Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American animator, storyboard artist, director, comedian, voice actor, and magician, who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft is a sculptor, who also worked on several Pixar movies, and is also a voice actor.

Early life

Born in Pasadena, California and 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. Finishing high school in fall 1978, Joe Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. After two years, Joe Ranft's student film, Good Humor caught the attention of Disney animation executives who offered him a job.

Career

His first five years at Disney, Joe Ranft worked on a number of television projects that never got made. Furthering into his Disney career, he was bumped up into the Feature Animation department, where he received training from Eric Larson. Joe Ranft remembers his training under the Disney Legend as, "[Eric] 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; ā€˜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 Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.

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

Death

On August 16, 2005, Ranft and his friend Eric Frierson were passengers in Ranft's 2004 Honda Element, which was being driven by another friend, Elegba Earl. Earl suddenly lost control and crashed through the guard rail while northbound on Highway 1. The car plunged 130 feet into the mouth of the Navarro River in Mendocino County, California. Both Ranft and Earl were killed instantly. Frierson survived by escaping through the sun roof, though he received moderate injuries. Ranft was 45 years old at that time. He was survived by his wife, Sue Barry-Ranft and their two children, Jordy and Sophia, and his brother, Jerome. His last two films: Cars and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride were both dedicated to his memory.

Filmography

Disney/Pixar Roles

Gallery

Trivia

  • Joe's son, Jordy Ranft voices one of the ant boys in A Bug's Life and Tad the butterfly fish in Finding Nemo.
  • Joe's daughter, Sophia voices the character of Baby Smitty in Monsters, Inc.
  • Joe's portrait can be seen engraved on a small carved box in the Witch's Cottage in the 2012 Pixar film, Brave as a tribute to him.
  • According to various Pixar employees, character of Jangles the Clown from Inside Out is used as a tribute to Joe Ranft, who occasionally dressed up as a clown named "Buttocks".
  • In Onward, the Lightfoot House's home address, 313, is a reference to Joe Ranft's birthday, March 13, 1960. This address was used as a tribute to him.
  • Joe's name can be seen on a wall of mentor nametags in Soul.

References


External links


v - e - d
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1920’s—1970’s
Disney's Nine Old Men: Milt Kahl • Frank Thomas • Ollie Johnston • Les Clark • John Lounsbery • Marc Davis • Ward Kimball • Eric Larson • Wolfgang Reitherman

Animators: Bill Tytla • Art Babbitt • Preston Blair • Fred Moore • Shamus Culhane • Cy Young • Don Lusk • Norman Ferguson • Hal King • Jack Hannah • Jack Kinney • Hal Ambro • Ken O'Brien • Judge Whitaker • Bill Justice • Don Bluth • Gary Goldman • Charles A. Nichols • Blaine Gibson • John Kennedy • John Ewing • Walt Stanchfield • Fred Hellmich • Andy Paliwoda • Wilfred Jackson • Xavier Atencio
Visual Development, Layout, Background Artists and Character Designers: Gustaf Tenggren • Mary Blair • Joe Grant • Mel Shaw • Claude Coats • Don DaGradi • John Hench • Eyvind Earle • Ken O'Connor • Thor Putnam • Albert Hurter • John Hubley
Storyboard Artists and Writers: Bill Peet • Ralph Wright • Dick Huemer • Floyd Norman • Yale Gracey
Directors: Clyde Geronimi • Hamilton Luske • Jack Kinney • Ted Berman • Richard Rich • Leo Matsuda • Nathan Greno • George Scribner
Producers: Walt Disney • Ron Miller • Ken Anderson

1980’s—Present
Renaissance Directors: Rob Minkoff • Roger Allers • Gary Trousdale • Kirk Wise • Chris Sanders • Mark Dindal • John Musker

Story Trust Directors: Ron Clements • Chris Buck • Byron Howard • Don Hall • Chris Williams • Rich Moore • Stephen J. Anderson
Producers: Peter Del Vecho • Clark Spencer • Roy Conli • Dorothy McKim • Don Hahn
Chief Creative Officer: Jennifer Lee
Associated Figures: Bob Iger • Roy Edward Disney • Michael Eisner • John Lasseter • Ed Catmull • Jeffrey Katzenberg • Bob Chapek
Signature Voice Actors: Jim Cummings • Alan Tudyk • Katie Lowes • John DiMaggio • Maurice LaMarche • Jodi Benson • David Ogden Stiers • Jesse Corti • Paul Briggs • Raymond S. Persi • Phil Johnston • Frank Welker • Bill Farmer • Brian Cummings
Signature Musicians: Sherman Brothers • Robert B. Sherman • Richard Sherman • Alan Menken • Kristen Anderson-Lopez • Robert Lopez • Lin-Manuel Miranda • Howard Ashman • Tim Rice • Stephen Schwartz • Marc Shaiman
Supervising Animators: Glen Keane • Andreas Deja • Alex Kupershmidt • Eric Goldberg • Mark Henn • John Pomeroy • T. Daniel Hofstedt • Tony Bancroft • Tom Bancroft • Tony Fucile • Russ Edmonds • Duncan Marjoribanks • Ruben Aquino • Nik Ranieri • Ron Husband • Rick Farmiloe • Tom Sito • Tony Anselmo
Visual Development & Storyboard Artists: Dean DeBlois • Lisa Keene • Claire Keane • Brittney Lee • Jin Kim • Shiyoon Kim • Cory Loftis


v - e - d
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In The Past
Glenn McQueen • Daniel Gerson • John Kahrs • Joe Ranft • Justin Wright • Dan Lee • Lee Unkrich
Brain Trust Directors
Andrew Stanton • Brad Bird
Directors
Angus MacLane • Peter Sohn • Sanjay Patel • Dan Scanlon • Ronnie del Carmen • Mark Andrews • Brenda Chapman • Steve Purcell • Brian Fee
Producers
Jonas Rivera • Darla K. Anderson • Kori Rae • Katherine Sarafian
Chief Creative Officer
Pete Docter
Associated Figures
Bob Iger • John Lasseter • Ed Catmull • Steve Jobs • George Lucas • Bob Chapek
Signature Voice Actors
John Ratzenberger • Bob Peterson • Josh Cooley • Jerome Ranft • Frank Welker • Bill Farmer • Jeff Pidgeon
Signature Musicians
Randy Newman • Michael Giacchino • Thomas Newman • Chris Stapleton • Trent Reznor • Atticus Ross
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