Kenneth B. Anderson (March 17, 1909 – December 13, 1993) was an American
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
and a
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
at
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
for 44 years.
Anderson studied
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, graduating with a
B.Arch
The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world.
Australia
Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...
. in 1934. He was particularly influenced by faculty member
Lionel Pries
Lionel H. ("Spike") Pries (June 1, 1897 – April 7, 1968), was a leading architect, artist, and educator in the Pacific Northwest.
Early life and education
Lionel Pries was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland. His father work ...
.
With the delineation skills he learned in architecture school, he soon secured a position at
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
. Anderson was a key player in some of the studio's most well-known
animated films
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
such as ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937), ''Pinocchio'' (1940), ''Fantasia'' (1940), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961) and ''The Jungle Book'' (1967). He also worked on the development of
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
. Ken is a 1991 winner of the
Disney Legends award for Animation & Imagineering.
Ken Anderson died in
La Cañada Flintridge
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
from a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
at the age of 84.
Filmography
Architect/Designer
*
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
and the
EPCOT
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...
Center
* Gore's Mansion, Bloodmere Manor, and The Headless Knight legends for the
Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is displa ...
to
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
(
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (Di ...
),
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The W ...
(
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
) and also
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be ...
(
Tokyo Disney Resort
The (local nickname ''TDR'') is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. The resort is fully owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company under a licence from The Walt Disney Company, who constru ...
).
Honors
*Winsor McCay Award 1982
*
Disney Legend
The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...
(Animation & Imagineering) 1991
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).
*Ghez, Didier, ''Walt's People Volume 1: Talking Disney With The Artists Who Knew Him'', Theme Park Press, 2005 (contains an entire interview with Ken Anderson from 1992 conducted by Paul F. Anderson).
*Surrel, Jason, ''The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic'', 2016.
External links
Ken Anderson biography page at the New York TimesKen Anderson – Disney Legends*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ken
1909 births
1993 deaths
University of Washington College of Built Environments alumni
Animators from Washington (state)
Animation screenwriters
Walt Disney Animation Studios people
Disney imagineers
Artists from Seattle
People from La Cañada Flintridge, California
20th-century American screenwriters