Joe Ranft
Birth nameJoseph Henry Ranft
Birth dateMarch 13, 1960
Birth placePasadena, California, U.S.
Death dateAugust 16, 2005 (aged 45)
Death placeMendocino County, California, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts
Occupation
  • Animator
  • writer
  • voice actor
Years active1980–2005
EmployerWalt Disney Feature Animation (1980–1999)
Pixar Animation Studios (1992–2005)
SpouseSue Barry (m. 1985)
RelativesJerome Ranft (brother)

Joseph Henry Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.

Ranft's first film was The Brave Little Toaster in 1987. He received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination as one of the writers of Toy Story (1995), and was also the co-director on Cars (2006), his final work before his death.

Early life

Joseph Henry Ranft[1] was born in Pasadena, California, on March 13, 1960,[1] and raised in Whittier. His parents were James and Melissa Ranft. As a child, Ranft developed a love for magic, storytelling, film and comedy. At age 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Brad Bird.[1] After two years, Ranft's student film Good Humor caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job.

Career

In 1980, Ranft joined Disney as a writer and storyboard artist. During his first five years with Disney, he worked on a number of television projects[1] that were never produced. Later in his Disney career, he was promoted into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later spoke about Larson's training: "He always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know, it's like, animation is so complex; 'How many drawings are in there?' and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; 'What does the audience perceive?'"[2]

Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings.[3] Ranft stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, writing the story on many animated features, including Oliver & Company, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He also worked on The Brave Little Toaster in 1987 for Hyperion Animation and James and the Giant Peach in 1996 for Allied Filmmakers.[1]

Ranft reunited with Lasseter after joining Pixar in October 1992 as their head of story.[4] There he worked on all of their films produced up to 2006; this included Toy Story (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay) and A Bug's Life, as the co-story writer and others as story supervisor. He also voiced characters in many of the films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, Wheezy the penguin in Toy Story 2, and Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo.[1]

In the film Monsters, Inc., Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff. Ranft was also given lead story credit on The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and voiced Elmo St. Peters, the appliance salesman. [citation needed]

His favorite writers were Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. His favorite magicians were John Carney, Daryl, Michael Ammar, Ricky Jay and Jimmy Grippo.[5]

Ranft was posthumously honored in 2006 as a Disney Legend and in 2016 with the Winsor McCay Award, the lifetime achievement award for animators.

Death

On August 16, 2005, Ranft, 45, and his friend Eric Frierson, 39, were passengers in Ranft's 2004 Honda Element, which was being driven by another friend, Elegba Earl, 32. Earl suddenly lost control and crashed through a guard rail while northbound on Highway 1 in Mendocino County, California. The SUV tumbled down a cliff and plunged 130 feet (40 m) into the mouth of Navarro River, killing Ranft and Earl instantly. Frierson was injured, but survived by escaping through the sunroof.[6][7] Cars and Corpse Bride, for which he was respectively a director and producer, were released posthumously and dedicated to him.[8] His remains were cremated.[9]

Legacy

Ranft has been recognized by colleagues and in various tributes in animated films released after his death. Henry Selick called him "the story giant of our generation."[7] In honor of Ranft, in Selick's animated film production Coraline, the moving SUV that moves Coraline into her new apartment is emblazoned with a "Ranft Moving, Inc." logo. The movers themselves are modeled after Ranft and his brother Jerome, who voiced one of the movers. Jerome took over most of Ranft's voice roles following his death. The 2010 Blu-Ray and DVD re-release of Toy Story 2 includes a special feature that focuses on Ranft and his accomplishments titled "Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft".[10] Ranft did early drawings for the character of Finn McMissile in an unused scene from the film Cars, and his drawings were later used in creating the character for Cars 2.[11] John Lasseter has cited Ranft as being one of the main inspirations for the character of Mater from the Cars films and described his influence as being "all over Cars 2".[12] In the film Inside Out, the character of Jangles the Clown is based on a character created by Ranft outside of Pixar named "Buttocks the Clown",[13] according to co-director Ronnie del Carmen and story artist Domee Shi.[14] The end credits of the Pixar film Coco showcase a digital ofrenda with pictures of many Pixar employees and their loved ones who had previously died, including Ranft.[15] Additionally, the 2020 film Soul includes his name on a wall of previous mentors to the character 22.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterStory
Supervisor		Story
Artist		AnimatorExecutive
Producer		OtherVoice roleNotes
1987The Brave Little ToasterElmo St. Peters / Clown[16]Animation Screen Story[17]
1988Who Framed Roger Rabbit[18]Animation: Storysketch
Oliver & Company[19]
1989The Little Mermaid[19]Storyboards
1990The Rescuers Down UnderScreenplay [19]
1991Beauty and the Beast[19]
1993The Nightmare Before ChristmasIgor[20][19]
1994The Lion King[21]
1995Toy StoryLenny[21]
1996James and the Giant Peach[17]
1998A Bug's LifeHeimlich[16][21]
1999Toy Story 2Wheezy / Heimlich[16]Additional story material[21]
Fantasia 2000[17]Additional story artist
2000Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure BeginsWheezy[16]Direct-to-video
2001MonkeyboneStreetsquashed Rabbit[22]
Monsters, Inc.Pete "Claws" WardAdditional story material[21]
2003Finding NemoJacques[16]
2004The IncrediblesAdditional Voices
2005Corpse Bride[17]Films dedicated in Ranft's memory
2006Cars[23]Red, Peterbilt[16]

