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The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a special private ceremony. Today, it has been awarded biennially during Disney's D23 Expo since 2009.
Having been honoured in 1998, Glynis Johns currently holds the record for the oldest living and longest surviving Disney Legend.
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| Criteria |
Recipients are chosen by a selection committee, formerly appointed and chaired by Disney Legend Roy E. Disney, Walt Disney's nephew, former vice chairman and director emeritus of The Walt Disney Company. The committee consists of long-time Disney executives, historians, and other authorities. Besides the award statuette itself, each honoree is represented by a bronze commemorative plaque featuring the recipients' handprints and signature if they were living when inducted, or simply an image of the statuette emblem if the induction was posthumous. The plaques are placed on display in Legends Plaza at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, across from the Michael D. Eisner Building.
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| The award |
Imagineer Andrea Favilli created the Disney Legends award, which is handcrafted from bronze each year. The award depicts the arm of Mickey Mouse holding a star-tipped wand.
Disney describes the award as follows:
The Disney Legends award has three distinct elements that characterize the contributions made by each talented recipient.
The Spiral ... stands for imagination, the power of an idea.
The Hand ... holds the gifts of skill, discipline and craftsmanship.
The Wand and the Star ... represent magic: the spark that is ignited when imagination and skill combine to create a new dream.
The first Disney Legends committee consisted of Dave Smith; Arlene Ludwig; Marty Sklar, Randy Bright; Jack Lindquist; Sharon Harwood; Art Levitt; Shelley Miles; Paula Sigman; Doris Smith; and Stacia Martin.
In 2017 Kermit the Frog Muppeteer Steve Whitmire alleged that the company offered him "consolation prizes" including the Disney Legends award in return for keeping quiet about the details surrounding his termination.
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Recipients
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| October 13, 1987 |
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| Fred MacMurray (1908–1991) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1987 |
Over the years, Fred MacMurray told interviewers he was "a personality, not an actor." Billy Wilder, who directed Fred in such films as Double Indemnity with Barbara Stanwyck and The Apartment with Shirley MacLaine, called him "everybody's nice fellow."
"Fred MacMurray," Wilder said, "gives people the feeling that he's kind to dogs, children, mothers and widows."
A versatile actor, Fred played roles ranging from screwball comedy to romance to film noir. Yet to Disney fans, he is probably best remembered for the befuddled characters he made famous in such films as The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber, in which he played Professor Ned Brainard of Medfield College.
Some who knew Fred say his bewilderment on camera actually reflected his innate shyness off camera.
Born August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, and raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Fred was the son of a concert violinist. After high school, he worked as a band saxophonist and vocalist to pay his way through Carroll College in Wisconsin.
In the late 1920s, Fred moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the California Collegians vocal ensemble. He traveled with the group to appear on Broadway in such shows as Three's a Crowd with Fred Allen, and later was cast as Bob Hope's understudy in Roberta. A Paramount talent scout spotted the blue-eyed Fred and arranged for a screen test, which won him a studio contract. In 1935 he became a movie star, virtually overnight, when he played opposite Claudette Colbert in The Gilded Lily.
Walt Disney personally cast Fred in the Studio's first live-action comedy, The Shaggy Dog. Released in 1959, it was one of the biggest and most unexpected film successes in Disney history. Fred appeared in seven Disney feature films in all, including Bon Voyage with Jane Wyman, Follow Me, Boys! with Vera Miles and Kurt Russell, and The Happiest Millionaire with Greer Garson. This proved to be the last live-action movie supervised by Walt before his untimely death in December 1966. Fred's last Disney film was Charley and the Angel with Harry Morgan, released in 1973.
Fred played leading roles in more than 80 movies during his prestigious career and won a faithful television following as well, playing widower father Steve Douglas in My Three Sons from 1960 to 1972.
Fred MacMurray passed away in Los Angeles in November 1991.
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| July 19, 1989 (All except Iwerks were Disney's "Nine Old Men") |
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| Les Clark (1907–1979) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
While in high school, Les Clark worked a summer job at a lunch counter near the Walt Disney Studio in Hollywood. Walt and Roy Disney used to eat there, and, one day, Les got up the courage to ask Walt for a job.
He recalled Walt's reply, "'Bring some of your drawings in and let's see what they look like.' So, I copied some cartoons and showed them to Walt. He said I had a good line, and why don't I come to work on Monday.
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| "I graduated [from high school] on a Thursday and went to work [the following] Monday." |
Les, who was the first of Walt Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men" (an affectionate term Franklin D. Roosevelt coined for his Supreme Court Justices, which Disney adopted when referring to his key animators), spent the next 48 years of his life animating and directing for Disney.
Born in Ogden, Utah, in 1907, Les attended elementary school in Twin Falls, Idaho, until his family moved to Los Angeles. After graduating from Venice High School in 1927, he joined the company's Ink and Paint Department. Les developed an adept hand at animating Mickey Mouse, beginning with one scene in Mickey's debut film, Steamboat Willie. By 1929, he won his first animation assignment on Disney's first Silly Symphony, The Skeleton Dance. He would later animate a memorable scene in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of Fantasia, when Mickey's sleeves keep falling down as he brings the magical brooms to life.
Les animated on or directed nearly 20 features, including Pinocchio, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, So Dear to My Heart, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Song of the South, Fun and Fancy Free, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp, as well as more than 100 shorts.
After Les served as sequence director on Sleeping Beauty, Walt asked him to direct television specials and educational films. For two decades, Les directed dozens of such productions, including Donald in Mathmagic Land and Donald and the Wheel.
Like Walt, Les didn't believe in resting on his laurels, but in always expanding his talent. As Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston recalled in their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, "Les quietly went ahead perfecting what he did best, constantly at art class working hard to improve and learn. There was much admiration for this quiet, thoughtful man, who came in with no art background yet through sheer determination and desire not only kept up, but helped advance the art with his refinements of many fundamentals."
Les Clark retired from Disney in 1976; he passed away on September 12, 1979.
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| Marc Davis (1913–2000) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1989 |
Animator, artist, Imagineer. Marc Davis dedicated his creative genius to helping Walt Disney realize his dreams, from helping perfect the animated story to creating Disneyland, the world's first theme park. About his years at Disney, Marc once said, "I rarely felt confined to the animation medium. I worked as an idea man and loved creating characters, whether they be for animation or any other medium."
Marc is probably best known as the father of some of Disney's most memorable animated women, including Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. When once asked to choose a favorite among his bevy of grand Disney dames, he replied, "Each of my women characters has her own unique style; I love them all in different ways."
The only child of Harry and Mildred Davis, Marc was born on March 30, 1913, in Bakersfield, California, where his father was engaged in oil field developments. Wherever a new oil boom developed, the family moved with Harry and, as a result, Marc attended more than 20 different schools across the country while growing up.
After high school, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. While studying, Marc spent hours at the zoo drawing animals, which became one of his specialties.
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| His story drawings for Bambi are considered some of the finest studies of animal characters ever created at the Disney Studio. |
Marc joined Disney in 1935 as an apprentice animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and moved on to story sketch and character design on Bambi and Victory Through Air Power. Over the years, he animated on classic Disney features such as Song of the South, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as shorts, including African Diary, Duck Pimples, and Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom.
He later transferred to Disney's design and development organization, today known as Walt Disney Imagineering. As one of Disney's original Imagineers, Marc contributed whimsical story and character concepts for such Disneyland attractions as the Enchanted Tiki Room, it's a small world, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise.
After 43 years with the Studio, Marc retired in 1978, but continued to lend his expertise to the development of Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland. He and his wife, Alice, who designed costumes for the Audio-Animatronics® characters featured in Pirates of the Caribbean and it's a small world, were also long-time supporters of the California Institute of the Arts, which was founded by Walt Disney.
Marc Davis passed away on January 12, 2000, in Glendale, California.
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| Ub Iwerks (1901–1971) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1989 |
Ub Iwerks was known at Disney for his animation genius and technical wizardry—as well as his unusual name. In February 1929, Walt Disney and his New York distributors were extremely pleased with Ub's animation on the Mickey Mouse cartoons, about which Walt wrote a letter to his wife, Lilly: "Everyone praises Ubb's artwork and jokes at his funny name," he wrote. "The oddness of Ubb's name is an asset—it makes people look twice when they see it. Tell Ubb that the New York animators take off their hats to his animation…"
Ubbe Eert Iwwerks was born to German-American parents on March 24, 1901, in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1919, he met fellow employee Walt Disney at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio. Both were 19 years old when, after being laid off, they decided to open their own business. Called Iwerks-Disney Studio Commercial Artists ("Disney-Iwerks," they decided, sounded too much like an eyeglass manufacturer), the enterprise lasted only a month before they both accepted jobs at the Kansas City Slide Company.
In 1922, when Walt formed Laugh-O-gram Films, Ub joined him as chief animator. The studio went bankrupt, however, and, two years later, Ub followed Walt to Hollywood. There, he joined the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio to help produce the Alice Comedies series.
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| Ub is credited with sketching Mickey Mouse for the first time, and he served as chief directing animator for the Silly Symphony series before branching out on his own in 1930. |
As an animator, Ub worked at record-breaking speed. He animated the first Mickey Mouse silent cartoon, Plane Crazy, entirely by himself within a three-week period, completing as many as 700 drawings a day. (Today, the average animator produces 80 to 100 drawings a week.)
After 10 years, Ub returned to the Studio, where he focused on technical development. As Disney's resident technical wizard, Ub invented technology that would revolutionize feature animation. One of his creations was the multi-head optical printer, used to combine live action and animated footage in Melody Time and Song of the South. He later won two Academy Awards® for designing an improved optical printer and for collaborating on the perfection of color traveling matte photography. It was primarily due to Ub's innovations that the Disney Studio moved to the forefront of photographic effects.
During the 1960s, Ub contributed his genius to the development of Disney theme park attractions, including it's a small world, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and The Hall of Presidents. Towards the end of his life, he devoted his time to the creation of innovations for the upcoming Walt Disney World project.
Ub Iwerks passed away on July 7, 1971, in Los Angeles.
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| Ollie Johnston (1912–2008) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
Animator Ollie Johnston infused an unusual level of warmth and heartfelt emotion into his characters. As lifelong friend and fellow animator and Disney Legend Frank Thomas recalled, "Ollie was the only one of the Studio animators who was sensitive to character relationships and how they affected story." Explained Frank: "Back then, cartoon characters seldom touched unless they hit each other. But one day Ollie said, 'You know, the act of two people holding hands communicates in a powerful way.' And he was right. His warmth made a difference in so many of our characters."
Ollie animated such memorable friendships as those of Baloo and Mowgli in The Jungle Book and the sycophantic relationship between Sir Hiss and Prince John in Robin Hood. And he valued his own relationship with the characters he animated, including Thumper from Bambi, Mr. Smee from Peter Pan, and the trio of fanciful fairies from Sleeping Beauty. "They were all good friends whom I remember fondly," he once said.
Born in Palo Alto, California, on October 31, 1912, Ollie attended grammar school on the campus of Stanford University, where his father served as professor of romance languages. After graduating from Palo Alto High School, he returned to Stanford and spent his last year of study at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
On January 21, 1935, Ollie joined the Walt Disney Studio as an apprentice animator, working on early Disney shorts such as Mickey's Garden and The Tortoise and the Hare, which won an Academy Award® for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). He went on to work as animator and directing animator on more than 24 feature films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Song of the South, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty.
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| An avid train enthusiast, Ollie created a backyard railroad at his home and was instrumental in helping stir Walt Disney's own personal interest in trains. |
After 43 years with the Studio, Ollie retired in 1978. He went on to co-author four books with Frank Thomas, beginning with the definitive Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. This was followed by Too Funny for Words: Disney's Greatest Sight Gags, Walt Disney's Bambi: The Story and the Film, and The Disney Villain.
He and Frank were the subjects of the 1995 documentary Frank and Ollie, which chronicles their unique friendship from its beginnings at Stanford to their creative relationship at Disney. That same year, Disney artists paid tribute to the legendary animators in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, which featured a villain whimsically named "Dr. Frankenollie." Frank and Ollie also made vocal cameos in two animated features by director Brad Bird, 1999's The Iron Giant and the 2004 Pixar Animation Studios film The Incredibles.
