Nine Old Men

Disney's Nine Old Men were The Walt Disney Company's core animators, some of whom later became directors, who created some of Disney's most famous animated cartoons, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs onward to The Rescuers, and were referred to as such by Walt Disney himself. All members of the group are now deceased. John Lounsbery was the first to die, in 1976 from heart failure, and the last survivor was Ollie Johnston, who died in 2008 from natural causes. All have been acknowledged as Disney Legends.

By the time Robin Hood was released, only four of the Nine Old Men (Kahl, Lounsbery, Thomas, and Johnston) were still animating at Disney, although Eric Larson was still working for Disney as a talent scout and trainer, Wolfgang Reitherman was by then directing and producing films, and Marc Davis was helping to create Disney theme park attractions. Lounsbery died in 1976, Kahl retired the same year and died in 1987. Thomas, Johnston and Davis retired in 1978, and Thomas and Johnston later enjoyed cameos in the Brad Bird-directed films The Iron Giant (Warner Bros., 1999) and The Incredibles (Pixar, 2004). Thomas died shortly afterwards in 2004, and Johnston, who was by then the last surviving "Old Man", died in 2008.

As well as being honored as Disney Legends in 1989, all of the Nine Old Men were separately honored with the Winsor McCay Award (the lifetime achievement award for animators) during the 1970s and 1980s.

As part of their work for Disney, the Nine Old Men refined the 12 basic principles of animation:

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