Born: Milton Erwin Kahl
Birthday: March 22, 1909
Location: San Francisco, CA, U.S.
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1936–1976
Died: April 19, 1987

Milt Kahl was born to a poor family in San Francisco, California, dropping out of high school at age 16 so he could work to support his family after his father left. Wanting to become a magazine illustrator or cartoonist, he landed a job retouching photos and pasting up layouts for the Oakland Post Enquirer’s art department. There, he met fellow artist named Ham Luske. Kahl went to work at the San Francisco Bulletin, but when the Great Depression struck, he was laid off. Milt then launched his own commercial art business, but struggled to find work. When he saw the Disney’s Three Little Pigs short, he was amazed by the animation. His old friend Ham Luske had become a successful Disney animator and recommended Milt move to Los Angeles to work with him at Walt’s studio in 1934. Kahl applied at Disney and was hired as an assistant animator.

Milt quickly gained recognition for his talented work on shorts such as Ferdinand the Bull and Silly Symphonies, including the color remake of The Ugly Duckling despite his youth and relative inexperience. He was promoted to junior animator and animated many of the forest animals in Disney’s first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Albert Hurter’s early designs for the Pinocchio character had been drawn as a wooden boy, with clunky joints and movement that didn’t fit Pinocchio’s innocence and naïveté. Even animator Freddy Moore’s experience with making cute characters couldn’t resolve the problem of creating an appealing look for the stiff wooden figure.

At Ham Luske’s encouragement, Kahl took up the challenge of re-designing Pinocchio, discarding the premise that Pinocchio was a wooden boy, and instead, drew him as a real little boy, only adding the wooden joints after. His test animation of the new design thrilled Walt. From that point forward, Milt was considered a crucial member the Disney elite for the next forty years. He was one of Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men.

Kahl often refined Bill Peet character sketches while incorporating Ken Anderson’s design ideas. The final look of many Disney characters bear Milt’s influential mark.

Next, Kahl became a supervising animator on the film Bambi, refining Marc Davis’s designs for the deer and Thumper. He also quickly became known for his volatile temper and the perfectionism he expected from everyone, including himself. Despite his outbursts, he was a focused illustrator who become known for animating the ‘Milt Kahl head swaggle,’ a particular exaggerated head movement which characterized much of his work.

While working at his desk, Kahl would sit staring into space for hours at a time. Then, in a flurry of activity, he would pick up his pencil and with laser-like focus, covering pages with efficient sketches. However, the slightest sound was a disruption to Milt’s process, and he’d furiously find those who disturbed him to express his displeasure in colorful language.

While he was often assigned “straight” characters like human princes, Peter Pan and Alice, Milt delighted in over-the-top characters like Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone and Medusa in The Rescuers.

As Milt Kahl continued to animate into the ‘70s, he grew increasingly disillusioned with the “New Disney” without Walt’s steady hand. Brash young animator upstarts maneuvered to take control the studio’s animated films and leadership vacuum offending Kahl’s sensibilities. Upon completion of The Rescuers, he gave his notice to the CEO, Ron Miller and retired from The Walt Disney Studios in 1976.

He returned to Northern California, but still contributed character designs for The Black Cauldron. Milt would pass away two years after the feature film’s 1985 release.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the centenary of his birth on April 27, 2009, with a tribute “Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo.”