On November 10, 2005, Ollie was presented the prestigious National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush at a ceremony in the Oval Office.
Ollie passed away on April 14, 2008, in Sequim, Washington—the last surviving member of Walt's legendary "Nine Old Men."
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| Milt Kahl (1909–1987) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
Fellow animators recognized the extraordinary draftsmanship of Milt Kahl early in his Disney career. Fellow animator and Disney Legend Ollie Johnston recalled how, during the making of Pinocchio, a senior animator at the time responded to Milt's drawings. Ollie said, "One morning Freddie Moore burst into my room saying, 'Hey, you ought to see the drawings [of Pinocchio] this guy Milt Kahl is doing.'" Walt Disney recognized Milt's talent as well, and named him supervising animator over the artists who brought Pinocchio to life.
Years later, when The Sword in the Stone director and Disney Legend Woolie Reitherman saw Milt's first rough drawings of Merlin the magician and Madame Mim, he reportedly turned to Milt and said, "These things look so beautiful, they could hang in a museum." To this, Milt responded with a characteristic "Aw… You're full of it!"
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| Because Milt was so good at his craft, he was often assigned the toughest of Disney tasks: animating human characters, such as Peter Pan, Alice of Alice in Wonderland, and Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. |
He was just as adept at animating animal characters, including Bambi, the snooty llama from Saludos Amigos, and Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear in Song of the South.
Milt was born in San Francisco in 1909, and later attended school in the city. He cut his high school education short, however, to pursue his dream of becoming a magazine illustrator or cartoonist. While studying art, he worked retouching photos and pasting up layouts at the now defunct Oakland Post-Enquirer, followed by the San Francisco Bulletin. Milt then started his own commercial art business, which limped along after the Great Depression hit. During this time, he saw the Disney short Three Little Pigs at a local theater and became mesmerized by the possibilities of this exciting young art form called "animation."
In June 1934, Milt applied to the Walt Disney Studio and was hired to work as an assistant animator on such shorts as Mickey's Circus, Lonesome Ghosts, and The Ugly Duckling, which won an Oscar® for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). Over the years, Milt contributed to such Disney features as Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, and The Rescuers, among others.
After nearly 40 years with Disney, Milt retired from the Studio in 1976. He then returned to his native Bay Area to pursue other interests, including sculpting delicate wire into human figures, such as dancing ballerinas.
Milt Kahl passed away on April 19, 1987, in Mill Valley, California.
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| Ward Kimball (1914–2002) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1989 |
While some Disney animators sought to touch the hearts of audiences, Ward Kimball sought to astound. As he once explained to a reporter, "Old Wardie got into audience's hearts his own way. He made them laugh."
Fellow Disney Legend Eric Larson once wrote of Ward's animation style: "A powerful caricaturist of mood and action, Ward often used the same approach in his scene planning and cutting, as was shown in the first meeting of Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito in The Three Caballeros. The action and cutting was wild, woolly, and humorous."
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on March 4, 1914, Ward's first recognizable drawing as a child was of a steam locomotive.
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| He once said that his mother called him a "marked" baby because of his early obsession with railroads, a theme that would resonate throughout his life. |
After high school, Ward set his mind upon becoming a magazine illustrator and enrolled at the Santa Barbara School of Art in California. While there, however, he happened to catch Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs at a local matinee and, with portfolio in hand, Ward headed for Hollywood.
He joined the Walt Disney Studio in 1934, and contributed to most of its animated features up until his retirement in 1972. Among the many memorable Disney characters he brought to life were Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland, and Lucifer the Cat in Cinderella.
Ward also directed two Academy Award®-winning short subjects, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom—the first CinemaScope cartoon—and It's Tough to Be a Bird, which combined both live action and animation. During the 1950s, he produced and directed three one-hour space films for the Disneyland television show. The first of his television productions, Man in Space, was given a command performance before President Dwight Eisenhower.
During the 1960s, Ward helped write the story and script treatment for Walt's first live-action musical fantasy, Babes in Toyland, for which he directed the stop-motion toy sequences. A trombone-player, Ward led several fellow Disney employees in the internationally known Dixieland jazz band Firehouse Five Plus Two. He also restored and operated a full-size locomotive on his two-acre orange grove, and was instrumental in sparking Walt Disney's own interest in backyard railroads.
After retirement, Ward consulted with Walt Disney Imagineering on theme park projects such as the World of Motion pavilion at Epcot Center.
Ward passed away on July 8, 2002, in Los Angeles, California, at age 88. In 2005, the Disneyland Railroad named their newly acquired Engine No. 5 the Ward Kimball in his memory. Famously, the handprints Ward left on his Disney Legend plaque feature an extra finger, a reminder of his sterling sense of humor.
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| Eric Larson (1905–1988) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
Toward the end of his enduring career at The Walt Disney Studios, animator Eric Larson became a gentle and devoted mentor to the next generation of up-and-coming Disney artists. Former student Andreas Deja, who animated such Disney characters as Jafar from Aladdin and Scar in The Lion King, remembered Eric as "the best animation teacher ever." "No one was more concerned with passing on the Disney legacy than Eric," Deja once said.
In the late 1970s, Eric expanded the Studio's Talent Program to find and train new and talented animators from colleges and art schools across the nation. This program, which still exists today, came at a crucial juncture in Disney's history, when many veteran animators were stepping down from their drawing boards. Subsequently, through his close work with young animators, Eric helped preserve the integrity of Disney animation for generations to come.
Born in Cleveland, Utah, in 1905, Eric avidly read comic humor magazines, such as Punch and Judge, while growing up on the plains. After high school, he went on to major in journalism at the University of Utah. While there, Eric edited the campus magazine and won a reputation as a creative humorist in both literature and graphic arts. He also sketched cartoons, which appeared in the local Deseret News.
After graduation, Eric traveled around America for a year freelancing for various magazines and, in 1933, landed in Los Angeles. There, he developed an adventure serial for KHJ Radio, called The Trail of the Viking.
That same year, taking the advice of a friend who was familiar with his exceptional drawing skill, Eric decided to submit some of his sketches to the Walt Disney Studio.
