One of a handful of Chinese American Disney animators in the 30’s who worked on such classics as Fantasia and Dumbo has died at the age of 105, reports Variety.
Milton Quon died of natural causes and was drawing up to his final days, according to his son Mike, who is also an artist.
“He lived every moment of it with family and art,” said Mike Quon to NPR. And I think we are left with a lot of great memories. And as often the case is, you especially miss them when they’re gone.
His father was the eldest of eight children. Born in Los Angeles, Milton received a scholarship from the Chouinard Art Institute and began designing for restaurants in Chinatown.
He became just the third Chinese American to work for Disney Studio in 1939. He also acted in such movies as Speed, Chill Factor, Sweet Jane, The Cat Killers and the TV series NYPD Blue.
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He was most proud of his work as an animator.
“So everything – all the scenes, like, in your Disneyland flipbook – they had to be done by hand,” explained one of his other sons Jeff to NPR. “Unlike digital animation, which everything is so slick, the movements of people, whether it’s Mickey Mouse or Bambi, are much more lifelike.”
You can hear more about his life in the story from NPR below.
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