Don Lusk

Don Lusk was an American animator.

Lusk was 20 years old when he joined the Walt Disney Company just after the Great Depression. He worked on Mickey Mouse short subject cartoons before contributing to Disney’s second and third cartoon features films, Pinocchio and Fantasia. For Fantasia, Lusk worked on the “Nutcracker Suite” and “Pastoral Symphony” segments.

He went on to draw for cartoons and such classic Disney features as Song of the South, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, among others.

In 1960, Lusk moved to Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he drew cartoons for such characters as Woody Woodpecker, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Finn, Atom Ant, Chilly Willy and the Beary Family.

In the late 1960s, Lusk began working on Peanuts TV specials, including A Boy Named Charlie Brown; It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown; Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown; and It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown.

Lusk continued to work in animation into the 1990s, working on such series as The Jetsons revival (he had drawn for one episode of the original 1960s show), Adventures of the Gummi Bears and multiple episodes of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Lusk died December 30, 2018, in San Clemente, California. He was 105.