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| He was hired as an assistant animator, and his journalism aspirations changed for good. |
Over the years, Eric animated on such feature films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and The Jungle Book, as well as nearly 20 shorts and six television specials. Later, he served as a consultant on The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective.
After 52 years at Disney, Eric retired in 1986. In an interview at that time, he said, "The important thing is not how long I've been here, but how much I've enjoyed it and what I've accomplished in all that time. When I think about my contribution to the animation that people enjoy so much, it makes me feel good."
Eric Larson passed away in La Cañada Flintridge, California, on October 25, 1988.
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| John Lounsbery (1911–1976) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
John Lounsbery had his own special way of looking at things, according to fellow animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. In their book, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, they wrote that no matter how bad a situation might be, John could always make "some funny observation to lighten the situation."
And while shy by nature, John created animated characters that were anything but. Thomas and Johnston wrote, "Hardly subtle, John's characters were always fun to watch."
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| In fact, John once said that one of his all-time favorite characters was the bold and unabashed Ben Ali, the dancing alligator, who starred in the "Dance of the Hours" sequence of Fantasia. |
Other memorable characters he animated include the "less-than" Honest John from Pinocchio, faithful Timothy the mouse in Dumbo, and the ever-so-jolly Tony the cook from Lady and the Tramp.
The youngest of three sons, John was born March 9, 1911, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Colorado, where he enjoyed winter sports, drawing and summer trips to the mountains. After graduating from East Denver High School, he enrolled in the Art Institute of Denver, where he received his diploma in 1932. That same year, John moved to Los Angeles; there, he worked as a freelance commercial artist while attending illustration courses at the Art Center School of Design. One of the school's instructors spotted John's talent and pointed him in the direction of the Walt Disney Studio, which was searching for artists at the time.
In 1935, John joined Disney's animation team and, for several years, he specialized in "Pluto" shorts, such as Pluto's Playmate, Pluto at the Zoo, and Private Pluto, among others. Later, he was promoted to directing animator on such classic Disney films as Dumbo, Song of the South, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Robin Hood.
He also served as directing animator on such beloved Pooh featurettes as Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, which won an Academy Award® in the category of Best Short Subject (Cartoons). John also directed Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, which earned an Oscar® nomination.
John Lounsbery passed away on February 13, 1976, in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, he was still giving Disney his all as one of the directors of the animated feature The Rescuers.
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| Wolfgang Reitherman (1909–1985) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman once described himself as "full of life and ginger," and his animation as having "vitality and … quality." Woolie's boundless energy and personality did indeed spill over into his animation; with an unusual knack for action sequences, Woolie animated such memorable sequences as the dramatic dinosaur battle in Fantasia, the climactic whale-chase scene in Pinocchio, and the fire-breathing clash between Prince Phillip and the Dragon in Sleeping Beauty.
Born in Munich, Germany, on June 26, 1909, Woolie came to the United States as an infant and was raised in Sierra Madre, California. Fascinated with airplanes and flying, he attended Pasadena Junior College with the intent of becoming an aircraft engineer and, later, took a job at Douglas Aircraft. In 1931, however, Woolie changed his career flight path when he decided to become an artist and enrolled at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles to study watercolor. While there, he met an instructor who taught classes at the Walt Disney Studio and, in 1933, Woolie joined the Company's animation department.
Woolie once said about animation: "It was a romance from the start. "The minute you know you can make a drawing move, the static drawing loses its appeal: movement is life.
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| "Animation represents the greatest breakthrough in 20th-century art." |
During World War II, Woolie left the Studio to enlist with the U.S. Army Air Forces. He became an ace pilot, serving in Africa, India, China, and the South Pacific, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he returned to the Studio.
Over the years, Woolie contributed to more than 30 Disney shorts including Water Babies, Mickey's Fire Brigade, and Donald in Mathmagic Land. He also contributed his animation skill to such classic animated features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, and more.
In 1963, Woolie became the first animator in the history of the company to be given the directorial reins of an entire animated feature, with The Sword in the Stone. Among the films he directed include The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), and Robin Hood (1973). He also directed the cartoon featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, which won an Academy Award® in 1969.
After Walt Disney's untimely death in 1966, Woolie helped unify the Studio's stable of egos and talent. As fellow animator Frank Thomas recalled, Woolie was a "very strong leader" during that unsettling time. After nearly 50 years with the Studio, Woolie retired in 1981.
Woolie Reitherman passed away on May 22, 1985, in Burbank, California.
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| Frank Thomas (1912–2004) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1989 |
Animator Frank Thomas instilled vivid personality into his characters. He drew some of Disney animation's most memorable, as well as touching, moments, including the Dwarfs crying at Snow White's bier, Bambi and Thumper learning how to ice skate, and the charming spaghetti-eating sequence in Lady and the Tramp.
To Frank, personality was always the key to successful animation. As he once said:
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| "Until a character becomes a personality, it cannot be believed. |
Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal."
Born on September 5, 1912, Frank was raised in Fresno, California, where his father was President of Fresno State College. By age nine, Frank already knew what he wanted to do in life; he once recalled asking his father how he could make money just drawing pictures. By the time he was a sophomore at Fresno State, his interest in art expanded to motion pictures. As a class project, Frank wrote and directed a movie spoofing college life, which played in local theaters.
After finishing his education at Stanford University, Frank went on to study at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. While living in a rooming house in Hollywood, he met another young Stanford graduate who worked as an artist at the Walt Disney Studio. The artist told Frank about a job opening and, on September 24, 1934, he joined Disney as employee no. 224, assigned to work on the short Mickey's Elephant.
Over the years, Frank worked on nearly 20 animated features including Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, as well as numerous shorts. He also accompanied Walt Disney and a select group of artists on a goodwill tour of South America in 1941 on behalf of the American Government, which inspired the films Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.
In his spare time, Frank played piano with the internationally famous "Firehouse Five Plus Two" jazz band, along with fellow Disney artists including Ward Kimball.
After nearly 45 years with the Studio, Frank retired in 1978. He went on to co-author four books with lifelong friend and fellow animator Ollie Johnston, including the definitive Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, Too Funny For Words: Disney's Greatest Sight Gags, Walt Disney's Bambi: The Story and the Film, and The Disney Villain.
