Ernest Nordli (June 15, 1912 – April 22, 1968) was an American animation designer and layout artist, most notably for Walt Disney Studios.

Biography

He was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

immigrant Hans Magnus Nordli (1884-1975) and Hedvig Charlotte Esterblom (1888-1976) who was of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

heritage. He studied art at the

Santa Barbara School of the Arts Santa Barbara School of the Arts was a college of art founded in Santa Barbara, California, by artist Fernand Lungren (1857–1932) in 1920.

. Nordli, nicknamed "Ernie", was a talented artist whose work had an appealing modern sensibility. He started at Disney in 1936 and served as an art director/layout artist on ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...

'' and ''

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

'', and worked on many of the studio's shorts through the mid-1940s, including such

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

shorts as '' The Plastics Inventor'' and ''Donald's Double Trouble''. He left Disney and in the 1950s became the layout artist for

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

, in the absence of

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...

. He was the layout man on eight Jones shorts, including some memorable films like ''

Broom-Stick Bunny ''Broom-Stick Bunny'' is a 1956 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on February 25, 1956, and stars Bugs Bunny. The short is notable for being June Foray's first project for Warner Bros., which led ...

'' and ''

Rocket-bye Baby ''Rocket-Bye Baby'' is a 1956 Warner Bros. animated cartoon in the '' Merrie Melodies'' series, directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on August 4, 1956. The Michael Maltese story follows the adventures of a baby from Mars who ends up ...

'' (both 1956). After his short stint with Jones, Nordli returned to Disney where he worked on ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' and ''

One Hundred and One Dalmatians ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. The ...

'', on which he was a layout stylist. He played an important role in designing the background drawing style on ''Dalmatians''. Nordli continued working until his death. His later credits include ''

The Alvin Show ''The Alvin Show'' is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. ''The Alvin Show'' aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, ...

'', ''

Gay Purr-ee ''Gay Purr-ee'' is a 1962 American animated musical film produced by United Productions of America and released by Warner Bros. It features the voice of Judy Garland in her only animated-film role, as well as Robert Goulet in his first feature fi ...

'' (1962), ''

Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' is a 1964 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The film stars the voices of Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, Mel Blanc, and J. Pat O' ...

'' (1964), '' The Man from Button Willow'' (1965) and the show ''

Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero ''Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero'' is an American animated television series originally airing from 1967 to 1968. It told the story of Johnny Cypher, a scientist who had the power to travel through space and time into different dimensions, with ...

''. In the early-1950s, Nordli also designed many covers for

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

including for issues featuring

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

Cisco Kid The Cisco Kid is a fictional character found in numerous film, radio, television and comic book series based on the fictional Western character created by O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way", published in ''Everybody's Magaz ...

and

Red Ryder Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. He died in 1968 at age 55 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. Fellow layout artist

Walt Peregoy Alwyn Walter "Walt" Peregoy (November 17, 1925 – January 16, 2015) was an American artist who was a color stylist and background artist for animated cartoons. Among the studios he worked for were Walt Disney Productions 1951–1964, 1974–19 ...

stated the opinion said that he may have committed suicide.Amid Amidi (03/24/2013
Disney’s Crankiest Veteran is Still Cranky
(Cartoon Brew)

References

External links

*
Biography at Cartoon Modern
February 15, 2006 1912 births 1968 deaths American graphic designers American animators Background artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Artists from Salt Lake City American people of Norwegian descent American people of Swedish descent Warner Bros. Cartoons people {{US-animator-stub