Franklin Rosborough "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men. Born in Fresno, California, Frank Thomas attended Stanford University, where he worked on campus humor magazine The Stanford Chaparral with Ollie Johnston. After graduating from Stanford, he attended Chouinard Art Institute, then joined The Walt Disney Company on September 24, 1934, as employee number 224. There he animated dozens of feature films and shorts, and