Milton Quon, Disney Animator on 'Fantasia' and 'Dumbo,' Dies at 105

He also dabbled in acting, appearing on the runaway bus in 'Speed' and in 'Sweet Jane' and 'NYPD Blue.'

Milton Quon, an animator who worked on such Disney classics as Fantasia and Dumbo, has died. He was 105.

Quon died June 18 of natural causes at his home in Torrance, California, his son, artist Mike Quon, told The Hollywood Reporter. One of the last living artists who worked at Disney during its Golden Age of Animation, he was "drawing right up until his last days," his son noted.

Quon also was an actor and an extra who appeared in films and TV shows including Speed (1994) — he described his character as "the token Asian on the bus" in a 2005interview with the Los Angeles Times — Chill Factor (1989), Sweet Jane (1998), The Cat Killers (2000) and ABC's NYPD Blue.

Quon was born on Aug. 22, 1913, in Los Angeles, the eldest of eight children and the only son of immigrants who had come to the U.S. from Canton, China.

Despite his mother's reservations, Quon was encouraged by an uncle to pursue a career in art, and he received a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts). As a young freelancer, he created menus and produced design work for restaurants in L.A.'s current Chinatown including Man Jen Low, Grandview Gardens and Soochow Restaurant, and his outdoor lantern sign for Grandview Gardens is now a historic landmark.

Quon joined Walt Disney Studios in 1939 soon