Charles Augustus Nichols (“Nick”)

Filed under: People, Animation Supervisor, Animator, Director, U.S.A., Walt Disney Studios,

Full Name:

Charles Augustus Nichols

Occupation / Title:

Animation Supervisor, Animator, Director

Date of birth:

15/09/1910

Date of death:

24/08/1992

Birthplace:

Milford, Utah

Biography

“Nick” Nichols was an Academy Award winning animator and director who first came into prominence working for Disney Studios, hired on December 31st, in 1937. In years to come he would work on features such as Pinocchio (1940), and Alice In Wonderland (1951), as well as several Donald Duck cartoons.

Career outline

In 1944, he was appointed the director of the Disney Pluto series, acting in this role until 1951. In the 50’s, Nichols continued working as a director, working on Oscar-nominated features and short cartoons such as Walt Disney Specials, and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953), the first ever recorded cartoon in CinemaScope in which a professor owl teaches his students on the origins of music in the four basic types of Western musical instruments. His last project with Disney was the Donald Duck feature How to Have An Accident at Work (1959).

After working at Disney for more than 24 years, Nichols left the studio in 1962 and went to work for the Hanna-Barbera Productions Studio founded by William Hanna and Joseph Barberra. It was there that Nichols made his real mark in animation supervision, overseeing a team of animators in the production of series such as Loopy de Loop from 1959 to 1965, and The Jetsons and The Flintstones, as well as supervising many feature animations, including Charlotte’s Web (1973). Nichols also worked in the 70’s on many classic Saturday-morning cartoons, among them Scooby-Doo Where Are You? (1969-71), The Harlem Globetrotters (1970-1973), finishing his career again as a director for Ruby-Spears Productions, and later again for Disney.

References:

Lenburg, Jeff. Who’s Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television’s Award-Winning and Legendary Animators. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2006. Print.