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Ward Kimball

Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914July 8, 2002) was an Academy Award winning animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.

Kimball was credited with the character of Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio, among many others. The character, which acted as the voice of conscience to the main character, Pinocchio, was said to resemble Kimball in both appearance and mannerisms.

He was also a jazz trombonist. He founded and led the seven piece Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two , in which he played trombone. They made several records and toured college campuses and jazz festivals during the 1950s.

Along with his employer and friend Walt Disney, Kimball also collected old railroad ephemera, was an avid train enthusiast and was a founding member of the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California. A full-sized steam locomotive which Kimball actually ran on his private, backyard railroad and which bears some of his original artwork, is displayed there. He is credited with helping to inspire Disney to install a railroad at Disneyland during its construction.

Kimball died in Los Angeles, California at the age of 88.

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Last updated: 02-10-2005 15:30:30
Last updated: 02-22-2005 16:15:51