Veteran Animator Southworth Dies

Thursday, December 06, 2007
By: Ryan Ball

We’re sad to report that Ken Southworth, a veteran animator who worked for Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Clokey Prods. and Filmation, has passed away at the age of 89. The artist and educator suffered a series of strokes on Wednesday at his home in Anaheim, Calif., according to CartoonBrew.com.

Born in 1918 in Lancashire, England, Southworth held dual citizenship but did most of his work in the states. At the age of ten, he won a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute, where he began to hone his raw talent. He started his animation career at Walt Disney Studios in 1944. There, he did a lot of Milt Kahl's rough animation on Alice in Wonderland, assisted Frank Thomas on the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella and worked on Legend of Sleepy Hollow and a number of shorts.

After comparatively brief stints at Walter Lantz, MGM, Rudy Cataldi Prods. and Sam Sing Prods., Southworth spent more than 21 years animating for Hanna-Barbera. There, he worked on Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Top Cat, Johnny Quest, Swat Kats, Scooby Doo, The Smurfs, Dino Boy and Space Ghost. He would return to the studio in the mid-’80s to teach evening classes in basic animation.

Southworth also shared his knowledge and experience with classes and seminars at the American Animation Institute, Glendale Animation Studios, the University of California in Fullerton, VanArts, the Art Institute of Southern California in Laguna Beach and the Detroit Center for Creative Studies.

Reader Comments

• Ted G. Hughes : wireframe lead : Punctual Arts

  Thursday, December 06, 2007

  Good that you featured a geniune animation legend for once, instead of another run-of-the-mill loser exec, even if you DID have to get the information off an animation blog.

• David :

  Sunday, December 09, 2007

  By all accounts Ken was well-respected and loved as a teacher . He had a great career in theatrical and television animation. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but I too am glad that Animation Magazine has rightly noted the passing of another of the dwindling number of \\\\\\\"Golden Age\\\\\\\" animation artists.
  
  There is however an awkward phrase in the article above where it says:
  
  \\\\\\\"He started his animation career at Walt Disney Studios in 1944. There, he did a lot of Milt Kahl\\\\\\\'s rough animation on Alice in Wonderland.\\\\\\\"
  
  Huh ?
  
  Ok, I think I know what is intended by that sentence. When it says that Ken Southworth \\\\\\\"did\\\\\\\" a lot of Milt Kahl\\\\\\\'s rough animation in Alice , it means that Ken , who was an Assistant Animator at the time was the artist who \\\\\\\"did\\\\\\\" the clean up work on Milt\\\\\\\'s roughs , or it could mean that he was Milt\\\\\\\'s rough inbetweener and so he \\\\\\\"did\\\\\\\" a lot of Milt\\\\\\\'s rough scenes , meaning he assisted Milt Kahl by filling in rough inbetweens.
  
  But the way it reads initially is as though Ken Southworth is being credited with doing animation that was originally attributed to Milt Kahl .

• Anonymous :

  Monday, December 10, 2007

  The chronology of Ken\'s work as an assistant animator at Disney is wrong , too. The feature credits should read going forward from Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949) to assisting Frank Thomas on the Stepmother in Cinderella (1950) to assisting Milt Kahl on Alice in Wonderland (1951) .
  rather than starting with Alice , and going back to Cinderella, and the Sleepy Hollow last.