Dale Baer obit

Animator Dale Baer has died at age 70

 He was not on the list.

Animator and studio owner Dale Baer died on Friday at age 70, according to online statements from colleagues.

Quiet and shy, Baer’s name may not be as familiar as other contemporary animation greats, but he was a highly respected animator’s animator and beloved by colleagues. “He was one of the kindest people I’ve worked with,” said animator and director Clay Kaytis. “So talented and so humble. A true one-of-a-kind and I’m grateful to have known him.” Over a fifty-year career in the industry, Baer contributed to dozens of beloved projects at Disney and elsewhere. Just to name a few of his credits at Disney: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lion King, The Emperor’s New Groove, The Princess and the Frog, and Zootopia.

Born in Denver, Colorado, on June 15, 1950, Baer attended Chouinard Art Institute (which later became Calarts) and started working at Filmation in 1970. He joined Disney in 1971, and was among the first handful of employees hired as part of the studio’s new training program. As an inbetweener, he worked on Robin Hood, and was later trained by Disney animators John Lounsbery, Hal King, and Eric Larson. Baer eventually moved into animation, working on other Disney features including The Rescuers and Pete’s Dragon before leaving Disney in the late 1970s.

Over the next two decades, he would animate for a who’s who of the animation industry, including Peanuts specials at Bill Melendez Productions, commercials at Richard Williams Animation and Quartet, The Smurfs at Hanna-Barbera, and The Lord of the Rings at Bakshi Productions. Throughout this time, Baer always freelanced for Disney, picking up work on projects like Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Black Cauldron, and The Great Mouse Detective.

Baer launched a studio in the mid-1980s with his wife at the time, Jane. Their breakout project was Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which the Baers ran a studio of 75 people and worked as the film’s Los Angeles animation unit. The Baer Animation Company would go on to provide animation for Disney’s The Prince and the Pauper and Beauty and the Beast, as well as non-Disney films like Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Last Action Hero, and Rover Dangerfield.

Baer returned to work at Disney full-time in 1998, contributing to both the studio’s hand-drawn and cg animated films. He was the supervising animator of Yzma on The Emperor’s New Groove, a role that he took after the original supervising animator Andreas Deja left the project. He was also the supervising animator of the villain Alameda Slim in Home on the Range, Wilbur in Meet the Robinsons, and Owl in the studio’s last hand-drawn feature, Winnie the Pooh (2011).

Baer additionally worked on Disney shorts including Feast, Get a Horse!, The Ballad of Nessie, and How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.

The most recent project he contributed to as an animator was Bob’s Burger: The Movie, which will be released later this year.

Fellow Disney animator Mike Peraza wrote of him: "We're heartbroken to share the passing of a very talented, dear friend and colleague of ours, Dale Baer. Dale was hands down one of the nicest and most talented souls I have had the pleasure of working with over the years."

The Disney Family Museum describes him:

“Dale Baer has been part of the animation industry for 47 years. He attended Chouinard Art Institute, now CalArts, began his career at Filmation Studios working on Saturday morning cartoons, and then spent 23 years with Walt Disney Feature Animation. Baer headed up the Los Angeles unit on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; also worked outside of Disney for Ralph Bakshi, Richard Williams, Quartet Films, and Hanna-Barbera. He owned Baer Animation in Studio City, California for 12 years, where they animated commercials for agencies such as Leo Burnett and Ogilvy-Mather, in addition to projects for The Walt Disney Studios, including such as Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Prince and the Pauper. Baer retired from Disney in 2015, but is busier than ever doing freelance projects for Warner Bros. and Duncan Studios, teaching traditional animation at CalArts, and mentoring young animators through the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ "Spark" program.”

Baer was honored with the Winsor McCay Award in 2016.

He is survived by his wife, Teddy, as well as two daughters, Nicole and Clarisse.

Partial Filmography

Year       Title       Credits Characters

1972      Journey Back to Oz          Layout Artist     

1973      Robin Hood        Character Animator        

1974      Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (Short) Animator            

1977      The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh            Animator            

The Rescuers     Character Animator         Bernard and Miss Bianca

1978      The Lord of the Rings      Layout Artist / Key Animator      

1985      The Black Cauldron          Animator            

1988      Who Framed Roger Rabbit           Animation Director         

1990      The Prince and the Pauper           Animation Director         

1993      Last Action Hero               Animation Designer/Animator (uncredited)        

1994      The Lion King     Animator             Adult Simba

1998      Quest for Camelot           Animator: United States               

1999      Tarzan   Additional Animation     

2000      The Emperor's New Groove         Supervising Animator     Yzma

2002      Treasure Planet                 Animator             Doctor Doppler

2004      Home on the Range        Supervising Animator     Alameda Slim, Junior

2005      Chicken Little     Animator            

2007      Meet the Robinsons        Supervising Animator     Wilbur Robinson

2009      The Princess and the Frog             Animator             Ray, Frog Hunters

2011      Winnie the Pooh               Supervising Animator     Owl

2017      Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory   Character Layout and Animation