BIOGRAPHY

Tompson was born in Portland, Maine, USA, on 22 July 1910, as one of two daughters born to parents Ward Tompson and Athene Sterling. She spent her early childhood in Boston, Massachusetts. In November 1918, when she was eight, her family moved to Oakland, California. In 1924, after her parents divorced and her mother remarried John Roberts, a plein-air painter, Ruthie and her sister moved with their mother and stepfather to Los Angeles, where her mother worked as an extra in Hollywood movies. The family lived down the street from Robert Disney, an uncle of Walt and Roy Disney. In 1923, the Disney brothers founded their first film studio nearby, which happened to be on her route to school. Walking past it each day, she would peer through a window, captivated by the animation work unfolding inside. One day, Walt Disney noticed her and invited her inside to watch. Fascinated by the animation work, she would return to the studio many times afterward. In the 1920s, the studio was shooting the Alice Comedies, a series of silent shorts combining animation and live action. They sometimes enlisted neighborhood children as extras, including Ruthie, who appeared in several pictures and received 25 cents for each.

After graduating from Hollywood High School, at the age of 18, she started working at Dubrock’s Riding Academy, where Roy and Walt Disney often played polo. Walt Disney recognized her and asked her to work with him. She told him she couldn’t draw, but he assured her that the studio would send her to night school to learn the basics of inking and painting. She agreed and attended night school, eventually joining the studio in time to work on “Snow White.” Her duties involved cleaning dirt and dust from the finished cels. She was later promoted to final checker for the company, where she reviewed animation cels before they were photographed onto film.

In 1948, she was promoted to the dual role of animation checker and scene planner. In 1952, she became one of the first three women admitted into the International Photographers Union, Local 659 of the IATSE.

RECOGNITION

Her age was validated by LongeviQuest on 7 August 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “102-Year-Old Hollywood Vet: Walt Disney Hired Me After I Snooped on His Studio” – The Hollywood Reporter, 23 April 2015

* “Ruthie Tompson, Disney Animation Pioneer, Turns 110 in Quarantine” – The Hollywood Reporter, 22 July 2020

* “Ruthie Tompson Dies at 111; Breathed Animated Life Into Disney Films” – New York Times, 12 October 2021

GALLERY