Milt Kahl was a renowned animator from San Francisco who became one of the esteemed "Disney's Nine Old Men", a board of supervising animators who led the production staff of Walt Disney Animation Studios from approximately 1945 to 1977.
Born in San Francisco, Kahl was the son of saloon bartender Erwin Kahl and his wife Grace. He was one of several young animators hired by the Disney studio in the mid-1930s, working on the iconic animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),where he animated various forest animals and scenes involving the film's unnamed prince.
Kahl's work on Pinocchio (1940) caught the attention of the studio's executives, who praised his design for the eponymous sentient puppet, depicting Pinocchio as a "cute little boy" with a Tyrolean hat and Mickey Mouse-style gloves. Walt Disney himself embraced Kahl's vision, urging the writers to evolve Pinocchio into a more innocent figure that matched Kahl's design.
Kahl went on to work on numerous Disney classics, including Bambi (1942),Saludos Amigos (1942),Make Mine Music (1946),Song of the South (1946),Fun and Fancy Free (1947),Melody Time (1948),The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949),Cinderella (1950),Alice in Wonderland (1951),Peter Pan (1953),Lady and the Tramp (1955),Sleeping Beauty (1959),One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961),The Sword in the Stone (1963),The Jungle Book (1967),The Aristocats (1970),Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971),Robin Hood (1973),and The Rescuers (1977).
Kahl's contributions to Disney animation spanned over four decades, during which he worked as both a directing animator and character designer, leaving an indelible mark on the studio's legacy.
In the late 1970s, Kahl went into semi-retirement, but was brought out of retirement during the production phase of The Black Cauldron (1985) to provide new character designs. He passed away on April 19, 1987, at the age of 78, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire and influence animators to this day.
In 2009, the centenary of his birth was celebrated with a tribute entitled "Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo", a testament to his enduring impact on the world of animation.
