Happy 110th Birthday To Disney Legend Ruthie Tompson
Here at MickeyBlog we want to extend a huge “Happy Birthday!” to Disney Legend and animation pioneer Ruthie Tompson who turned an incredible 110 years old today! In a piece that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter to mark this momentous occasion, Ruthie said, “I don’t know why I am still here, but I know that I don’t want to be revered for how old I am, I want to be known for who I am.”
Ruthie was a longtime Disney animation supervisor and now holds the distinction of being the oldest resident at the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s Country House and Hospital. Her big celebration was a bit stifled by COVID-19 quarantine but when asked what she would do when its over,Tompson said that she “can’t wait to watch my Dodgers and eat a Dodger dog.”
In the meantime, Ruthie is celebrating by attempting to raise $110,000 in support of a post production suite at the Woodland Hills campus in-house television and video facility. This is where her and other retirees have spent time continuing to make art.
This hasn’t been the first pandemic that Tompson has lived through, born in Portland, Maine in 1910, Tompson lived through the Spanish Flu. Though she remembers very little about that devastating outbreak she can recall wearing a mask dur
ing the celebrations to mark the end of the first World War.
Tompson moved with along with her family to Los Angeles when she was 8. She lived just down the street from Walt and Roy Disney, who were just beginning their animation studio out of their uncle’s garage. According to the piece in The Hollywood Reporter, Tompson recalls sitting on an apple box beside the Disney Brothers until she was called home for dinner. Keeping that connection with Disney, she became a pioneer in her field when she was brought in to work in the Ink & Paint department of the company.
Tompson would spend nearly four decades with the company. One of her jobs was to review the animation cels before they were filmed for some of Disney’s most famous projects including Fantasia, Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty and Mary Poppins.
When asked about the secret to her long life Tompson said, “I don’t know why I am still here, but I know that I don’t want to be revered for how old I am, I want to be known for who I am.” And what big takeaways does she have from her 11 decades on the planet? She advises. “Have fun. Try to do as much as you can for yourself. Remember all the good things in life.”
When the lockdown ends, Ruthie hopes to once again be able to pay a visit to the Disney studio in Burbank and the chance to once again see family, friends and staff again on campus. To mark the occasion, MPTF staff decorated the hallway near Tompson’s residence for her birthday with Disney and Dodgers memorabilia.
Ruthie Tompson was inducted as one of the Disney Legends in 2000, commemorated with her handprints in front of the Disney Animation building.
Donations can be made toward her MPTF goal by clicking here.
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