Ken Anderson

Ken (Kenneth B.) Anderson (March 17, 1909 – January 13, 1993) was an art director, writer, and animator at Disney for 44 years.

Anderson studied architecture at the University of Washington, graduating with a B.Arch. in 1934. He was particularly influenced by faculty member Lionel Pries.

With the delineation skills he learned in architecture school, he soon secured a position at Disney. Anderson was a key player in some of the most well-known animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Jungle Book. He also worked on the development of Disneyland. Ken is a 1991 winner of the Disney Legends award for Animation & Imagineering.

Ken Anderson died from a stroke at the age of 84.

Filmography

Screenwriter

• The Rescuers (1977)
• The Aristocats (1970)
• The Jungle Book (1967)
• Cinderella (1950)
• So Dear to My Heart (1948)
• Melody Time (1948)

Art Director

• The Sword in the Stone (1963)
• The Pastoral Symphany section of Fantasia (1940)
• Pinocchio (1940)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Animator

• The Fox and the Hound (1981, coordinating animator, uncredited)
• Pete's Dragon (1977)
• Song of the South (1946)
• The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
• Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
• The Goddess of Spring (1934)

Production Designer

• "The Aristocats" (1970)
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Short Story Author

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
• Robin Hood (1973)

Actor

• The Story of Three Loves (1953)

Consultant

• Peter Pan (1953)

Architect/Designer

• Disneyland and the EPCOT Center.

Honors

• Winsor McCay Award 1982
• Disney Legend (Animation & Imagineering) 1991

External links

• Ken Anderson biography page at the New York Times
• Ken Anderson at the Internet Movie Database

Further reading

• Allan, Robin, Walt Disney and Europe: European Influences on the Animated Feature Films of Walt Disney, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1999.
• Canemaker, John, Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists, Hyperion, New York 1996 (especially pages 168-182, a full chapter devoted to Ken Anderson).