Ollie Johnston

Oliver Martin "Ollie" Johnston was an American animator from Palo Alto, California. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, a group of senior animators which supervised production at the Walt Disney Animation Studios from c. 1945 to 1977. By the time of his death in 2008, Johnston was the last surviving member of the group. Johnston co-wrote the reference book "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life" (1981), where he explained the twelve basic principles of animation. He helped to both preserve and popularize the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the Disney studio over several decades. In 1912, Johnston was born in Palo Alto, California. His father was Oliver Johnston, a professor at Stanford University. The younger Johnston attended Palo Alto High School. He received his college education at Stanford University, where he worked on the campus humor magazine "Stanford Chaparral". He befriended a co-worker at the magazine, the aspiring animator Frank Thomas (1912-2004). Th