Full Name:

Floyd Ernest Norman

Occupation / Title:

,

Date of birth:

22/06/1935

Birthplace:

California, USA

Biography


Floyd Norman is an American animation legend responsible for directing a number of feature animated films for Walt Disney Studios, including Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmations (1961), and The Jungle Book (1967). Having worked for the Hanna-Barbera studio in addition, he worked on popular animated series such as The Flintstones, Garfield and Scooby-Doo. 

Career outline


By the late 1950’s, Norman had started working for the Walt Disney Studios as animator, amassing credits on films such as The Sword in the Stone (1963) and contributing to the animated sequences of Mary Poppins (1964). Later on at Disney, Norman started submitting story gags, and storyboarded for the classic “Kaa” sequence in The Jungle Book.  

In 1966, following the death of Walt Disney, Norman left briefly to found his own animation studio with business partner Leo Sullivan. Together, they produced the original Hey! Hey! Hey! It’s Fat Albert television special for NBC in 1969. 

Later on in his career, in the 70’s, Norman returned to Disney to animate Robin Hood (1973), storyboarding the feature. His own personal work continued to be active, as Floyd Norman Productions produced numerous educational films and television commercials. Norman also worked for Vignette Films, Inc., one of the first animation studios to produce cartoons to educate and address the history of African-Americans. In the 70’s, Norman also worked on animations for Sesame Street, and Villa Alegre. 

Freelancing for other studios on top of it all, Norman became experienced and knowledged as a layout and character designer, supervising animator, and story director for the Hanna-Barbera Productions, and worked on cartoons regularly syndicated in the Saturday morning rounds such as Godzilla, The New Fred and Barney Show, The Smurfs, and specials featuring The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. 

In the 80’s, Norman finally served in the comic strip department at Disney, working as the last script writer for the iconic Mickey Mouse cartoons before it was finally discontinued in 1994. During this time, Norman also wrote for the Garfield and Friends series, The Real Ghostbusters (1986-88), Beverly Hill Teens (1987-88), and continuing on into the 90’s for an eccentric Cartoon Network cartoon: Cow and Chicken (1997). 

Most recently, Norman has worked for Disney Features where he worked to storyboard many acclaimed animated films, such as Mulan (1998), Dinosaur (2000), The Tigger Movie (2000), and for Pixar studios as a storywriter on massively popular features such as Toy Story 2 (1999) and Monsters Inc. (2001). 

Though retired now, Norman still finds himself in demand in his line of business, working as a consultant on popular films like Curious George (2006) and Toy Story 3. 

Honors and awards


Norman was given alongside his business partner Leo Sullivan the Oakland, California’s Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and received his Lifetime Achievement Award from ASIFA (International Animated Film Society) in 2002.

References:


  • Lenburg, Jeff. Who’s Who in Animated Cartoons . New York : Applause Theatre & Cinema Books , 2006 . Print.




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