Glen Keane is perhaps the most famous traditional (2D) lead animator in recent history. He is currently employed at Walt Disney Studios and is the son of Bil Keane, an illustrator best known for the daily comic strip The Family Circus.

Glen graduated from CalArts in 1974 and joined Disney the same year. His debut work was featured in Pete's Dragon and The Rescuers, and he animated the climatic bear showdown in The Fox and the Hound. In 1982, after being inspired by the groundbreaking film Tron, he worked with director John Lasseter (Toy Story, Toy Story 2) on Where the Wild Things Are, a 30 second short integrating traditional character animation on a computer generated background.

After animating several supporting characters, including Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective and both Fagin and Georgette in Oliver & Company, he rose to lead character animator. In this post he was responsible for Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Beast (Beauty and the Beast), the title characters in Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan, and most recently Long John Silver in Treasure Planet.

Currently, Glen Keane is returning to his foray into the computer generated world as the director of Disney's upcoming CG film, Rapunzel Unbraided, expected to hit theaters in 2007.

External links

• Glen Keane http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443855/ at the Internet Movie Database