Walt Stanchfield was an animator, writer, and
teacher. Stanchfield is known for work on a series of classic animated feature
films at Walt Disney Studios and his mentoring of Disney animators. He is my 177th pick to be named a Disney Legend.
Walter Stanchfield was born in 1919 in Los
Angeles, California. After graduating from high school in 1937, Stanchfield
worked as an animator at the Charles Mintz Studio. During World War II, he
served in the U.S. Navy. Returning to California, he briefly worked at the
Walter Lantz Studio before joining Walt Disney Studios to work on the 1949
full-length animated feature The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1947.
His career included work on every subsequent Disney animated feature including
his work as a character animator on The Jungle Book and The AristoCats. His
final film for Disney was Oliver and Company in 1988. In 1987, Stanchfield
served as the animation consultant on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
In the 1970s, Stanchfield and Eric Larson
created a training program for new animators at Disney studios. The program
included weekly drawing classes and lectures. Stanchfied's students included
numerous prominent animators, such as Brad Bird, John Lasseter, Don Bluth, Joe
Ranft, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, and Mark Henn.
In 2009, Stanchfield's lecture notes were
compiled into the two-volume set Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney
Master Classes
Partial Disney Filmography
Year Film Position
1966 Winnie
the Pooh and the Honey Tree Animator
1967 The
Jungle Book Character Animator
1968 Winnie
the Pooh and the Blustery Day Animator
1970 The
Aristocats Character Animator
1977 The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Animator
1977 The
Rescuers Key Assistant Animator
1978 The
Small One Assistant Animation
Supervisor
1981 The
Fox and the Hound Coordinating
Animator
1983 Mickey's
Christmas Carol The Creative Talent
Of
1985 The
Black Cauldron Coordinating Animator
1986 The
Great Mouse Detective Coordinating
Animator
1988 Who
Framed Roger Rabbit Animation
Consultant
1988 Oliver and Company Production Consultant
2001 Atlantis:
The Lost Empire Special Thanks