He and Ollie were also the subjects of the 1995 documentary Frank and Ollie, which chronicles their unique friendship from its beginnings at Stanford to their creative relationship at Disney. That same year, Disney artists paid tribute to the legendary animators in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, which featured a villain whimsically named "Dr. Frankenollie." Frank and Ollie also made vocal cameos in two animated features by director Brad Bird, 1999's The Iron Giant and the 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles.
Frank Thomas passed away on September 8, 2004, in La Cañada Flintridge, California.
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All except Iwerks were Disney's "Nine Old Men".
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| October 18, 1990 |
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| Roger Broggie (1908–1991) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1990 |
As Walt Disney's original Imagineer, Roger Broggie built everything from steam locomotives to electronic robots that could sing and dance. Gifted with mechanical genius, there wasn't anything Roger couldn't do or figure out how to do. He epitomized the essence of Disney Imagineering—"the blending of creative imagination and technical know-how."
When Roger was honored at the Disney Legends Awards on October 18, 1990, company Chairman Michael Eisner said, "Any mechanical things you had to do, what you said was, 'Call Roger, he'll know how to fix it.' Without him, Disneyland wouldn't have happened."
Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1908, Roger graduated from Mooseheart High School in Illinois in 1927. Having received vocational machine shop training, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked for such companies as Technicolor and Bell and Howell. In 1932, he built and operated a rear-projection system for Teague Process Company at General Service Studios. During this period, Roger worked on films for Walter Wanger, David O. Selznick, and Charlie Chaplin.
By invitation of a friend who worked at Disney, Roger joined the Studio as a precision machinist in 1939. Among his first assignments was installing the complicated multiplane animation camera equipment at Disney's new Burbank lot. He later worked closely with fellow Disney Legend Ub Iwerks to develop rear-screen special effects, camera cranes, and high-speed optical printers.
In 1949, Roger helped Walt build his own miniature trains in the Studio Machine Shop and went on to install Walt's backyard railroad at his Holmby Hills home. Later, Roger was instrumental in developing the Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad in Anaheim.
Roger was promoted to head of the Studio Machine Shop in 1950. Under his able direction, the shop's responsibilities expanded in four years from creating special effects for films such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to producing attractions for Disneyland. These included the Monorail system and Matterhorn Bobsleds, as well as new film processes and techniques like Circle-Vision 360—a motion picture format with screens that completely surround the audience.
In 1951, Walt assigned Roger to work on "Project Little Man;" along with fellow Imagineer Wathel Rogers, Roger constructed a nine-inch tall figure of a man that moved and talked; it became the prototype of Audio-Animatronics® technology. In 1963, Roger and his department completed Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the first application of Audio-Animatronics technology to a life-sized human figure. The show premiered at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.
In 1973, Roger turned his attention to planning for EPCOT Center until, after dedicating more than 35 years to the Company, he retired in 1975. The Walt Disney World Railroad steam engine No. 3 is named the Roger E. Broggie in his honor.
Roger Broggie passed away on November 4, 1991, in Los Angeles.
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| Joe Fowler (1894–1993) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1990 |
No matter how implausible the task, retired Admiral Joe Fowler got things done. That is why, in 1954, Walt Disney personally invited the retired ship builder to lead construction of his latest dream—Disneyland. Fellow Disney Legend Bob Matheison once recalled a day when Joe and Walt stood looking at a stage in Adventureland, which featured a waterfall and a dressing room off to the side. According to Bob, "Walt turned to Joe and said, 'I'd like to part the water and let the entertainers come out, and then have the waterfall close behind them.' Joe never batted an eye. He just said, 'Can do, can do.' I know he had no idea how he was going to part the water, but he said it without hesitation—'Can do.' And, by golly, he did it."
Born on July 9, 1894, in Lewiston, Maine, Joe graduated second in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1917. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in naval architecture in 1921. A veteran of both world wars, Joe designed and supervised the building of gunboats in Shanghai, China, during the 1920s; he later designed and built aircraft carriers, including the U.S.S. Lexington and the U.S.S. Saratoga, which were the largest aircraft carriers of World War II. He was also in charge of all U.S. Navy work conducted in the West Coast shipyards during World War II.
While with the military, Joe met such notable figures as Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon Johnson; he even roomed with Edward, Prince of Wales, on a British gun ship steaming up the Yangtze River. After 35 years with the U.S. Navy, Joe had reached the rank of Rear Admiral and retired in 1948—or so he thought.
Within a few years, not long after celebrating his 60th birthday, Joe met Walt Disney through a mutual friend and soon began his successful 25-year career with Walt Disney Productions.
Joe oversaw construction of Disneyland and went on to manage its operations after it opened. Appropriately, Walt also cast him as technical advisor of the award-winning live-action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
During the 1960s and '70s, Joe was charged with the Herculean task of planning and building Walt Disney World. At one point during the Florida project, Joe held three posts, simultaneously: senior vice president, engineering and construction, for Walt Disney Productions; chairman of the board of WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering; and director of construction for Disney's Buena Vista Construction Company.
Joe retired from Disney in 1978. He passed away on December 3, 1993, at age 99, in Orlando, Florida. Tributes to the Admiral can still be found in the parks that he helped build; the harbor used as dry dock for Disneyland's S.S. Columbia and paddle wheeler Mark Twain is dubbed "Fowler's Harbor," and features a building known as Fowler's Inn. At Walt Disney World, one of the ferries that transports guests across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom was re-christened the Admiral Joe Fowler in his honor.
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| John Hench (1908–2004) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1990 |
John Hench was Disney's Renaissance artist. Imagineer, philosopher, animator, designer, storyteller, voracious reader (52 magazines a month!), and teacher, John was always quick to share the lessons he learned from his own mentor—Walt Disney.
He recalled one of those lessons: "Walt always said, 'You get down to Disneyland at least twice a month and you walk in the front entrance, don't walk in through the back. Eat with the people. Watch how they react to the work you've done down there.' This made an enormous difference in how we approached our work."
As senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, John carried on Walt's ideals and standards. Sandy Huskins, his assistant and confidante for more than 25 years, once said:
"Sometimes John says, 'Tomorrow, we're going to the Park,' and we'll go down, stand in line, and pretend we're guests. I always come back with a full load of notes."
