Disney imagineer and animator Rolly Crump was born on February 27, 1930 in Alhambra, California. Inspired at the young age of three by the Disney Silly Symphony short, Three Little Pigs, Crump began drawing in 1933.
He started working with Disney in 1952, doing “inbetweening” or “tweening” to provide the illusion of smooth movements between film frames. Soon after, he became a contributing animator to major Disney animations including Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
In 1959 he started working with WED Enterprises, later to become Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development (or Imagineering), given the opportunity to let his creativity flourish while working as key designer on popular park attractions including “The Haunted Mansion,” “Enchanted Tiki Room,” and “It’s a Small World.”
Former Imagineer Tom Morris commented on the artistic freedom of the artists at Disney at the time, saying “The thing that should be noted is Walt allowed all of these people to show their own style, it wasn’t a big corporate guidebook or style guide. Walt allowed there to be a Marc Davis style, a Claude Coats style, a Mary Blair style and Rolly — Rolly is definitely one of the Disneyland styles. There were just these different styles that co-existed and that makes it more fun.”
Crump was honored as a Disney Legend in 2004.
