Disney animator Ann Sullivan died today of coronavirus, just a few days after her birthday. She was 91.
"Ann Sullivan was a remarkably gifted and resilient woman who chased her dream of life in California and work at Walt Disney and succeeded with grace and resiliency," Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) president and CEO Bob Beitcher told Deadline. The MPTF runs the nursing home that Sullivan died in. She is the third resident at the nursing home to die of the virus, which has been hit particularly hard by the outbreak.
"There are good days and bad days. This was one of the bad days," Beitcher said. "I expect there will be more before we get through the tunnel."
Sullivan had a storied career at Disney, which started in the 1950s after she studied in the Art Center in Pasadena. She worked on many classic films, including The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Hercules, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Mulan, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Emperor's New Groove, Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet. She retired in the early 2000s.
She is survived by her four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren