Ann Sullivan
91, Woodland Hills
Her masterful brushstrokes brought to life many of Disney’s most vibrant characters, but those who knew her best will remember Ann Sullivan for the vibrancy she brought to life in general.
Before her animation work on Disney classics such as “Peter Pan,” “The Lion King” and “Little Mermaid” was cherished far and wide, Sullivan preferred to paint the California coastline. She loved the beach and sun nearly as much as the art it inspired. As a young mother living in Manhattan Beach, she often pushed her children to a nearby beach in a wheelbarrow, painting afternoons away, soaking in what sun she could.
As she grew older, spending her final years at the Motion Picture and Television Fund’s skilled nursing facility, Sullivan would still ask staff to wheel her outside to a bird sanctuary, just to sit in the sun.
Sullivan died from complications of COVID-19 on April 13, a few days after her 91st birthday. She was the third of six housed at the Woodland Hills facility who have died from the novel coronavirus.
Her family celebrated her final birthday on FaceTime, saying their goodbyes as they recalled the remarkable life that had brought her there.
Sullivan grew up in North Dakota, at the onset of the Great Depression. As a child, her family was too poor to buy patterns to make their own clothing, so she designed her own, honing a creativity that later bloomed into her life’s passion.
After two years of studying art at North Dakota State University, she rode west on a whim with her sister and brother-in-law to California, where she enrolled at what is now the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. All along, she dreamed of working for Disney.
That dream came true soon enough, as Sullivan got her first job mixing paints, remarking to her children that Disney was “the most prestigious company to work for in the world.” Before long, she was helping bring classic Disney characters to life, beginning with Tinkerbell from “Peter Pan.”
But Sullivan gave up the job to care for her children, raising two daughters, Shannon and Liz, and two sons, Joe and Tom, mostly in La Mirada. She still found time to paint and share that passion with others. When she could, she held art classes for neighborhood kids and encouraged them to follow their own passions.
“She was a free spirit,” her daughter Shannon Jay recalls. “She didn’t dictate how you did this or how you did that. She wanted you to be creative on your own.”
Sullivan returned to work at HannaBarbera in 1973, shortly after she and her husband, Kevin Sullivan, divorced. Soon enough, she would return to Disney, continuing animation work on films such as “Oliver & Company,” “Hercules” and “Lilo and Stitch.” When Disney switched to a mostly computerized product, Sullivan taught herself how to translate her art digitally.
Bob Beitcher, president of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, described her as “a remarkably gifted and resilient woman who chased her dream of life in California and work at Walt Disney and succeeded with grace and resiliency.”
“My mom was one of a kind,” her daughter Shannon said. “She just had that ability to be true to herself. She was just amazing that way. I’m proud to say she was my mom.”