Famous black animators

J

ja_valle

New member
Hi. I would like to know how many famous animators are black/African-American? I recall reading and seeing an article about that in Essence Magazine once-there were animators who worked on Disney's Hercules.
When I was in art school I asked m animation instructor about that-he suggested I should write a book about it.

I know about the guy who animates and created the Proud Family but I don't know if he is a big name in the animation industry.
 
Floyd Norman is a former Disney animator whose credits stretch as long as my arm, and may be the only black animator who worked with Walt directly. This is not meant as a negative towards Disney, mind you -- he came from a different era.

James Tucker of Justice League, Legion of Superheroes, and the upcoming Batman: The Brave & the Bold is also black. I'm sure that there was one other JL staffer who was black (and wasn't Dwayne McDuffie, who's a writer and not an animator), but I'm blanking on a name at the moment.

-- Ed
 
There's Frank Braxton, one of the first black animators who worked in the business. Worked on the original George of the Jungle cartoon, The Bullwinkle Show, and Mr. Magoo. Some people say he would have been more well-known if he hadn't died of cancer sometime in the 60s.
 
I don't how how famous these people are but there's Ron Husband:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-3990932.html

There's people listed here:

http://blackcartoons.tripod.com/

and

I just found this:
from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-3990932.html :

There have been very few women of color in animation history. The first woman (of any color) that I know of who worked in the US industry was Lillian Friedman at Fleischers in 1933. Myron Waldman helped move her up when Al Eugster, Grim Natwick, Berny Wolf and Shamus Culhane all jumped ship to Hollywood and Iwerks.

While she wasn't an animator, Mary Tebb was a crucial part of the Iwerks Studio color department and had a leadership role there. Unfortunately her role didn't help women in other positions there. Dot Powers, the daughter of mogul, Pat Powers, languished in minor roles at the Iwerks Studio. She told me that she attempted to get promoted to animator many times and believed she had the skill to do so but was always kept out of the boys club. Her father would not intervene on her behalf and she eventually left the industry somewhat bitter about the entire experience.

And of course, lest our US-big studio fetish prevent us from looking beyond our shores, Lotte Reininger was already renowned in the 1920s for her silhouette animation.
 
I don't know if they're famous, but there's also-

Larry Houston got his start on He-Man, directed and storyboarded on a bunch of shows, co-wrote an episode of the Sunbow G.I.Joe series, and was head director/producer on the 90's X-Men series. I think right now he's directing on the Care Bears series.

And then there's Lenord Robinson and Dennis Woodyard, who've both worked on a bunch of shows and movies.

And Phil Mendez has worked in animation as a designer for a long time. Mark Evanier tells a great story about Phil at Hanna Barbera.
 
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