Joe Grant

Joe Grant was an American Disney artist and writer, and is a Disney Legend.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Grant was born in New York City and began working for the Disney Studios in 1933 beginning with the Mickey Mouse short Mickey's Gala Premiere. He also created the Witch for Walt's first film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs released in 1937 and also helped co-write Dumbo released in 1941 and also led development for Pinocchio and Fantasia both released in 1940. During World War II he worked on the Academy Award winning cartoon Der Fuehrer's Face but left Disney Studios in 1949 to start his own greeting card business. Grant returned to Disney in 1989 and worked on Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995), Mulan (1998), and Fantasia 2000 (2000). He also worked on Pixar's Monsters, Inc.

Sadly, on May 6, 2005, while working at his studio on the animated short Lorenzo, Joe Grant died of a heart attack at the age of 96 just 9 days short of his 97th Birthday.^[4] Chicken Little (2005) which was released a year after his death and the last Disney film he worked on was dedicated to him. It was said on the Disney DVD of Lady and the Tramp that Grant owned a dog named Lady who the main character of the movie was based on.

A book about both Joe Grant and the late Joe Ranft, who died in a car accident on August 16, 2005 (just 3 months after Joe Grant's passing) entitled Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Storytellers (ISBN 9781423110675) by Animation Historian John Canemaker was published on August 3rd, 2010.^[5]

Grant was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1992.^[6]

Films

Year	Film	Position
1932	Parade of the Award Nominees	Celebrity Caricatures
1933	Mickey's Gala Premier	Celebrity Caricatures
1937	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	Character Design
1940	Pinocchio	Character Design
1940	Fantasia	Story Director
1941	Dumbo	Story
1942	Saludos Amigos	Story
1946	Make Mine Music	Production Supervision
1991	Beauty and the Beast	Visual Development
1994	The Lion King	Character Design/Visual Development
1995	Pocahontas	Character Design/Visual Development
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Character Design/Visual Development
1997	Hercules	Character Design/Visual Development
1998	Mulan	Story
1999	Tarzan	Character Design/Visual Development
1999	Fantasia 2000	Original Concept ("Carnival of the Animals")
2001	Monsters, Inc.	Very special thanks
2002	Lilo & Stitch	Story consultant (Uncredited)
2005	Lorenzo	Original Concept/Story Artist
2005	Chicken Little	This film is dedicated to him
2009	Up	This film is also dedicated to him.