Dick Lundy

Dick Lundy began his career in real estate but originally aspired to become a sculptor. Through Les Clark, he secured a position in Disney’s ink and paint department in July 1929. By October of that same year, he had become an assistant animator to Burt Gillett, earning $20 a week—slightly above the standard $18 salary. His brief time in ink and paint was partly due to a boil that temporarily prevented him from drawing. He later recalled that one reason he was hired was that his firm line made his drawings especially easy to ink.

By the end of the year, his salary had risen to $75 a week, at a time when the studio employed only seventeen people, including Walt and Roy Disney. Lundy was among the select few invited to play polo with Walt. He later became Norman Ferguson’s assistant, a role he held for many years.

A studio memo dated November 25, 1935, reveals that Lundy was working on Thru the Mirror before moving on to the feature as his next assignment. Known within the studio as a specialist in dance animation—having animated, for example, the dancing sequences of the Three Little Pigs—he was initially assigned, alongside Les Clark, to the entertainment sequence of Snow White, covering the action up to the dwarfs’ bedtime. He is indeed listed among the participants at the December 15 story meeting devoted to that sequence.

During the production of Snow White, Lundy shared an office with Albert Hurter, and Berk Anthony served as his assistant animator throughout the feature.

Although primarily responsible for animating the dwarfs, Lundy ultimately worked on more sequences than originally planned. He relinquished supervision of the entertainment sequence to Wilfred Jackson in order to focus on animation itself, including scenes such as Grumpy at the organ. He also contributed to several scenes in the ultimately discarded sequences 6B (the soup sequence) and 11A and 11B (the bed-building sequence), notably involving Grumpy and Sneezy. However, he appears not to have completed this material before the concept was abandoned.

Lundy made his directorial debut with the short Sea Scouts, having earlier played a key role in refining Donald Duck’s character in Orphan’s Benefit. After being laid off in 1943, he quickly found employment at the Walter Lantz studio. His career continued in both film and television until his retirement in 1977.