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Walt Peregoy, the legendary artist who was the color stylist of Disney's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" and headed up Hanna-Barbera's background department for a time during the late-Sixties, has passed away at the age 89.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 99th birthday party of animator Willis Pyle. Pyle has had a cartoon career for the ages. On Pinocchio, he cleaned up Milt Kahl’s scene of Jiminy Cricket getting dressed while running to work. He was a key animator during the early days of UPA and animated on the studio’s first theatrical short for Columbia, Robin Hoodlum, as well as the first Mister Magoo short Ragtime Bear. In the classic UPA film Gerald McBoing Boing, Pyle animated the climactic scene of Gerald performing sound effects at the radio station.

I’m incredibly grateful that we still have living links to the Golden Age of animation like Willy, and attending his party made me wonder who else is still around. The list below is every animation industry veteran I can think of who is 85 years or older. I’m sure there are plenty of others too, and I invite you to help fill out the list. The growth and development of our art form owes much to these men and women.

• Bob Balser – 86 years old

Rudy Cataldi – 86 years old

Sam Clayberger – 87 years old

Stan Freberg – 87 years old

Ken Mundie – 87 years old (?)

Walt Peregoy – 88 years old (?)

Ray Favata – 89 years old

Gene Deitch – 89 years old

Charles Csuri – 91 years old

David Weidman – 92 years old (?)

X. Atencio (pictured right) – 94 years old

Martha Sigall – 95 years old (?)

June Foray – 95 years old

Bob Givens – 95 years old

Stan Spohn – 98 years old

Willis Pyle – 99 years old

Tyrus Wong – 102 years old

When you invite Disney animation legend Walt Peregoy (Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Sword in the Stone) to visit, you never know what you’ll hear, but rest assured that there’ll be plenty of salty language, politically incorrect views, and uncomfortable laughter from the audience. Here’s a recently unearthed video of the 87-year-old Peregoy visiting Walt Disney Animation Studios last year for an in-house exhibit of his artwork.

Peregoy, who gives new meaning to ‘extemporaneous’ speaking, offered some interesting thoughts to his colleagues:

On Walt Disney:

Walt Disney was a shit…We made Walt. Walt didn’t make Walt. Walt was an asshole.

On contemporary animation:

There’s nothing on TV or on the screen that’s worth a shit. If I’m insulting some of you, I don’t give a shit, because it’s all shit.

On classic hand-drawn animation:

That was real animation. And even with all the technology, it still isn’t that good, is it?

On layout artist Ernie Nordli:

Great artist. Very humble. So humble he committed suicide.

On his role at Disney:

I take credit. Boy, if it wasn’t for me, Disney’s and all those features wouldn’t amount to a pile of shit.

On asserting yourself as an artist:

Producers want to be the one, and the art directors want to be the one. If any of you here are artists, assert yourself. I mean it…assert yourself. So tell those bastards to get off the pot…Each and every one of you have talent that you don’t even admit to, but take it in your own hands and run with it…Because who you are—your talent—is the most important thing in this world.

For all his antagonism, Peregoy is an amazing artist who has always given one hundred percent. Not only did he shine when he worked on A-list productions like Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, he also created sublime work while toiling on Hanna-Barbera trash like Scooby Doo and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

(Walt Peregoy photo copyright Julie Svendsen)

Animation legend Walt Peregoy (background painter on Sleeping Beauty and Paul Bunyan, color stylist of 101 Dalmatians, and background stylist on Scooby Doo, Where Are You!), who gained some notoriety earlier this year with this unfiltered interview, is having a show of his fine art this Friday, August 5. The reception for “The Little Man in My Head” will take place between 7 and 10pm at the Gallery 839 at the Animation Guild (1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505).

Walt has been a prolific painter for his entire lifetime and it’s nice to see him finally receiving some recognition for it. If you’re in LA on Friday, this is a great opportunity to meet a genuine animation legend. There aren’t many of them still with us nowadays.

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“Railroad Non-Objective” (detail) by Walt Peregoy

Opening next month is “Animators as Artists,” an exhibit at the Nan Rae Gallery at Woodbury University (7500 Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, CA). The exhibit features personal work by eight animation artists—Rasoul Azadani, Mike Gabriel, Sunny Apinchapong-Yang, George Scribner, Margie Daniels, Mauro Maressa, Walt Peregoy, and Dan Hansen.

The reception is Wednesday, November 3, from 6-8:30pm. Make sure to attend, if only to kick it with the legendary Walt Peregoy who was responsible for color styling 101 Dalmatians. The exhibit runs through November 27. Regular gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday from 12-5pm.

(Thanks, Julie Svendsen)