Ronald Francis "Ron" Clements (born April 25, 1953) is an American animation director and producer. He is one half of America's leading contemporary animation team with John Musker.

Life and career[link]

Clements was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of Gertrude (née Gereau) and Joseph Clements.^[1]

Clements began his career as an animator for Hanna-Barbera. After a few months there, he was accepted into Disney's Talent Development Program, an animator training ground and workshop. After that, he served a two year apprenticeship with famed animator Frank Thomas, a supervising animator in classic Disney films such as Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and The Aristocats (1970).

Clements made his feature debut as a character animator on The Rescuers (1977) and Pete's Dragon (1977). In 1981, he became the supervising animator on The Fox and the Hound. Future partner John Musker worked as a character animator under him. Clements later teamed up with Musker as story artists on the ambitious animated flop The Black Cauldron (1985). In 1986, Clements made his directorial debut alongside Musker and two other collaborators on the feature The Great Mouse Detective. This feature was based on a pre-Disney short made by Clements.

Together, Clements and Musker wrote and directed The Little Mermaid (1989), a touching retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale. With dazzling animation and Oscar-winning music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, it brought back critical and commercial clout for feature animation. Later on, the two wrote, directed and produced Aladdin (1992), which was an even larger success. They also directed Hercules (1997), which while not as successful as their last two films, was still well-received by critics and audiences.

Their next directorial collaboration would be the sci-fi Treasure Planet (2002), critics reviews were generally positive but it was unfortunately a commercial failure. The film lacked the songs and colorful characters which were crucial to the success of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid although he was nominated an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

However, after Disney's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, the studio has rekindled interest towards 2-D animation thanks to new leaders John Lasseter and Ed Catmull. A new 2-D animated feature, The Princess and the Frog was released in 2009, with Musker and Clements directing and Randy Newman handling the music. The film returns to the Broadway-style musical of Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and other successful Disney animated films of the late '80s and early '90s.

Films directed by John Musker & Ron Clements[link]

Family[link]

• Father: Joseph Clements
• Mother: Gertrude Clements
• Wife: Tami Clements

Education[link]

Bishop Heelan Catholic High School, Sioux City, Iowa
Art Center College of Design Pasadena, California

Awards and nominations[link]

• Edgar Allan Poe Award Best Motion Picture (Nomination) – The Great Mouse Detective, 1987
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Animation (Awarded) – Aladdin, 1992
• Annie Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation (Awarded), 1993
• Annie Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production (Awarded) – Hercules, 1997
• Annie Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a Feature Production (Awarded) – Hercules, 1997
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Animation (Awarded) – Hercules, 1997
• Academy Award Best Animated Feature (Nomination) – Treasure Planet, 2002
• Academy Award Best Animated Feature (Nomination) – The Princess and the Frog, 2009
• Annie Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Nomination) – Treasure Planet, 2002
• Annie Best Individual Achievement: Directing a Feature Production (Awarded) – The Princess and the Frog, 2009
• Annie Best Individual Achievement: Producting a Feature Production (Awarded) – The Princess and the Frog, 2009

Collaborations[link]

John Musker and Ron Clements have cast certain actors in more than one of their films.

	The Great Mouse Detective	The Little Mermaid	Aladdin	Hercules	Treasure Planet	The Princess and the Frog
Corey Burton			N		N	N
Jim Cummings			N	N		N
Keith David				N		N
Frank Welker	N	N	N	N		N

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ron Clements at the Internet Movie Database