Disney’s Magic Makers: Milt Kahl
Welcome back to the Disney’s Magic Makers Series here at Netcot. This time, we’ll focus on Milt Kahl, the eighth of Disney’s Nine Old Men…
Milt Kahl was born on March 22, 1909, in San Francisco, California. He dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming an illustrator for a magazine or cartoon company. He appealed to local artists to help him refine his drawing ability, freelancing at the Oakland Post-Enquirer and the San Francisco Bulletin. He started his own company in the mid 1920s which was severely handicapped during the Great Depression. In 1934, Milt decided to get involved in the fledgling area of animation and applied for work at the Disney Brothers Studios.
When Milt Kahl first came to the Studios, he was assigned to work as an assistant animator on “Mickey’s Circus”, “Lonesome Ghosts”, and “The Ugly Duckling” (which he won an Oscar for). He also worked on Snow White (Forest Animals, the Prince, dwarves dancing with Snow White), Pinocchio (Pinocchio-in both marionette and human form), Bambi (Bambi, Thumper), Saludos Amigos (Donald on a llama), Song of the South (Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, Br’er Bear), Melody Time (Slue Foot Sue, Johnny Apple Seed), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Brom Bones, MacBadger), Cinderella (the King, the Grand Duke, Fairy Godmother), Alice in Wonderland (Croquet Party, Dodo), Peter Pan (Peter), Lady and the Tramp (Tramp), Sleeping Beauty (King Hubert with Phillip, Prince Phillip), The Sword in the Stone (Kay, Madame Mim, Sir Ector, Merlin), 101 Dalmatians (Anita and Roger), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Tigger), The Jungle Book (King Louie, Shere Khan), The Aristocats (George, Edgar), Robin Hood (Allan-a-Dale, The Sheriff of Nottingham), and The Rescuers (Madame Medusa, Mr. Snoops). While at the studios, he was often given the hard task of animating humans because he was able to do it so well. In the 1960s, Kahl took on an apprentice, Brad Bird, who has gone on to continue his work at Pixar.
After nearly 40 years with Disney, Milt retired from the Studio, in 1976. Part of what caused him to retire was Walt’s death as well as the politics and budget of the Animation department which led Kahl to leave the studios after his work on The Rescuers was finished.
Milt Kahl lived the rest of his life giving speeches (as well as creating intricate wire sculptures of human life) about animation until he died on April 19, 1987, from pneumonia. He was named a Disney Legend in 1989.
