From the January 2010 Peg-Board
JOHN FREEMAN died on January 1, 2010 at the age of ninety-three.
John Freeman earned a credit on Lady and the Tramp for Character Animation and received a Golden Award in 1992 from the Animation Guild.
He began his animation career at Walt Disney Productions when he was 22 years old. He had been honing his skills as a cartoonist since his early teens. He was hired within twenty minutes.
He started out as an inbetweener on Fantasia and after a brief stint in the army he returned to the Disney studio where he worked for sixteen years, animating on features such as Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and animated several Disney “shorts”. He also innovated the amphitheater-style of seating while teaching life drawing at Disney wherein the artist could view and sketch the model from various vantage points.
He went on to work at TV Spots in San Francisco in 1956. His animation, direction and/or writing ability shone in several notable TV Specials, such as: It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Suess on the Loose (Green Eggs and Ham) and The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas. While at the Disney studio, he worked with Bing Crosby, and Orson Welles on production at Marvel Studios. He animated on Katy the Caterpillar at the Moro Creativos Asociados Studio in Madrid and was hired to direct animation at the Toei Studio location in Oizumi Gakuen.
Numerous other projects include Transformers, G-I Joe, The Flintstones and several Afternoon School Specials, as well as his production of several educationals for PBS. Other studios where he lent his talents: Cascade Pictures, Hanna Barbera, Warner Bros., Ruby and Spears, Ed Graham, Pantomime and De Patie Freleng.