Walt Stanchfield - my 177th pick to be named a Disney Legend

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