Don Lusk Receives the Winsor McCay Award at the Annie Awards HD

Veteran animator and director Don Lusk has one of the most wide–ranging resumes in the industry. He began his career in animation at the Walt Disney studios in 1933 as an in–betweener, but soon rose to the position of Assistant Animator, working with Eric Larsen, Milt Kahl and James Algar. By 1938 he had become a full animator, lending his artistry to such classics as “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia,” “The Wind and the Willows,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan,” “Lady and the Tramp,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “101 Dalmatians.” Of his legendary animation of Tchaikovsky’s Arabian Dance from Fantasia, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston would write: “The scenes of the glowing white fish in the Arabian Dance section of ‘Nutcracker Suite’ amazed the whole Studio. No one had ever seen such a gossamer effect, and very few knew how it had been achieved.” After leaving Disney, Don went to work for Walter Lantz. He also animated for Chuck Jones on the 1962 feature “Gay Purr–ee.” Don then moved to Hanna–Barbera, where he spent the next three decades working as an animator, animation director and director before retiring in 1993. At the age of 101, Don Lusk remains one of the most accomplished and respected elder statesmen of animation. On January 31, Don Lusk received the Winsor McCay Award in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation. Credits: Clip edited by Josh Gladstone; end title music by Peter Deneff; titles, graphics and additional post production by David Derks. For more information on the Annie Awards visit http://annieawards.org/