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Joe RanftAmerican animator, storyboard artist, voice actor and magician
Date of Birth: 13.03.1960
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Joe Ranft
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American animator, storyboard artist, voice actor, and magician. He worked at the animation studios Pixar and Disney, and his brother, Jerome Ranft, was also a sculptor who worked on several Pixar projects. Joe Ranft was born on March 13, 1960, in Pasadena, California, USA. He grew up in Whittier and from a young age was fascinated by magic tricks, storytelling, movies, and comedies.
Early Life and Career
At the age of 15, Ranft became a member of the "Magic Castle Junior Group," which was considered the most unique private club in the world for magic enthusiasts. After graduating from Monte Vista High School in 1978, Joe, along with John Lasseter and Brad Bird, began their education in the California Institute of the Arts' character animation program. Two years later, his student film "Good Humor" caught the attention of Disney animators, and he was soon offered a job by them.
From 1980, Joe worked as a character writer and storyboard artist at Disney. In his first five years, he worked on projects he had never before been involved in. With the guidance of Disney legend Eric Larson, Ranft gained valuable experience and later said, "He always reminded me of the truly fundamental things that I usually forgot...". Alongside his Disney career, Joe began performing with the improvisational group "The Groundlings."
In the 1980s, Ranft contributed as a character writer to animated films such as "Oliver & Company," "The Lion King," and "Beauty and the Beast." He also worked on the films "The Brave Little Toaster" (1987) and "James and the Giant Peach" (1996). Ranft reunited with John Lasseter in 1991 at Pixar and worked on all projects until 2006, including the Academy Award-nominated film "Toy Story" and the animated film "A Bug's Life." His final contribution to the world of animation was the popular film "Cars," for which he served as director and writer alongside Lasseter.
Voice Acting and Personal Life
Joe Ranft lent his voice to numerous characters, including Heimlich the caterpillar in "A Bug's Life," Wheezy the Penguin in "Toy Story 2" (although the songs for Wheezy were performed by Robert Goulet), and Jacques the shrimp in "Finding Nemo." He also provided the voice for a monster named J.J. Ranft in the Pixar animation "Monsters, Inc." Since most of the monsters in the film were named after Pixar employees, this was a tribute to him.
Joe's favorite writers were Kurt Vonnegut, the author of "Slaughterhouse-Five"; Hunter S. Thompson, the founder of gonzo journalism; and Tom Wolfe. His favorite magicians included John Carney, Daryl, Michael Ammar, Ricky Jay, and Jimmy Grippo.
On August 16, 2005, Joe Ranft tragically died in a car accident. He was a passenger in a Honda Element when the driver, Elegba Earl, lost control of the vehicle, causing it to crash into a guardrail and plunge nearly 40 meters into the mouth of the Navarro River in California. Both Earl and Ranft perished in the accident, while another passenger, Eric Frierson, survived with moderate injuries. At the time of his death, Joe was working on the film "Cars" as one of its directors. This project, along with Tim Burton's unique animated film "Corpse Bride," for which Joe served as a producer, were dedicated to his memory. Additionally, Henry Selick decorated a truck in his first stop-motion 3D film "Coraline" with the logo "Ranft Moving, Inc." as a tribute to the late animator.
Joe Ranft left behind a wife with whom he had spent ten years and two children named Jordan and Sofia.
