Ruthie Tompson

Ruth Irene Tompson (July 22, 1910 – October 10, 2021) was an American camera technician, animation checker and supercentenarian. She was known for her work on animated features at The Walt Disney Company and was declared a Disney Legend in 2000. She then moved with her family to Oakland, California, in November 1918 at age eight. She experienced the 1918 influenza pandemic near the end of World War I. In 1924, her parents divorced and her mother, Arlene, remarried artist John Roberts. The family relocated to Los Angeles and their house was in the same block as the house of Robert Disney, uncle of Walt Disney. This is where Roy and Walt Disney lived when they first came to Los Angeles. Walt Disney remembered Tompson from when she was young and offered her a job as an inker. She became one of the first three women admitted into the International Photographers Union, Local 659 of the IATSE. In retirement, she worked for an in-house television channel at the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) Country House where she lived. Tompson was the oldest member of Women in Animation. In 2000, Tompson was honored by the Disney Legends program and received the Disney Legends Award for her work at the Walt Disney Studios. In 2017, Tompson was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for her contributions to the animation industry. In July 2020, Tompson became a supercentenarian, and celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg wished her a happy birthday.

Tompson died in her sleep at her home in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on October 10, 2021, at the age of 111 years, 80 days. At the time of her death she was the last known living person to have been involved in any capacity with the making of the first four Disney films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo.

Filmography Lonesome Ghosts (1937) (ink and paint – uncredited) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (ink and paint – uncredited) (1937) Pinocchio (1940) Sleeping Beauty (checker and scene planner – uncredited) (1959) Popeye the Sailor (1960–62) Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (short; 1974) American Experience (TV Series documentary) (self) (2015)

110-Year-Old Ruthie Tompson Tells Us About Making Snow White – NOT-SO SMALL WORLD (Web episode) (self; as Ruthie Tompson) (2020)