Dorse Lanpher

Born: Dorse Avery Lanpher
Birthday: June 10, 1935
Location: Pontiac, MI, U.S.
Occupation: Animator
Years active: 1975-2004
Died: December 16, 2011

Dorse Lanpher began his effects animation career at Disney in the late 1950s, working on such classics as Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and The Sword in the Stone.

Lanpher left Disney to join Don Bluth on projects such as Banjo the Woodpile Cat, The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, Land Before Time, Dragon’s Lair, and Space Ace.

He returned to Disney to work on animated features like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Mulan, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King, Pocahontas, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. His final animated feature project was the film Home on the Range in 2004.

Over the years, Dorse’s effects work was also featured in hybrid live-action/animated features such as Pete’s Dragon (1977), Xanadu (1980), and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Dorse penned a memoir titled Flyin’ Chunks and Other Things to Duck: Memoirs of a Life Spent Doodling for Dollars.

The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.