Biography

James "Shamus" Culhane was the only animator to work on all of the first four animated feature-length Walt Disney cartoons. In a career that spanned six decades, he worked for 18 cartoon studios, including his own. In the 1990s, his early hand-drawn animation was combined with computer animation for Disney films, including Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995).
- IMDb mini biography by: Ted Hull <theodore.hull@arch2.nara.gov>

Modernist art hidden inside explosion sequences

Culhane was married twice. His first wife was Maxine Marx, the daughter of Chico Marx.

Father of Brian Culhane and Kevin Culhane with Maxine Marx.

From early in his life he was known as "Shamus" to his friends and family, as he didn't like to use his given name of James due to the fact that it reminded him of his father, also called James, who abandoned him at a young age. However, he was still credited as "James Culhane" through much of his early career, as it was considered unprofessional to be credited under anything except your birth name among the major animation studios.