Eric Larson--Legendary Disney Animator from Cleveland! by Dottie Grimes

Eric Larson, one of Disney's legendary animators and among the original "Nine Old Men" which is what Walt Disney called his was born in Cleveland, Utah in 1905. His parents are Lars Peter Larson and Olganora (Nora) Oveson Larson.


He was always interested in comic books, and in 1925 he enrolled in journalism at the University of Utah. After graduation he applied to the Walt Disney Studios as an animator when Mickey Mouse was in his infancy and Disneyland had not even been thought up yet. He was the animator for the forest animals in Disney's first feature-length cartoon, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937.

In "Disney's Family Album, Part 1, Eric talks about how growing up on a farm, and the animals of his childhood influenced his characters in all of his works.

See the five minute video of his speaking about his work: "Eric Larson-Disney Family Album Part 1" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqkMbJWtO7g His the one who thought up all of the actions of the little animals cleaning up the house.

When Bambi came along, Walt insisted on the deer being anatomically perfect. They had to study the bones and the movement of real deer to get the realistic look of all of the animals in Bambi. Eric was the supervising animator for Bambi.
See Disney Family Album 2 . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoLUgheVuTs&NR=1
From Eric Larson in Wickipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Larson  Here is the list of what he animated in which films:

• Forest Animals, Whistle While You Work Sequence (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• Figaro, Cleo (Figaro lick Cleo and Cleo going into castle), French Can-can dancers marionettes and Russian girl marionette, Donkeys (Pinocchio)
• Pegasus, Centaurs, Centaurettes (The Pastoral Symphony) (Fantasia)
• Lullabye sequence "baby animals" (Dumbo) (uncredited)
• Bambi (Bambi)
• Cinderella, Prince Charming (Cinderella)
• Alice, Dinah, The Caterpillar, The Cheshire Cat, The Queen of Hearts, Flamingo (Alice in Wonderland)
• Flying to London Sequence (Peter Pan)
• Peg, Puppies in Pound (Lady and the Tramp)
• Pongo, Perdita, Puppies, Colonel, Tibbs (101 Dalmatians)
• The Vultures, some of the Wolves (The Jungle Book)
• Little John, Vultures (Robin Hood)
• Kanga and Roo (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Mr. Toad (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)
• 3 Little Pigs (The Three Little Pigs)
• Roquefort, Scat Cat (The Aristocats)
• Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear (Song of the South)
• Barn Animals (Mary Poppins)

Eric then became the head of Disney's Animation Training Department. He trained the animators for all of the feature-length films. Often used mimes to help train the people for animators. See Disney Family Album Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EMZrbS7N_k&NR=1
 
Eric also helped the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints movie "Man's Search for Happiness" in 1964 that was animated by Richard L. Evans."