Joshua Lawrence "Josh" Meador (March 12, 1911 - August 24, 1965) was an American animator, effects animator, special effects artist, and animation director for the Walt Disney studios.
Biography Meador was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. His family later moved to Columbus, Mississippi in 1918. He later studied at the Chicago Art Institute. There, a fellow alumnus told Meador he was traveling to California to be interviewed at Walt Disney Productions, and suggested for him to come along. At first, Meador refused as he wanted to do commercial art, but he was coerced into interviewing at Disney. There, he was hired to work in their animation effects department, where he worked on numerous films such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, for which the studio won an Academy Award. Meador also created the animation effects for the 1956 MGM science-fiction film Forbidden Planet, most notably the "Monster from the Id" that attacks the spaceship.
Privately, Meador described himself as "first and foremost a painter", in which he painted more than 2,000 canvases and impressionistic landscape and seascape paintings. He frequently appeared and was acknowledged by host Disney in the live-action color shorts produced for the studio's behind-the-scenes documentaries during the 1950s, becoming unofficially the 10th member of Disney's Nine Old Men (Tricks of Our Trade, 4 Artists Paint 1 Tree).
During his lifetime many of his works were displayed in museums or held in private collections, and President Lyndon B. Johnson was presented with a painting of his by the Democratic Party.
In August 1965, Meador suffered a heart attack and died at his residence in Casper, California. He is buried at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi, which was also his hometown. There is a historical marker at his childhood home.
Filmography Year Title Credits Notes 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Animator 1940 Pinocchio Animator Fantasia Animator - Segment "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" / Animation Supervisor - Segment "Rite of Spring" / Special Animation Effects - Segment "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" 1941 The Reluctant Dragon Special Effects Credited and Known as Joshua L. MeadorDumbo Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1942 Bambi Animator 1943 Saludos Amigos (Short) Animator Credited and Known as Josh MeadorVictory Through Air Power (Documentary) Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1945 The Clock Watcher (Short) Animator Credited and Known as Josh MeadorThe Three Caballeros Special Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh MeadorDonald's Crime (Short) Animator Old Sequoia (Short) Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1946 Make Mine Music Director Credited and Known as Josh MeadorSong of the South Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1948 Melody Time Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh MeadorSoup's On (Short) Animator 1949 So Dear to My Heart Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1950 Pluto and the Gopher (Short) Effects Animator Cinderella Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1951 Alice in Wonderland Effects Animator Credited and Known as Josh MeadorNature's Half Acre (Documentary short) Animation Effects 1952 Water Birds (Documentary short) Animation Effects Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1953 Bear Country (Documentary short) Animation Effects Peter Pan Effects Animator The Alaskan Eskimo (Documentary short) Animator Prowlers of the Everglades (Documentary short) Animation Effects Credited and Known as Josh MeadorThe Living Desert (Documentary) Animation 1954 The Vanishing Prairie (Documentary) Animation Effects 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Special Effects Credited and Known as Josh Meador 1955 Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier Special Art Work The African Lion (Documentary) Animation Effects Men Against the Arctic (Documentary short) Animation Effects 1956 Forbidden Planet Special Effects: Through Courtesy of Walt Disney Productions Secrets of Life (Documentary) Animation Effects 1957 Perri Special Effects 1958 4 Artists Paint 1 Tree: A Walt Disney 'Adventure in Art''' (Documentary short) || Himself - Artist || Credited and Known as Josh Meador |- |White Wilderness (Documentary) || Animation Effects || |- |rowspan="5"| 1959 || Sleeping Beauty || Effects Animator || |- |Nature's Strangest Creatures (Short documentary) || Animation Effects || |- |Donald in Mathmagic Land (Short) || Sequence Director || |- |Darby O'Gill and the Little People || Animation Effects || |- |Mysteries of the Deep (Documentary short) || Animation Effects || |- |rowspan="2"| 1960 || Islands of the Sea (Documentary short) || Animation Effects || |- |Jungle Cat (Documentary) || Animation Effects || |- |rowspan="3"| 1961 || The Absent-Minded Professor || Special Effects || |- |Donald and the Wheel (Short) || Effects Animator || |- |Babes in Toyland || Animation Effects || |- | 1964 || The Restless Sea (TV Movie Documentary) || Animator || |- | 1980 || Mickey Mouse Disco (Short) || Animator || Credited and Known as Josh Meador |- | 2002 || Mickey's House of Villains (Video) || Animator - Segment "Donald Duck and the Gorilla''" Credited and Known as Josh Meador
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