Dorse on the left; Mitch Rochon in the middle; Dave Brain on the right.
Dorse Lanpher was the Grand Old Master of effects animation. He'd (almost) worked on everything worth working on, and passed his knowledge on to others. Among his credits:
Sleeping Beauty
The Rescuers
The Secret of NIMH
The Land Before Time
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
Lion King
And a multitude of others ...
After a long and fulfilling career, Dorse hung up the nine-to-five routine half a dozen years ago, and went on to pursue other things. He stayed busy and engaged; he kept in touch with a wide circle of pals. I encountered him in any number of places, and he was always quick with a witty observation about life and the state of the industry.
About the Final curtain, he recently wrote this:
If I could die without my knowledge of the event, death would be nothing to fear. The avoidance of illness and pain, not the avoidance of death, is what motivates me to live a relatively healthy life style. Of course, death will eventually overcome me but knowing that my death will occur sometime in the future is not useful information ....
From reports from friends, Dorse died at home, getting ready to go out to eat with old effects crew buddies. (There was, I'm told, water running in the bathroom sink.)
So, although his passing leaves a lot of Dorse's friends sad and missing him, if you squint at his death in the right way, you could rationalize that Dorse got his wish: He died without knowledge of the event, and so moved on unafraid.
Travel well, Mr. Lanpher, you were one of the good guys here on the planet.
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8 comments:
Oh dear...how VERY sad. What horrible news, indeed. I read his autobiography not long ago, and learned quite a lot about the industry. RIP.
He was a fellow I enjoyed having the company of many times over the years. Lets pitch in for that water-bill thats gonna come as an event now beyond his awareness....
Wow! Poor Dorse. I've heard lots of great stories about him. The best animation he did so far, that I've heard of, is the flaming titles for "The Secret of NIMH" and what I've heard, helped out Marlon West with the lava effects at the end of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".
Cranky and gruff, Dorse Lanpher was a sweetheart. We began our careers at Disney in 1956 and took the long ride until it finally ended. But, what a wild ride it was.
Enjoy your rest, old friend. I'll miss you.
I love what he said here
"If I could die without my knowledge of the event, death would be nothing to fear. The avoidance of illness and pain, not the avoidance of death, is what motivates me to live a relatively healthy life style. Of course, death will eventually overcome me but knowing that my death will occur sometime in the future is not useful information."
I have been wondering all weekend if it happened like this and I really hope that it was quick and he was not scared. He will be missed by so many. R.I.P. Dorse.
any word on the services?
Thanks so much everyone for your wonderful comments, this is Holly Conrad, his granddaughter, we'll hopefully be having a memorial in January, hopefully it will get posted here. He was an amazing person, and more like a father to me than anyone in my family. He'll be missed so much.
He was impossible not to love.
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