James Patton "Jack" King was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Born in Alabama, King began his animation career in the silent era in 1920 working at Bray Productions animation studio. King successfully made the transformation from silent to sound cartoons and relocated to the west coast where he joined the Disney studio in 1929.
In 1933, he moved to the newly formed Leon Schlesinger Productions which made Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., initially working as an animator under director Earl Duvall. A year later, Duvall was fired in the wake of an alcohol-fueled argument with Schlesinger, and King was promoted to director, handling many of the studio's cartoons starring Buddy.
After two years working at the Schlesinger studio, King was invited back to Disney, and he returned there in late 1936. Part of the reason why he went back to Disney was the promise that he would be able to direct cartoons in color, which he had been unable to do previously (Friz Freleng and Tex Avery were the only directors that Schlesinger allowed using color for much of the 1930s). Serving as one of Disney's key animation directors, he directed many classic Donald Duck cartoons (such as Donald's Dilemma) until his retirement in 1948.
He died one month before his 63rd birthday.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Disney staff 1930 (1).jpg (66 KB)")
.jpg "Disney staff in January 1930 (2).jpg (65 KB)")
Kneeling, from left, Lundy, Charles Byrne, Carlos Manriquez, Ferguson, Gilson, Chuck Couch, Carl Stalling, Cannon, W. Disney
.jpg "Disney staff 1931 (1).jpg (65 KB)")
Seated, from left: David Hand, Ted Sears, Lundy, Gillett, W. Disney
.jpg "Disney staff 1931 (2).jpg (64 KB)")
Seated from left: King, Lundy, Sears, Ferguson, de Tremaudan, Jackson, Clark, Gillett, Lewis
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