Renowned illustrator Tyrus Wong has died at the age of 106.
Born in China, Wong immigrated to the United States at the age of nine. After cutting his chops with low-level animation jobs, Wong scored his big break in 1942 when he earned the role of lead artist for Disney’s Bambi. Disney hired the young artist after seeing his pastel renderings of deer in a forest.
As a result of an animators’ strike, Wong left Disney shortly following the completion of Bambi and for years his contributions to the film were unknown. In 2001, Wong was named a Disney Legend, and his artwork has been featured in the Walt Disney Family Museum since 2013.
In addition to Bambi, Wong worked on films including Rebel Without a Cause, The Green Berets, and The Wild Bunch. In his later part of his career, he designed greeting cards for Hallmark.
Watch a clip from Bambi below:
