10, 1929): a scene of a skeleton playing the ribs of a bony buddy like a xylophone.

Clark's draftsmanship and versatility as a personality animator developed way beyond what Ub Iwerks was capable of but echoes of the magical, cartoony Iwerks always remained in Clark's work. A charming example is the little train to Baia in The Three Caballeros (1945), chugging and puffing on crayon rails to a bouncy samba beat through stylized jungle landscapes.

Filmography

Year Film Role character
  • December 21, 1937 (1937-12-21) (premiere)
  • February 4, 1938 (1938-02-04) (United States)
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Animator Dwarfs
  • February 7, 1940 (1940-02-07)
 Pinocchio Pinocchio
  • November 13, 1940 (1940-11-13)
 Fantasia Mickey Mouse, Sugar Plum Fairies
  • October 31, 1941 (1941-10-31)
 Dumbo Dumbo, a little bit of Timothy
  • August 24, 1942 (1942-08-24) (World Premiere-Rio de Janeiro)
  • February 6, 1943 (1943-02-06) (U.S. Premiere-Boston)
  • February 19, 1943 (1943-02-19) (U.S.)
 Saludos Amigos
  • December 21, 1944 (1944-12-21) (Mexico City)
  • February 3, 1945 (1945-02-03) (U.S.)
 The Three Caballeros Train to Baia sequence
  • April 20, 1946 (1946-04-20) (Premiere-New York City)
  • August 15, 1946 (1946-08-15) (U.S.)
 Make Mine Music
  • November 12, 1946 (1946-11-12) (Premiere-Atlanta, GA)
  • November 20, 1946 (1946-11-20) (U.S.)
 Song of the South Directing Animator Minor Characters
  • September 27, 1947 (1947-09-27)
 Fun and Fancy Free Bongo, Lulubelle
  • May 27, 1948 (1948-05-27)
 Melody Time Bumble Boogie
  • January 19, 1949 (1949-01-19) (Premiere-Indianapolis)
  • January 30, 1949 (1949-01-30) (U.S.)
 So Dear to My Heart
  • October 5, 1949 (1949-10-05)
 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Animator
  • February 15, 1950 (1950-02-15) (U.S. Premiere-Boston)
  • March 4, 1949 (1949-03-04) (U.S.)
 Cinderella Directing Animator Cinderella, Prince
  • July 26, 1951 (1951-07-26) (World premiere-London)
  • July 28, 1951 (1951-07-28) (U.S.)
 Alice in Wonderland Alice
  • February 5, 1953 (1953-02-05)
 Peter Pan Peter, Wendy, Tigerlilly
  • November 10, 1953 (1953-11-10)
 Ben and Me
  • June 22, 1955 (1955-06-22)
 Lady and the Tramp Lady as a puppy, Christmas scene at the end
  • August 1, 1958 (1958-08-01)
 Paul Bunyan[1] Director
  • January 29, 1959 (1959-01-29)
 Sleeping Beauty Sequence Director
  • June 26, 1959 (1959-06-26)
 Donald in Mathmagic Land
  • January 25, 1961 (1961-01-25)
 One Hundred and One Dalmatians Animator Roger and Anita

References

  1. ^ Wolfe, Jennifer (2012-12-31). "Animator Lee Hartman Dies at 82". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
  • Canemaker, John. (2001). Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation. New York, NY: Disney Editions. ISBN 0-7868-6496-6

Template:Nine Old Men

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Les_Clark&oldid=666093009"