Disney has announced that legendary animator Burny Mattinson has passed away at age 87 following a career spanning seventy years with the Mouse House – the longest-serving animator at the company.
Mattinson died on Monday, following a battle with a short illness, at Canyon Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Canoga Park in California.
Mattinson’s first job was as an inbetweener on “Lady and the Tramp” just six months after he graduated from high school. He would then go on to work on some of the biggest Disney films of all-time starting with early uncredited work on “Sleeping Beauty,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Sword in the Stone,” “101 Dalmatians” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”.
He scored his first animator credit on “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” before doing the original “The Jungle Book” a year later and “The Aristocats” after that. He was a character animator on “Robin Hood” and had story credits on “The Rescuers,” “Pete’s Dragon” and “The Fox and the Hound” along with story contributions on “The Black Cauldron” and “The Brave Little Toaster”.
He made the jump to writing, directing and producing with “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” in 1983 and “The Great Mouse Detective” in 1986, but never directed again. After contributions to “The Prince and the Pauper” and “Oliver & Company,” he then had story credits on almost every Disney film in the 1990s from “Beauty and the Beast” through to “Tarzan” including “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Mulan,” “Pocahantas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.
He also worked on the “Tinker Bell” film and his most recent credits included “Big Hero 6,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and his final work with last year’s “Strange World”.
At the time of his passing, Mattinson was still employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios as a story consultant and mentor and was due to receive Disney’s first-ever 70th anniversary service award on June 4th.
Source: Walt Disney Company
