The Last of the Nine Old Men

I'm sick and tired to death about writing about death.* But the passing of Ollie Johnston, the Last Man of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men at the grand young age of 95 can not go unnoticed.

But I'm not going to write it. Far better men than me having been writing all week, and I'm providing links to those and their thoughts. It leads off with Brad Bird, my current favorite animator ("Family Dog" from Amazing Stories, The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille), and his brief encounter and changing of the guard.

Brad Bird on Ollie Johnston

Ollie trying out an emotion in preparation for a drawing

John Canemaker

"Old Rufus" and Penny from "The Rescuers" as mentioned in the Canemaker article

The significance of which you notice when you see recent pictures of Ollie

Floyd Norman's spare tribute

Bob Mondello on NPR

Entertainment Weekly

Disney Collector Rhett Whickham

Animation MagazineDisney Bio

The New York Times obit

The AP obit

Disney Statement

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* So much so that tomorrow's "Don't Make a Scene" has changed from what it originally was--a death scene (there seem to be a lot of those)--to something that's a bit more work but a bit more vibrant.