Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American animator, storyboard artist, director, comedian, voice actor, and magician, who worked for Disney and Pixar. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies, and is also a voice actor.
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; '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 '70s, 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 SUV tumbled down a cliff, and 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 sunroof, 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 released posthumously and dedicated to him.
Joe Ranft with his wife, Sue Barry, at the premiere of The Incredibles in October 2004.
Ranft with late legendary Disney storyman Joe Grant.
Joe Ranft talks to John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter about the legacy of Toy Story at Pixar in February 2005, just a few months before the car accident.
Trivia
Cars was the last film that Ranft worked on, and it was very dedicated to him.
His very last speaking role was Jerry Recycled Batteries, as Red only cried. Ranft managed to finish recording his lines for his characters when Cars was still in near-finished production in 2005 prior to it's release date a year after his death.
Although Joe died during production on Cars, he did come up with the idea for WALL–E with John Lasseter, Pete Doctor and Andrew Stanton in 1994 and he was somewhat involved with the film's early production.
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.
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