Glen Keane drawing Aladdin

Master Animator Glen Keane is Born

On this day, animator Glen Keane was born in Philadelphia, the son of widely admired cartoonist Bil Keane. As a young boy, Glen was the “all-American boy… rambunctious, extroverted. Always the ringleader,” as his father described him in a 1989 article in People magazine. And if you want further insight into Glen’s childhood, all you have to do is open your newspaper to his father’s comic strip, The Family Circus. Glen was the personification of the character Billy growing up. Following in his father’s footsteps, Glen became an artist himself, beginning his career at Disney in 1974 and becoming supervising animator for characters such as Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. Glen also got himself wrapped up in Tangled, for which he served as executive producer and animation supervisor.