Ruthie Tompson - pioneering animator who worked at Disney for 40 years - passes ...

Ruthie Tompson - pioneering animator who worked at Disney for 40 years - passes ...
Ruthie Tompson - pioneering animator who worked at Disney for 40 years - passes ...

The animation world has lost a legend, with pioneer Ruthie Tompson passing away at 111 years of age.

Tompson, who started her career at Disney as an ink and paint artist on Disney's first animated feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, passed peacefully at her home at the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills, California on Sunday (via Variety).

She also worked on Disney classics such as Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi and Sleeping Beauty, while also becoming one of the first three women to join the International Photographers Union, Local 659 of the IATSE, in 1952.  

R.I.P.: The animation world has lost a legend, with pioneer Ruthie Tompson (right) passing away at 111 years of age

R.I.P.: The animation world has lost a legend, with pioneer Ruthie Tompson (right) passing away at 111 years of age

First: Tompson, who started her career at Disney as an ink and paint artist on Disney's first animated feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, passed peacefully at her home at the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills, California on Sunday (via Variety)

First: Tompson, who started her career at Disney as an ink and paint artist on Disney's first animated feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, passed peacefully at her home at the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills, California on Sunday (via Variety)

Tompson was born July 22, 1910 in Portland, Maine and raised in Boston before moving to Oakland when she was eight, and to Los Angeles in 1924, after her mother divorced and re-married.

Tompson ended up living on the same block as Robert Disney, the uncle of Walt and Roy Disney, whose they lived in when they first moved to Los Angeles.  

Her home was also quite close to the Disney Bros. Studio on Kingswell Avenue, with Tompson sharing an early memory in her Disney Legend interview in 2000.

Disney Legend: Her home was also quite close to the Disney Bros. Studio on Kingswell Avenue, with Tompson sharing an early memory in her Disney Legend interview in 2000

Disney Legend: Her home was also quite close to the Disney Bros. Studio on Kingswell Avenue, with Tompson sharing an early memory in her Disney Legend interview

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