An animation veteran while still relatively young, Trousdale took a slightly less direct route to glory in the Disney animation department than some of his contemporaries. Nonetheless, he would go on to co-direct "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), a landmark in the history of the medium. A product of the innovative character animation program at the Disney-sponsored California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Trousdale found full-time work as an animator while in his third year. However, unlike such fellow alumni as John Lasseter ("Toy Story") and Henry Selick ("James and the Giant Peach"), he did