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1908, John attended the Art Students League in New York City and received a scholarship to Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. He also attended the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
In 1939, he joined Disney as a sketch artist in the story department, working first on Fantasia. Always eager to learn, John accepted a variety of tasks over the years, including painting backgrounds on Dumbo and creating layouts for The Three Caballeros. His other film credits include art supervision on Make Mine Music, cartoon art treatments for So Dear To My Heart, color and styling for Peter Pan, and animation effects for The Living Desert.
In 1954, his special effects work on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea earned John an Oscar®. That same year, he left the Studio to work at what is today known as Walt Disney Imagineering. His first assignment was to design attractions for the original Tomorrowland in Disneyland.
Later, in 1960, John worked closely with Walt in developing the pageantry for the opening and closing ceremonies and daily presentations for the VIII Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley, as well as designing the iconic Olympic Torch. John worked on attractions for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, before going on to help master plan Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. He was a key figure in the conceptualization and creation of Epcot Center, and developed ideas for theme parks including Disney's California Adventure, Animal Kingdom, and Tokyo DisneySea.
John was also Mickey Mouse's official corporate portrait artist, having painted Mickey's portrait for his 25th (1953), 50th (1978), 60th (1988), 70th (1998), and 75th (2003) birthdays.
In 2004, John celebrated his 65th year with the company. He passed away on February 5, 2004, in Burbank, still working full-time for Disney at age 95.
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| Richard Irvine (1910–1976) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1990 |
In 1952, Walt Disney hired art director Richard "Dick" Irvine away from 20th Century Fox to act as liaison between Walt Disney Productions and an architectural firm being considered to design Disneyland. After a few preliminary meetings with the architects, however, Dick and Walt concluded that the people who could best design the Magic Kingdom were members of Walt's own staff.
Walt Disney Imagineering Senior Vice President John Hench recalled, "Because Dick had worked with movie set designs, creating structures and settings, he understood our needs more than standard architects, such as 'forced' perspective, making things smaller to give the illusion of being farther away, and other optical values."
Dick was convinced that Disney motion picture artists, art directors, and technicians, with their imaginative know-how and theatrical experience, could produce an outstanding theme park. And so Walt proceeded with his own staff, forming what is now known as Walt Disney Imagineering—the design and engineering arm of the Company charged with developing theme parks.
In launching the world's first theme park, Dick helped establish and lead the new team of artists, architects, designers, and engineers, known as Imagineers.
With such a brilliant staff of dreamers and doers on board, anything seemed possible; as Dick once recalled, "Heavens! The dream was wide open."
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 5, 1910, Dick moved with his family to Southern California in 1922. The son of a prominent Los Angeles ophthalmologist, he attended Stanford University and the University of Southern California, followed by Chouinard Art Institute.
In the early 1930s, he entered the motion picture business and, in 1941, earned an Academy Award® nomination for his art direction on Sundown, a United Artists film directed by Walter Wanger.
Soon after, Dick joined the Walt Disney Studio where he worked for a short time on films that combined live-action footage with animation, such as The Three Caballeros. After World War II he went to Fox, but returned eight years later when Walt asked for his help with Disneyland.
Until his retirement in 1973, Dick headed design and planning for all Disneyland attractions, ranging from Haunted Mansion to Pirates of the Caribbean. He also guided the creation of attractions featured at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, including it's a small world. Dick went on to help shape the master plan and attractions for Walt Disney World and, in 1967, was appointed executive vice president and chief operations officer of WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering).
Richard Irvine passed away on March 30, 1976, in Los Angeles. Walt Disney World's second paddle wheel steamship, the Richard F. Irvine, was named in his honor until it was re-christened Liberty Belle in 1996. Subsequently, one of the ferries that transports guests across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom was re-christened Richard F. Irvine so as to continue to honor Dick's contributions.
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| Herb Ryman (1910–1989) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1990 |
In 1953, Walt Disney asked Herb Ryman to sketch an idea for an amusement park that would appeal to both children and adults. Over a single weekend—and with Walt looking over his shoulder—Herb took a small carbon pencil and illustrated Walt's dreams on paper. Within two years, those dreams were transformed into reality and Disneyland became the first theme park of its kind in the world.
Herb had an uncanny knack for translating Walt's ideas into drawings. Perhaps this was because, like Walt, he was a child at heart. Disney Legend Marty Sklar, a former president of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), once said:
"Herbie was like our own little Tinker Bell at WDI. He was always sprinkling pixie dust on everyone and he never grew up. He had a tremendous curiosity for everything and everybody."
Born June 28, 1910, in Vernon, Illinois, Herbert Dickens Ryman graduated from Chicago Art Institute with honors before moving to Hollywood in 1932. He worked as a storyboard illustrator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on such classics as Mutiny on the Bounty, David Copperfield, and The Good Earth. The latter film, set in China, inspired Herb to take a year off and travel the world. He chronicled his 1937 trip by recording his impressions in a sketchbook.
The next year, back in Los Angeles, Herb met Walt Disney for the first time at a gallery exhibit of his work. Walt was so impressed with the paintings on display that he invited Herb to join the Walt Disney Studio. While Herb went on to serve as an art director for such feature-length animated classics as Fantasia and Dumbo, Disneyland became the centerpiece of his Disney career. Among his contributions were designs for Main Street, U.S.A., Sleeping Beauty Castle and New Orleans Square. In 1988, his 1964 painting of New Orleans Square was selected by the State Department for display at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Herb also contributed concepts for the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and for attractions featured at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
A prolific artist outside of Disney, Herb produced watercolors, oil paintings, acrylics, and charcoal sketches that were collected by such luminaries as Mrs. William Guggenheim, Cecil B. DeMille, and John and Lionel Barrymore.
Herb retired in 1971 only to return a few years later as a full-time consultant, sketching numerous conceptual drawings for EPCOT Center. His work for that park included detailed park renderings as well as inspirational paintings for the American Adventure and China pavilions, among others. He also developed the popular Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World and the Meet the World attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.
Herb Ryman passed away on February 10, 1989, in Los Angeles, while still at work on ideas for Disneyland Paris.
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| Richard Sherman (1928–2024) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 1990 |
Generations of moviegoers and theme park guests have been introduced to the world of Disney through the songs of Richard and Robert Sherman. Whether they know the names behind the songs or not, you'd be hard pressed to find a person alive who hasn't at one time or another hummed one of the Shermans' unforgettable tunes; even today, they remain the quintessential lyrical voice of Walt Disney.
Richard and Robert Sherman are probably best known for their work on Mary Poppins, for which they won two Oscars®: best score, and best song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee." Another of their songs from the film, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," became a pop hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1965. "Feed the Birds," a lullaby, became one of Walt Disney's all-time favorite songs.
Robert Sherman recalled, "The point of the song—that it doesn't take much to give a little kindness—was what really registered with Walt."
Born in Manhattan on June 12, 1928, Richard's father was Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman, who penned such Depression-era songs as "Potatoes Are Cheaper, Tomatoes Are Cheaper, Now's the Time to Fall in Love," which became one of comedian Eddie Cantor's signature tunes.
After his family moved to Beverly Hills, California, Richard attended Beverly Hills High School before majoring in Music at Bard College. Drafted into the United States Army, he served as conductor for the Army band and glee club, from 1953 until 1955.
In 1951, the Sherman brothers' first song, "Gold Can Buy You Anything But Love," was recorded by cowboy crooner Gene Autry and played daily on his radio show. Their big break came in 1958, when Mouseketeer Annette Funicello recorded their song "Tall Paul," which shot up to number seven on the charts and sold 700,000 singles.
The Sherman brothers went on to write a string of top ten hits for Annette, including "Pineapple Princess," until Walt Disney took notice and hired them as staff composers.
Over the years, they contributed to such films as The Parent Trap, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and the entire Winnie the Pooh series, including Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. They also contributed to television shows, such as Zorro and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
During the Sherman brothers' 13-year career at Disney (1960-73), they received four Academy Award® nominations and a Grammy® award and wrote more than 200 songs for 27 films and two dozen television productions. They also contributed music for a number of theme park attractions, including Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room and the iconic song "It's a Small World"—one Richard refers to as "a prayer for peace." Among their last projects before leaving Disney were songs for Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland, which included the whimsical "One Little Spark" and the catchy "Meet the World."
In 1992, Disney Records released a retrospective collection of their music, The Sherman Brothers: Disney's Supercalifragilistic Songwriting Team. The brothers returned to the Studio in 1998 to compose music for The Tigger Movie; they also penned their autobiography, Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond. In 2009, a second compilation of Sherman hits, The Sherman Brothers Songbook, was released, and their life stories were told in the documentary film The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story.
Richard is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts at the White House in 2008.
About their Disney career, Richard said, "There's a line in Mary Poppins that says, 'A man has dreams of walking with giants to carve his niche in the edifice of time.' At Disney, we walked with giants."
Richard M. Sherman passed away on May 25, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California, at age 95. Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, paid tribute to the legendary songwriter by saying, in part, "Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives."
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| Robert Sherman (1925–2012) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 1990 |
Generations of moviegoers and theme park guests have been introduced to the world of Disney through the songs of the Sherman brothers. Whether they know the names behind the songs or not, you'd be hard pressed to find a person alive who hasn't at one time or another hummed one of the Shermans' timeless tunes; even today, they remain the quintessential lyrical voice of Walt Disney.
Richard and Robert Sherman are probably best known for their work on Mary Poppins, for which they won two Oscars®: best score, and best song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee." Another of their songs from the film, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," became a pop hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1965. "Feed the Birds," a lullaby, became one of Walt Disney's all-time favorite songs.
Robert Sherman recalled, "The point of the song—that it doesn't take much to give a little kindness—was what really registered with Walt."
Born in Manhattan on December 19, 1925, Robert's father was Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman, who penned such Depression-era songs as "Potatoes Are Cheaper, Tomatoes Are Cheaper, Now's the Time to Fall in Love," which became one of comedian Eddie Cantor's signature tunes.
After the family moved to Beverly Hills in 1937, Robert attended Beverly Hills High School, where he wrote and produced radio and stage plays. He joined the United States Army in 1943 at the age of 17, and led the first squad of men to liberate the Dachau concentration camp in 1945. Soon thereafter he was shot in the knee and added a Purple Heart to his many decorations; he recuperated in Britain, where he developed a lifelong love of English culture.
Upon his return to the United States, he attended Bard College and obtained degrees in English Literature and Painting in 1949. He would continue to write and paint for the rest of his life.
In 1951, the Sherman brothers' first song, "Gold Can Buy You Anything But Love," was recorded by cowboy crooner Gene Autry and played daily on his radio show. Their big break came in 1958, when Mouseketeer Annette Funicello recorded their song "Tall Paul," which shot up to number seven on the charts and sold 700,000 singles.
The Sherman brothers went on to write a string of top 10 hits for Annette, including "Pineapple Princess," until Walt Disney took notice and hired them as staff composers. Over the years, they contributed to such films as The Parent Trap, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and the entire Winnie the Pooh series, including Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. They also contributed to television shows, such as Zorro and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
During the Sherman brothers' 13-year career at Disney (1960-73), they received four Academy Award® nominations and a Grammy® award and wrote more than 200 songs for 27 films and two dozen television productions. They also contributed music for a number of theme park attractions, including Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room and the iconic song "It's a Small World"—one Richard refers to as "a prayer for peace." Among their last projects before leaving Disney were songs for Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland, which included the whimsical "One Little Spark" and the catchy "Meet the World."
In 1992, Disney Records released a retrospective collection of their music, The Sherman Brothers: Disney's Supercalifragilistic Songwriting Team. The brothers returned to the Studio in 1998 to compose music for The Tigger Movie; they also penned their autobiography, Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond. In 2009, a second compilation of Sherman hits, The Sherman Brothers Songbook, was released, and their life stories were told in the documentary film The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story.
Robert is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts at the White House in 2008.
About their Disney career, his brother Richard said, "There's a line in Mary Poppins that says, 'A man has dreams of walking with giants to carve his niche in the edifice of time.' At Disney, we walked with giants."
Robert Sherman passed away on March 5, 2012, in London, England. He had moved to London in 2002, and had continued to write, paint, and collaborate with his brother Richard from afar. His son Jeffrey Sherman paid tribute to his father by saying he "wanted to bring happiness to the world and, unquestionably, he succeeded."
