Burny Mattinson, Disney’s longest-running artist, dies aged 87
Artist Burny Mattinson, known for his 70-year career working for Disney, has passed away at 87. Walt Disney Animation Studios confirmed the news.
The Hollywood Reporter shared the studio’s statement confirming Mattinson died after a “short illness” on Monday in an assisted living facility in Los Angeles.
“Burny’s artistry, generosity, and love of Disney Animation and the generations of storytellers that have come through our doors, for seven decades, has made us better—better artists, better technologists, and better collaborators,” Jennifer Lee, the Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer, shared. “All of us who have had the honor to know him and learn from him will ensure his legacy carries on.”
The artist came from an artistic background in San Fransisco, born to a jazz drummer father and a theatre actor mother. According to the book Walt’s People-Volume 9 by Didier Ghez, when he was six, his mother took him to see Disney’s Pinocchio, and 12 years later, when his mother asked him what he would like to work for the summer, he replied: “Maybe I will try Disney. I will go over there and see about getting a job.”
Mattinson began his career working in the mailroom, where he assisted in delivering correspondence to Disney’s meagre staff. From this small job, he worked his way up through the company, sharing his dreams of animating motion pictures. Six months later, his dreams came true when he received work as an inbetweener for the 1955 film Lady And The Tramp, creating frames between keyframes.
After this, he worked on 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians. During his time on Sleeping Beauty, Mattison met Sylvia Fry, another inbetweener, at a friend’s wedding. Two weeks later, the pair were engaged and went on to have three children and four grandchildren.
Mattinson’s additional work included assisting on many classic projects, including 1963’s The Sword in the Stone and 1964’s Mary Poppins. In the ’70s and ’80s, the animator worked on Pete’s Dragon and The Rescuers, released in 1977 and The Fox and the Hound in 1981. In 1983, he made his directorial debut with the short film Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Three years later, he worked on The Great Mouse Detective as co-director.
Mattinson was also a storyboard artist in the ’90s, working on Disney’s Renaissance era, including The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Beauty And The Beast.
On March 5th, 2018, he broke the cast member longevity record. “Disney has always been a family place,” he said, reported by Yahoo. “I think that’s what’s so rich about it. It’s family. And, you know, that was the big thing Walt felt, way back. He was family.”
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