Animator and director Ken Walker, whose work for Disney included such memorable films as “Alice in Wonderland” and “Fantasia,” died August 18 at the age of 91.
Animator and director Ken Walker, whose work for Disney included such memorable films as Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia, died August 18, according to a report by online blog Big Cartoon News. He was 91.
A member of the Directors Guild of America, Walker worked for Disney from 1940–42 and 1945–52. He was filmed as one of Disney’s leading animators on the “Disney Cartoons” episode of You Asked For It:
Walker also worked for many other notable companies, such as Columbia Pictures and Hanna-Barbera. He was the founder and sole owner of N.Y.C. Totem Productions from 1965 to 1971. In 1981, he founded Funnybone Films in Hollywood, California, where he remained owner for 20 years.
In TV, he animated Milton the Monster (1965), Bailey’s Comets (1973) and The Great Grape Ape Show (1977). He animated the ABC Afterschool Specials The Incredible, Indelible, Magical Physical, Mystery Trip (1973) and The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red’s Head (1974).
Walker animated the TV specials The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (1973) and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982), as well as the TV-movie Clerow Wilson’s Great Escape and The Mad Magazine TV Special, both made in 1974.
He was a production designer for the 2000 special It’s the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown and a timing director for the 1994–94 series Skeleton Warriors. He was a character animator for the 1982 H-B feature film Heidi’s Song and an animator for the 1992 hybrid movie Cool World. As well, he animated the theatrical 1974 short Trail of the Lonesome Pink and was animation director of the independent 1966 short Seeds of Discovery.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 4, 1921, Walker graduated from North Hollywood High School in 1940. He served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre from 1942 to 1945.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
