Walt Disney often referred to Ken Anderson as his “Jack of All Trades.” Indeed, over the years, Ken used his masterful skills as architect, artist, animator, storyteller and designer to pioneer many different areas of Disney’s broad entertainment spectrum. Always focused on challenge and growth, Ken once said his desire was not so much to achieve, as to “be able to constantly improve.”
Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1909, Ken attended the University of Washington and won a scholarship that allowed him to advance his studies in Europe, where he earned a degree in architecture. Ken then returned to California to work as a sketch artist at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he contributed to such films as Greta Garbo’s “The Painted Veil.”
One day, in 1934, while driving past The Walt Disney Studios, on a whim Ken pulled over to apply for a job. The next thing he knew, he was working on Silly Symphonies including “The Goddess of Spring” and “Three Orphan Kittens,” which won… read more
Walt Disney often referred to Ken Anderson as his “Jack of All Trades.” Indeed, over the years, Ken used his masterful skills as architect, artist, animator, storyteller and designer to pioneer many different areas of Disney’s broad entertainment spectrum. Always focused on challenge and growth, Ken once said his desire was not so much to achieve, as to “be able to constantly improve.”
Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1909, Ken attended the University of Washington and won a scholarship that allowed him to advance his studies in Europe, where he earned a degree in architecture. Ken then returned to California to work as a sketch artist at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he contributed to such films as Greta Garbo’s “The Painted Veil.”
One day, in 1934, while driving past The Walt Disney Studios, on a whim Ken pulled over to apply for a job. The next thing he knew, he was working on Silly Symphonies including “The Goddess of Spring” and “Three Orphan Kittens,” which won an Academy Award for best cartoon.
His first feature assignment was as art director on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and to help the other animators visualize the settings dimensionally, Ken built models of the Dwarfs’ cottage. He also added Dopey’s most memorable characteristic, wiggling ears, inspired by his own ability to do so.
Ken went on to serve as art director on “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia” and “The Reluctant Dragon.” While working on “Song of the South,” he contributed technical innovations to the combination of live-action and animation on film, which he later improved upon as animation art director for “Petes Dragon.”
Among Ken’s character creations are the villainous Shere Khan in “The Jungle Book” and the playful dragon, Elliott, in “Pete’s Dragon.” His impressive roster of Disney credits also include story contributions to “Melody Time,” “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book,” while his color styling greatly influenced “Alice in Wonderland.” Ken’s layouts were pivotal to the staging and design of “Peter Pan” and “Lady and the Tramp,” and led to his production design of “Sleeping Beauty,” “101 Dalmatians” and “The Aristocats.”
During the 1950s, Walt tapped Ken’s knowledge of architecture, perspective and art direction to help realize Disneyland. His concept drawings and design work is reflected in such popular Fantasyland attractions as Peter Pan’s Flight, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Storybook Land.
After 44 years with the company, Ken retired in 1978 and continued to work with Walt Disney Imagineering on special projects including a proposed African pavilion for EPCOT Center in collaboration with author Alex Haley.
Ken Anderson died January 13, 1993, in La Canada-Flintridge, California. —Disney Legends
