Milt Kahl

Milton Erwin Kahl (March 22, 1909 – April 19, 1987) was an American animator. He was one of (and often considered the most influential of) Walt Disney's supervisory team of animators, known as Disney's Nine Old Men.^[1]

Milt Kahl
Born	Milton Erwin Kahl (1909-03-22)March 22, 1909 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	April 19, 1987(1987-04-19) (aged 78) Mill Valley, California, U.S.
Occupation	Animator
Years active	1936–1976, 1985–1986
Known for	One of Disney's Nine Old Men
Spouses	Laura Nordquist Kahl ​ ​ (m. 1934; died 1967)​ Phyllis Bounds Detiege ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1978)​ Julie Kahl ​ ​ (m. 1980; died 1987)​
Children	2

Biography

Kahl was born in San Francisco, California, to Erwin, a saloon bartender, and Grace Kahl.^[2] He had three younger sisters, Dorothy, Marion, and Gladys.^[3] He would often refine character sketches from Bill Peet, incorporating ideas of Ken Anderson. The final look of many characters in the Disney films was designed by Kahl, in his angular style inspired by Ronald Searle and Picasso. He is revered by contemporary masters of the form such as Andreas Deja, and also Brad Bird, who was his protégé at Disney in the early 1970s. In the behind-the-scenes feature "Fine Food and Film" shown on the Ratatouille DVD, Bird referred to Kahl as "tough," but in a gentle way, as he often gave Bird advice on where he could improve in animation whenever he came up short. Bird later repeated this in "The Giant's Dream" documentary on the Blu Ray for The Iron Giant.

In the book The Animator's Survival Kit, the author Richard Williams makes repeated references and anecdotes relating to Kahl, whom he befriended during his early years in the animation industry. The centenary of Kahl's birth was honored by the Academy on April 27, 2009, with a tribute entitled "Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo" and featured Brad Bird as a panelist.^[4]

On April 19, 1987, Kahl died of pneumonia, aged 78, in Mill Valley, California.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credits	Characters	Notes
1934	Servants' Entrance	Animator		uncredited
1935	Mickey's Fire Brigade (Short)			uncredited
	On Ice (short)			uncredited
1936	Orphans' Picnic (Short)			uncredited
	Elmer Elephant (short)			uncredited
	Mickey's Circus (short)			uncredited
	Toby Tortoise Returns (short)			uncredited
1937	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs		Forest animals[6]	Credited as Milton Kahl
	Lonesome Ghosts (short)			uncredited
1938	Ferdinand the Bull			Ferdinand (voice; uncredited)
	Farmyard Symphony (short)			uncredited
1939	Ugly Duckling (short)			uncredited
1940	Pinocchio	Animation Director	Pinocchio,[7] Geppetto	Credited as Milton Kahl
1942	Bambi	Supervising Animator	Bambi, Thumper[8]	Credited as Milton Kahl
1943	Saludos Amigos (Short)	Animator	Donald Duck riding the llama sequence[9]
	The Grain That Built a Hemisphere (Documentary short)			uncredited
	Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (Short)			uncredited
	Reason and Emotion (Short)			uncredited
	The Winged Scourge (Documentary short)			uncredited
	Chicken Little (short)			uncredited
1944	How to Play Football			Credited as Milton Kahl
1945	The Three Caballeros			Credited as Milton Kahl
	Tiger Trouble (Short)			uncredited
	Duck Pimples (Short)			uncredited
	Hockey Homicide (short)			uncredited
1946	Make Mine Music
	Song of the South	Directing Animator	Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear, and Br'er Fox
1947	Fun & Fancy Free	Animator	"Say It With A Slap"[10]	uncredited
1948	Melody Time	Directing Animator	Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, Slue Foot Sue[9]
1949	So Dear to My Heart	Animator
	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	Directing Animator	Ratty, Mole, MacBadger, Brom Bones
1950	Cinderella		Fairy Godmother, the King, the Grand Duke[11]
1951	Alice in Wonderland		Alice, Dodo, Pink Flamingo[11]
1953	Peter Pan		Peter Pan, Wendy, John and Michael[11]
1955	Lady and the Tramp		Tramp, Trusty
1959	Sleeping Beauty		Prince Philip, Sir Minstrel, Samson, King Hubert, King Stefan[11]
1961	One Hundred and One Dalmatians		Pongo,[12] Perdita, Roger, Anita
1963	The Sword in the Stone	Directing Animator / Character Designer	Arthur, Merlin, Lord Ector, Sir Kay, Sir Bart, Madame Mim
1964	Mary Poppins	Animator	Fox
1967	The Jungle Book	Directing Animator	Shere Khan, Kaa, Mowgli, Bagheera, King Louie[13]
1968	Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Short)	Animator	Tigger[14]
1970	The Aristocats	Directing Animator	Thomas O'Malley, Duchess, Edgar, Madame Bonfamille, Georges Hautecourt
1971	Bedknobs and Broomsticks	Animator	King Leonidas, Secretary Bird, Fisherman Bear
1973	Robin Hood	Directing Animator	Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, Lady Kluck, the Sheriff of Nottingham
1974	Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (Short)		Tigger
1977	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	Animator	Tigger
	The Rescuers	Directing Animator	Madame Medusa, Snoops, Penny[15]
1995	Frank and Ollie (Documentary)	Acknowledgment: Caricatures
2002	Mickey's House of Villains (Video)	Animator - Segment "Lonesome Ghosts"

See also

• Ludwig Von Drake