Eric Larson worked as an animator and director over a fifty-plus year career, all of it at Walt Disney Productions. Animator, director, mentor, teacher, Eric did it all. I talked to him on April 19, 1978, at 1: 50 p.m. in his office.
Eric started at Walt Disney Productions in the mid-1930s and became a supervising animator early on. An animal specialist, he animated the forest creatures in “Snow White” and Figaro in “Pinocchio”. Mr. Larson was one of the directors on “Sleeping Beauty”, but by the 1970s he had eased out of animation to become the prime teacher and molder of incoming animation talent, a job he performed with skill and enthusiasm until his retirement in 1986. He died two years later, at age 83.
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