Short films and TV specials

YearTitleWriterPuppeteerOtherNotes
1982Fun with Mr. Future
1983Hansel and GretelTV special
1987Sport Goofy in Soccermania
2006Mater and the Ghostlight[24]End credits designer

Documentaries

YearTitleRoleNotes
2007The Pixar StoryHimselfFilm dedicated in memory
2009Waking Sleeping Beautycaricaturist

Video games

YearTitleVoice role
1996Toy Story Animated StorybookLenny
1998A Bug's Life: The Video GameHeimlich[16]
2002Monsters, Inc. Scream ArenaPete "Claws" Ward
2003Finding Nemo: The Video Game[19]Jacques
Disney's Extreme Skate AdventureWheezy
2007Cars Mater-National ChampionshipRed (credit only)

Theme parks

YearTitleRoleNotes
2002–2018Heimlich's Chew Chew TrainHeimlich
2018–presentHeimlich's Candy Corn TossPosthumous, archival audio[25]

References

  1. ^ Woollcombe, Alan (August 23, 2005). "Joe Ranft". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 14, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  2. ^ "Eric Larson, Disney Family Album: Part Three". YouTube. February 13, 2007.
  3. ^ "A Brief Talk with Joe Ranft". MousePlanet.com. January 9, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  4. ^ To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios
  5. ^ "Pixar Artist's Corner - Joe". Pixar. Archived December 11, 2002 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  6. ^ Scott Weinberg (August 19, 2005). "Pixar's Joe Ranft Falls to a Tragic Death". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
  7. ^ Sheigh Crabtree (August 18, 2005). "Pixar Animation's Joe Ranft, 45". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived July 2, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ Solomon, Charles (May 28, 2006). "With 'Cars,' Pixar Revs Up to Outpace Walt Disney Himself". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  9. ^ Solomon, Charles (August 18, 2005). "Joe Ranft, 45; Artist for Pixar Animated Films, Voice of Heimlich in 'A Bug's Life'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  10. ^ "Two Disney/Pixar Animated Classics Come to Life as They've Never Been Seen Before TOY STORY & TOY STORY 2". Cision PS newswire. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  11. ^ Robertson, Barbara (June 2011). "The World is Not Enough". www.cgw.com. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  12. ^ Cody, Bill (June 22, 2011). "John Lasseter Talks 'Cars 2' and the Memory of His Friend and Collaborator, Joe Ranft". ComingSoon.Net. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  13. ^ "9 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT INSIDE OUT". OhMyDisney. 2016-08-21. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  14. ^ Frost, John (June 16, 2015). "Easter Eggs and other hidden tributes in Pixar's 'Inside Out'". The Disney Blog. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  15. ^ Caulfield, AJ (November 27, 2017). "Easter Eggs You Missed In Coco". Looper.com. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  16. ^ "Joe Ranft (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 11, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  17. ^ Soloman, Charles (August 18, 2005). "Joe Ranft, 45; Artist for Pixar Animated Films, Voice of Heimlich in 'A Bug's Life'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  18. ^ "Disney Legends « Disney D23". Legends.disney.go.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  19. ^ "Joe Ranft". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  20. ^ Sragow, Michael (November 23, 1999). ""Toy" story man". Salon. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  21. ^ "Pixar exec dies in car accident". Variety. August 18, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  22. ^ "Joe Ranft". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  23. ^ Lowry, Brian (June 4, 2006). "Film Review: Cars". Variety. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  24. ^ Amidi, Amid (2017). The Art of Pixar Short Films. Chronicle Books. pp. 41–42. ISBN 9781452165219.
  25. ^ Celestino, Mike (May 23, 2018). "Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train attraction will live on with audio tribute in Pixar Pier at Disneyland Resort". insidethemagic.net. Retrieved June 19, 2022.