Frank Armitage

Frank Armitage was an artist and illustrator, best known for his collaborative relationship with Disney. He contributed background artwork to the classic animated films Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book.

He also created concept art and designs for Disney theme parks around the world, such as Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and Frontierland in Disneyland Paris, the Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot in Florida, Main Street in Disneyland Hong Kong and early concept work for Disney’s California Adventure.

Additionally, Armitage contributed to television shows such as Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and the 1960s animated series Mr. Magoo and The Dick Tracy Show. He also served as an art consultant on the 1980 miniseries documentary Cosmos, on an episode titled “One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue.”

In 1966, he supplied the production illustration for the Fox feature Fantastic Voyage, whose visual effects widely impressed audiences. The film followed the story of a submarine with a small crew that was shrunken to microscopic size and injected into the blood stream of a scientist. The film won Oscars for visual effects and art direction-set decoration, color.

Armitage was born in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to Los Angles in 1952. He soon found a job at Walt Disney Studios and worked with the company on and off until his retirement in 1989.

He died January 4, 2016, in Paso Robles, California. He was 91.