Roger Allers, animator, screenwriter, and co-director of “The Lion King”, dies at 76
- - Roger Allers, animator, screenwriter, and co-director of “The Lion King”, dies at 76
Ryan ColemanJanuary 19, 2026 at 4:18 AM
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Roger Allers in Los Angeles in 2023
Roger Allers, an animator and screenwriter behind some of the most beloved films of the so-called "Disney Renaissance" period, and the co-director of The Lion King, has died. He was 76.
Allers' close friend and Disney colleague Dave Bossert announced his death on Facebook on Sunday, in a heartfelt post that began, "I am deeply saddened by the news that our friend Roger Allers has passed on to his next journey."
Bossert noted that he and Allers were "just trading emails this past week while he was traveling in Egypt, which makes this loss feel all the more unreal." Allers' cause of death is not yet known. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Allers and Disney.
"Roger was an extraordinarily gifted artist and filmmaker, a true pillar of the Disney Animation renaissance," Bossert continued in his tribute. "He was, without question, one of the kindest people you could hope to know and work alongside. He went on to co-direct The Lion King, a phenomenal success, yet it never went to his head. Roger treated everyone with genuine kindness and respect, regardless of title or position."
"Roger had a joyful, luminous spirit, and the world is dimmer without him," Bossert wrote.
Allers born on June 29, 1949, in Rye, N.Y., a small town that straddles the state's northern border with Connecticut, but he came of age in Scottsdale, Ariz. He studied fine arts at Arizona State University, moving on to Boston, where an animation class at Harvard sparked his imagination.
He went to work for Lisberger Studios, a Boston-based animation studio headed up by Steven Lisberger, who directed Tron. That sci-fi classic became the first big title Allers added to his resume, but he also worked as an animator on series like Sesame Street and The Electric Company.
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Roger Allers at the 'Lion King Musical' premiere in Mexico City in 2025
Lisberger brought him out to Los Angeles in 1978 to work on the 1980 animated family film Animalympics. It was there he got his first job with Disney, as a storyboard artist for Oliver & Company. That led to a decade-and-a-half long collaboration that saw Allers work on films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lilo & Stitch as an animator, storyboard artist, and story editor.
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Allers' pinnacle with Disney came in 1994, when he was tapped to co-direct The Lion King with Rob Minkoff. The film was an exceptional success, grossing nearly $1 billion on a budget estimated at around $50 million. He co-wrote the libretto for the Broadway musical adaptation of the film, which was nominated for Best Book of a Musical at the 1998 Tony Awards.
Following his Disney era, Allers worked on the Sony animated film Open Season, the independent animated series The Prophet, and appeared in several documentaries about the medium.
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Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company who overlapped with Allers for several years during his early years at the House of Mouse, remembered the animator in a tribute shared Sunday to his Instagram as "a creative visionary whose many contributions to Disney will live on for generations to come."
"He understood the power of great storytelling — how unforgettable characters, emotion, and music can come together to create something timeless," Iger continued. "His work helped define an era of animation that continues to inspire audiences around the world, and we are deeply grateful for everything he gave to Disney."
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