Art Stevens, a veteran Disney animator and filmmaker who co-produced and co-directed “The Fox and the Hound,�? and co-directed “The Rescuers�? during his illustrious 44-year career at the Studio, passed away on May 22nd at his home in Studio City, California after suffering a heart attack in his rose garden. He was 92-years old.

A native of Montana, Stevens applied for a job at the Disney Studios in 1939 when he learned that Walt Disney was planning an animated feature based on one of his favorite stories, Alice in Wonderland. He quickly assembled a group of sketches and submitted them to the Studio, and was subsequently hired after a six-month wait.

Starting as an in-betweener, Stevens was soon assigned to work on “Fantasia,�? and contributed his artistic talents to the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,�? “Pastoral Symphony,�? “Nutcracker Suite,�? and “Night on Bald Mountain�? segments. He went on to in-between on “Bambi�? (1942), and several other features before achieving full character animator status on “Peter Pan�? (1953). His animation credits also include “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,�? “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,�? “Mary Poppins,�? and the underwater sequence from the 1971 Disney feature, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.�?

In the 1950s, Stevens provided story concepts and animation for the three landmark television documentaries on space exploration (directed and produced by animation legend Ward Kimball) for the “Disneyland�? TV show: “Man in Space�? (1955), “Man and the Moon�? (1955) and “Mars and Beyond�? (1957). Stevens also worked with Kimball on two Academy Award®-winning Disney featurettes: “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom,�? and “It’s Tough to Be a Bird.�?

After animating on “Robin Hood,�? Stevens joined Wolfgang “Woolie�? Reitherman and John Lounsbery as a co-director on the 1977 animated feature, “The Rescuers.�? “The Fox and the Hound,�? which he produced (with Woolie Reitherman), and co-directed (with Ted Berman and Dave Michener), became Disney’s highest grossing film at the time of its original release in 1981. Stevens retired from Disney in 1983.

Among his other career achievements, Stevens helped to design and animate the title sequences for such Disney features as “Freaky Friday,�? “No Deposit, No Return,�? “The Strongest Man in the World,�? and “The North Avenue Irregulars.�?

Stevens is survived by his wife of 68 years, Penny, two sons (Craig Stevens of Cottonwood, Arizona, and Kent Stevens of Eugene, Oregon), and four grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018) or Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc. (P.O. Box 531313, Henderson, NV 89053).

-- Posted June 28, 2007