Joshua Lawrence "Josh" Meador (March 12, 1911 - August 24, 1965) was an American animator, effects animator, special effects artist, and animation director for the Walt Disney studios.

Biography

Meador was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. His family later moved to Columbus, Mississippi in 1918.[1] He later studied at the Chicago Art Institute. There, a fellow alumnus told Meador he was traveling to California to be interviewed at Walt Disney Productions, and suggested for him to come along. At first, Meador refused as he wanted to do commercial art, but he was coerced into interviewing at Disney.[2] There, he was hired to work in their animation effects department, where he worked on numerous films such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, for which the studio won an Academy Award. Meador also created the animation effects for the 1956 MGM science-fiction film Forbidden Planet,[3] most notably the "Monster from the Id" that attacks the spaceship. Privately, Meador described himself as "first and foremost a painter", in which he painted more than 2,000 canvases and impressionistic landscape and seascape paintings.[1]

In August 1965, Meador suffered a heart attack and died at his residence in Casper, California.[4] He is buried at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi,[1] which was also his hometown. There is a historical marker at his childhood home.[5]

Filmography

Year Title Credits Notes
1937Snow White and the Seven DwarfsAnimator
1940PinocchioAnimator
FantasiaAnimator - Segment "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" / Animation Supervisor - Segment "Rite of Spring" / Special Animation Effects - Segment "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria"
1941The Reluctant DragonSpecial EffectsCredited and Known as Joshua L. Meador
DumboAnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1942BambiAnimator
1943Saludos Amigos (Short)AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
Victory Through Air Power (Documentary)AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1945The Clock Watcher (Short)AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
The Three CaballerosSpecial Effects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
Donald's Crime (Short)Animator
Old Sequoia (Short)AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1946Make Mine MusicDirectorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
Song of the SouthEffects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1948Melody TimeEffects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
Soup's On (Short)Animator
1949So Dear to My HeartEffects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1950Pluto and the Gopher (Short)Effects Animator
CinderellaEffects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1951Alice in WonderlandEffects AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
Nature's Half Acre (Documentary short)Animation Effects
1952Water Birds (Documentary short)Animation EffectsCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1953Bear Country (Documentary short)Animation Effects
Peter PanEffects Animator
The Alaskan Eskimo (Documentary short)Animator
Prowlers of the Everglades (Documentary short)Animation EffectsCredited and Known as Josh Meador
The Living Desert (Documentary)Animation
1954The Vanishing Prairie (Documentary)Animation Effects
20,000 Leagues Under the SeaSpecial EffectsCredited and Known as Josh Meador
1955Davy Crockett, King of the Wild FrontierSpecial Art Work
The African Lion (Documentary)Animation Effects
Men Against the Arctic (Documentary short)Animation Effects
1956Forbidden PlanetSpecial Effects: Through Courtesy of Walt Disney Productions
Secrets of Life (Documentary)Animation Effects
1957PerriSpecial Effects
19584 Artists Paint 1 Tree: A Walt Disney 'Adventure in Art' (Documentary short)Himself - ArtistCredited and Known as Josh Meador
White Wilderness (Documentary)Animation Effects
1959Sleeping BeautyEffects Animator
Nature's Strangest Creatures (Short documentary)Animation Effects
Donald in Mathmagic Land (Short)Sequence Director
Darby O'Gill and the Little PeopleAnimation Effects
Mysteries of the Deep (Documentary short)Animation Effects
1960Islands of the Sea (Documentary short)Animation Effects
Jungle Cat (Documentary)Animation Effects
1961The Absent-Minded ProfessorSpecial Effects
Donald and the Wheel (Short)Effects Animator
Babes in ToylandAnimation Effects
1964The Restless Sea (TV Movie Documentary)Animator
1980Mickey Mouse Disco (Short)AnimatorCredited and Known as Josh Meador
2002Mickey's House of Villains (Video)Animator - Segment "Donald Duck and the Gorilla"Credited and Known as Josh Meador

References

  1. 1 2 3 Smith, Slim (June 21, 2017). "Childhood home of noted Disney animator, painter Joshua Meador is on the market". The Commercial Dispatch. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  2. Wilson, Sarah (October 18, 2009). "Son of Disney animator speaks on father's legacy". The Commercial Dispatch. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  3. Lev, Peter (2006). Transforming the Screen, 1950–1959. History of the American Cinema. Vol. 7. University of California Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-520-24966-6.
  4. "Noted Artist Dies At His Caspar Point Home". The Mendocino Beacon. August 27, 1965. p. 1. Retrieved December 23, 2020 via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. "Joshua Lawrence Meador - Columbus - MS - US". Historical Marker Project. Retrieved January 21, 2020.


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