Thursday, June 23, 2016

Animation Guild Golden Award Interview #29 -- George Nicholas

Another of the Guild's Golden Awards interviews from the mid 1980s, this one with veteran animator George "Nick" Nicholas, (who's not to be confused with his one-time Disney mentor Charles "Nick" Nichols, a different artist entirely.)



George Nicholas's career started at Walter Lantz's shop but soon landed him at Disney. ...

And I was struck by similarities between George N.'s and Don Lusk's early and middle careers:

Like Don, George was a pre-war Mouse House animator. Also like Don, George hit the bricks in front of the Burbank studio during the Disney strike of 1941. He and Don were laid off from Walt Disney Productions around the same time, George at the end of Sleeping Beauty, Don toward the end of 101 Dalmations.

Don Lusk told me during the linked interview above that he ended up on Walt's "Employees I Want Gone" list because of his strike activity. And it set me wondering if George Nicholas ended up on the same roster on which Mr. Lusk found himself. At this remove, I doubt that we'll ever know for certain, but it's something to ponder.

Rega4rdless, Mr. Nicholas went on to a long and prosperous career at other animation studios. He passed away a couple of years after retiring, age 81.

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