Walt Disney Animation Studios Celebrates Milestone 90th Birthday of Disney Legend Floyd Norman
A similar event took place over a decade ago, as depicted in the documentary "Floyd Norman: An Animated Life"
Disney Legend Floyd Norman recently turned 90 years old, and to celebrate, Walt Disney Animation Studios held a celebration in his honor, sharing the moment on social media.
What’s Happening:
- Earlier today, Walt Disney Animation Studios shared that they celebrated the 90th birthday of Disney Legend Floyd Norman.
- Born on June 22nd, 1935, Norman (named a Disney Legend in 2007) was the first Black animator hired at the studio, starting in 1956 where he worked as an in-betweener and animator on Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book.
- His work there continued with various animated short projects at Disney in the late 1950s and early ‘60s.
- Primarily a story artist later in his career, Noman left Disney and co-founded the AfroKids animation studios, alongside animator/director Leo Sullivan. Together, they worked on the Fat Albert television special and segments for Sesame Street. Norman also went on to work on Hanna Barbera cartoons, including JabberJaw, and The New Fred & Barney Show.
- Norman would eventually return to Disney, contributing his efforts to Robin Hood, and as an illustrator for various other productions like the Mickey Mouse comic strips. He would return to animation once again for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan, before making his way over to Pixar Animation Studios working on Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.
- To this day, he still works for The Walt Disney Company as a consultant on various projects and continues to inspire generations of animators and artists as an author, speaker, and advocate for diversity in animation.
- Walt Disney Animation Studios celebrated his milestone birthday at the studio, where it appears that Norman shared a few words before cutting into his cake, as seen in their tweet below.
- Happy Birthday Floyd! For more information about Floyd Norman and his (forgive the pun) illustrious career, be sure to check out the documentary, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, which was last available to stream on Max earlier this year, and is still there as of press time.
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