Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

He was an animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978, and became a directing animator beginning with Pinocchio, released in 1940. He contributed to most Disney animated features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Bambi. His last full work for Disney came with The Rescuers, in which he was caricatured as one of the film's characters, the cat Rufus.

Johnston co-authored, with Frank Thomas, the reference book The Illusion of Life, which contained the 12 basic principles of animation. This book helped preserve the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the studio.

Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas (September 5, 1912 – September 8, 2004) was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.

Born in Fresno, California, Frank Thomas attended Stanford University, where he worked on campus humor magazine The Stanford Chaparral with Ollie Johnston. After graduating from Stanford, he attended Chouinard Art Institute, then joined The Walt Disney Company on September 24, 1934 as employee number 224. There he animated dozens of feature films and shorts, and also was a member of the Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two, playing the piano.

His work in animated cartoon shorts included The Brave Little Tailor, in which he animated scenes of Mickey Mouse and the king; Mickey and the bear in The Pointer, and German dialogue scenes in the World War II propaganda short Education for Death (shortly before Thomas enlisted in the Air Force).

In feature films, among the characters and scenes Thomas animated were the dwarfs crying over Snow White's "dead" body, Pinocchio singing at the marionette theatre, Bambi and Thumper on the ice, Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti, the three fairies in Sleeping Beauty, Merlin and Arthur as squirrels and the "wizard's duel" between Merlin and Madam Mim in The Sword in the Stone (in which he was paired with animator Milt Kahl to great effect), King Louie in The Jungle Book (the song number "I Wan'na Be Like You" featuring King Louie and Baloo the Bear re-teamed him with Kahl), the dancing penguins in Mary Poppins, and Winnie The Pooh and Piglet in the Winnie The Pooh featurettes. Thomas was directing animator for several memorable villains, including the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, the Pink Elephants on Parade in Dumbo (which he was uncredited), and Captain Hook in Peter Pan. He also provided work on Fantasia. He retired from Disney on January 31, 1978.

Thomas co-authored, with fellow Disney legend Ollie Johnston, the comprehensive book The Illusion of Life, first published by Abbeville Press in 1981. Regarded as the definitive resource book on traditional hand-drawn character animation (particularly in the Disney style), the book has been republished numerous times, and is widely considered "the bible" among character animators. The book summarised the Disney approach to animation through the so-called 12 basic principles of animation.

Feature Films

Below is a list of films that Frank and Ollie have contributed to over the years.

(1937) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

FRANK: Animator: Dwarfs, all 7 of them!
OLLIE: Becomes Assistant Animator with Fred Moore, in charge of all dwarf drawings.

(1940) PINOCCHIO

FRANK & OLLIE: Animation Directors on Pinocchio.
FRANK: Pinocchio on strings & puppet show.
OLLIE: Pinocchio talking to Blue Fairy, telling a lie.

(1940) FANTASIA

OLLIE: Segment of The Pastoral Symphony - Animation
FRANK: Started experimental animation on Bambi.

(1942) BAMBI

FRANK & OLLIE: Supervising Animators on Bambi.
FRANK: Young Bambi, Butterfly, Thumper, skunk, Faline & Bambi's mother.
OLLIE: Baby Bambi; older Bambi meets neighborhood; Thumper recites poetry on the meadow; meets Stag.

(1945) THE THREE CABALLEROS
(Part of "Package Pictures")

FRANK & OLLIE: Both animated on The Flying Gaucho. (Gauchito)

(1946) MAKE MINE MUSIC

OLLIE: Animator: Casey at the Bat & Peter and the Wolf.

(1946) SONG OF THE SOUTH

OLLIE: Directing animator: Running Away, Tar Baby, the Laughing Place.

(1948) MELODY TIME

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Little Toot & Johnny Appleseed.
FRANK: Director: Johnny Appleseed with Jim Algar.

(1949) ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD & MR. TOAD

FRANK & OLLIE: Directing Animators: Rat, Mole, Toad, Cyril & Ichabod, Katrina, Brom Bones.

(1950) CINDERELLA

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Stepsisters, Lackey.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Stepmother, Duke.

(1951) ALICE IN WONDERLAND

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Alice, King of Hearts.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Queen of Hearts, doorknob.

(1953) PETER PAN

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Mr. Smee.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Captain Hook.

(1955) LADY AND THE TRAMP

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Lady, Jock, Trusty.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Jock, Tramp and Lady (eating spaghetti).

(1959) SLEEPING BEAUTY

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Flora, Fauna & Merryweather
FRANK: Directing Animator: Flora, Fauna & Merryweather

(1961) 101 DALMATIANS

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Pongo, Perdita, Nanny Cook, Puppies.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Pongo, Perdita, Puppies.

(1963) SWORD IN THE STONE

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Merlin, Wart, Archimedes, Laughing Owl.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Squirrels, Madam Mim.

(1964) MARY POPPINS

OLLIE: Directing Animator, Penguins as waiters.
FRANK: Directing Animator, Penguins as dancers.

(1967) THE JUNGLE BOOK

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Baloo, Bagheera, Mowgli, and The Girl.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Mowgli, Kaa, Baloo, and King Louie.

(1970) THE ARISTOCATS

OLLIE: Directing Animator: cats and geese, Amelia, Abigail, Uncle Waldo.
FRANK: Directing Animator: O'Malley, Duchess, Geese, Napoleon, Lafayette, Butler.

(1973) ROBIN HOOD

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Prince John, Sir Hiss, Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Robin Hood as Stork, Maid Marian, Bunnies, Toby, Sheriff.

(1977) THE RESCUERS

OLLIE: Directing Animator: Orville, Bernard, Bianca, Rufus, Penny.
FRANK: Directing Animator: Bernard, Bianca, Crocodiles, Chairman, Ellie Mae, Luke, Orville.

(1977) THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH

OLLIE: Animator, Pooh, Piglet.
FRANK: Animator, Pooh, Piglet.

(1981) THE FOX AND THE HOUND

OLLIE: Directing Animator: young Tod, young Copper, Chief, Vixey, and Tod.
FRANK: Directing Animator: young Tod, young Copper