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Joe Ranft

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Joe Ranft
Born
Joseph Henry Ranft
Occupation(s)Animator, magician, storyboard artist, voice actor
Years active1982–2005
SpouseSue Barry (?-2005; his death)

Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American magician, animator, storyboard artist, and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies.

Early life

Born in Pasadena, California, but raised in Whittier, California, Ranft spent much of his youth practicing magic tricks and playing the accordion. At 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. After two years, Ranft's student film Good Humor caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job.

Career

During his first five years with Disney, Ranft worked on a number of television projects that never got made. Later in his Disney career, he was bumped up into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later said of training under the Disney legend: “He always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know it like, animation is so complex; 'How many drawings are in there?’ and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; ‘What does the audience perceive?’” [1] Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings. He stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, doing story work on animated features including The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

Ranft reunited with John Lasseter, whom he had previously met at California Institute of the Arts during the late 70's, when he joined Pixar in 1992. He worked on story development for all of Pixar's feature film releases, most recently as Head of Story on Cars.

In the movie Monsters Inc., Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the Scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff.

In the DVD of Cars Ranft can be seen in an interview about the movie.

He voiced the following Pixar characters:

He was also given lead story credit on 1987's The Brave Little Toaster and voiced Elmo Saintpeters, the appliance salesman.

His favorite writers were Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe.

Death

On August 16, 2005 Ranft was killed when his car crashed through a guard rail on Highway 1 and plunged into the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County, California.[2] He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Susan, and their children, Jordan and Sophia. Ranft died during production of Cars, which he co-directed. The film is dedicated to his memory, as is Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, which Ranft executive produced. He is remembered by Henry Selick as "the story giant of our generation."[3]

In Henry Selick's Coraline, the moving truck that moves Coraline into her new apartment is emblazoned with the logo for "Ranft Moving, Inc.", named in honor of the late animator. The movers themselves are modeled after Joe and Jerome, and Jerome Ranft voices one of the movers.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Eric Larson, Disney Family Album: Part Three".
  2. ^ Scott Weinberg (2005-08-19). "Pixar's Joe Ranft Falls to a Tragic Death". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Pixar's Ranft dies in crash by Sheigh Crabtree".
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