Harry Hester, known to most people as "Bud", passed away over the weekend at age 91.
An army veteran, Bud joined the Disney animation staff in early 1954 and worked there until the 1970s, when he was elected Business Representative of the Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE. (It was then called "The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists".)
Mr. Hester headed the Guild for a dozen years, leading it through studio strikes in 1979 and again in 1982. He retired in 1989, thereafter spending time restoring classic cars and enjoying his numerous grandchildren. Though his career was long, his favorite professional memories centered on his years in the Disney Animation Building's D-Wing, where he worked with many of Walt's "Nine Old Men" on multiple animated features.
In 1960, Bud left the Mouse House during a slow-down and spent a year animating for Bob Clampett on Beany and Cecil, which he found to be an invigorating change from Walt Disney Production's D-Wing. "We had to do seventy-five feet of animation a week, but we had fun doing it. Bob had a fire bell that went off at every break..."
Bud's favorite animator was Milt Kahl, with whom he worked for almost a decade. Mr. Hester said that Milt could be tough, and also profane, "but you always knew where you stood with Milt", which Bud found refreshing.
One of his more vivid memories came early in his career: Walt Disney would come down to his D-Wing office to view progress on clay sculptures that Bud's roommate Blaine Gibson was preparing for the embryonic Disneyland amusement park. Walt would occasionally zip into the room when Gibson was spraying down the clay ... and get doused with water.
Times, and the Disney studio, were simpler then.
(You will find Bud Hester's "Tales of D-Wing", recorded in March 2011, here.)
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