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| October 22, 1991 |
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| Ken Anderson (1909–1993) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1991 |
Walt Disney often referred to Ken Anderson as his "Jack of All Trades." Over the years, Ken used his skills as architect, artist, animator, storyteller, and designer to masterful ends in several different areas of the Disney entertainment spectrum. Always focused on challenge and growth, Ken once said his desire was not so much to achieve, as to "be able to constantly improve."
Born in Seattle, Washington, on March 17, 1909, Ken attended the University of Washington and won a scholarship that allowed him to advance his studies in Europe. There, he earned a degree in architecture. Ken then returned to California to work as a sketch artist at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he contributed to such films as Greta Garbo's The Painted Veil.
In 1934, Ken was driving past the Walt Disney Studio when, on a whim, he pulled over to apply for a job.
The next thing he knew, he was working on Silly Symphonies; these included The Goddess of Spring and Three Orphan Kittens, which won an Academy Award® for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
His first feature assignment was as art director for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; to help other animators visualize the film's settings dimensionally, Ken built models of the Dwarfs' cottage. Even Dopey's memorable wiggling ears were inspired by his own ability to do so.
Ken went on to serve as art director on Pinocchio, Fantasia, and The Reluctant Dragon. While working on Song of the South, he contributed technical innovations related to the film's combination of live-action footage and animation; he later improved upon these techniques as animation art director for Pete's Dragon.
Among Ken's character creations were the villainous Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, as well as the playful dragon Elliott in Pete's Dragon. His impressive roster of Disney credits also includes story contributions to Melody Time, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book, and his color styling greatly influenced Alice in Wonderland. Ken's layouts were pivotal to the staging and design of Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. He also led the production design of Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and The Aristocats.
During the 1950s, Walt tapped Ken's knowledge of architecture, perspective, and art direction to help realize Disneyland. His concept drawings and design work contributed to such popular Fantasyland attractions as Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Storybook Land.
After 44 years with the Company, Ken retired in 1978. He continued to work with Walt Disney Imagineering on special projects, including the proposed Equatorial Africa Pavilion for Epcot Center, which he developed in collaboration with author Alex Haley.
Ken Anderson passed away on December 13, 1993, in La Cañada Flintridge, California.
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| Julie Andrews Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1991 |
Julie Andrews was "practically perfect in every way" as Mary Poppins. In her feature film debut, she bowled audiences over with her charm and sense of fun and, as a result, won an Oscar® for Best Actress of 1964.
As film critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his book The Disney Films, Julie captured "every nuance" of author P.L. Travers's iconic character. Judith Crist, of the New York Herald Tribune, blurred the distinction between character and actress, writing, "Although she [Mary] pokes her pretty fingers into a world of sticky sweetness, she almost invariably pulls out a plum. All speeches and cream, with a voice like polished crystal, she seems the very image of a prim young governess who might spend her free Tuesdays skittering off to Oz." Indeed, Julie was the very image of Mary Poppins and, to many Disney fans, she remains the magical nanny of their dreams.
Julie was born on October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, England.
During World War II, when schools were forced to close, she took singing lessons to keep busy and her unusual five-octave vocal range was discovered.
By age 12, Julie astounded an audience at the London Hippodrome when she performed a difficult operatic aria as part of the "Starlight Roof" revue. She went on to appear in a variety of shows including Cinderella at the London Palladium and The Boy Friend on Broadway, which led to her triumphant stage role as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Walt Disney first spotted Julie in the early 1960s when she was starring as Queen Guinevere in Camelot on Broadway. After seeing Julie perform, Walt made a beeline backstage to offer her the title role in his upcoming musical fantasy. Mary Poppins went on to garner 13 Academy Award® nominations and win five, including Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Julie's award for Best Actress in a Leading Role was the first competitive Oscar® ever won by an actor in a Disney film.
As one of Julie's most enthusiastic supporters, Walt allowed rival producer Martin Ransohoff to view her rushes for Mary Poppins; this lead to her next film role in The Americanization of Emily." She then appeared in one of Hollywood's top-grossing films of all time, The Sound of Music. Directed by Robert Wise, the now-classic musical brought Julie another Oscar nomination. Among her other screen credits are Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Victor/Victoria, for which she won yet another Oscar nomination in 1982. She reprised the famous role on Broadway in the mid-1990s.
With the new millennium, Julie renewed her relationship with Disney by starring in a pair of hit family films, 2001's The Princess Diaries and 2004's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. She even portrayed another literary nanny, appearing in two Disney telefilms based on author Kay Thompson's "Eloise" books. Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime both premiered in 2003—and brought Julie an Emmy nomination.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, Julie served as the Official Ambassador of the park's 18-month "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" festivities from 2005 until 2006. The next year, she provided narration for the Disney live-action fantasy Enchanted.
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| Carl Barks (1901–2000) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1991 |
As a cartoonist, Carl Barks was no quack—although his characters were. Called "The Duck Man" by many, Carl's name is synonymous with Disney ducks; he dedicated his comic book career to these feathered heroes, retelling the countless exploits of Donald Duck, his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Uncle Scrooge McDuck.
Ironically, when Carl joined the Walt Disney Studio in 1935 and met Donald Duck for the first time, his initial impression of the cantankerous character was that he was "an unintelligible troublemaker that would find very few roles suitable for his temperament." In time, however, Carl said he gained an affinity for Donald and never again judged the Duck by his ruffled feathers.
Born March 27, 1901, and raised on an Oregon farm, Carl worked a variety of jobs, ranging from logger to factory worker, before he became a freelance artist in the 1920s.
A self-taught cartoonist—influenced by the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip—Carl caught wind that the Walt Disney Studio was hiring artists and beat tracks to Hollywood. He joined the animation department in 1935.
Within a few months, Carl moved to the story department where he helped write stories for cartoons, including the Donald Duck shorts Modern Inventions and Timber. In all, Carl collaborated on three dozen Donald Duck cartoons and even helped create Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the 1938 short Donald's Nephews.
In 1942, he began developing comic books, starting with Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold, and continued creating comic books until his retirement in 1966. Probably his most memorable creation over the years is Donald's wealthy uncle, Scrooge McDuck, who debuted in the 1947 story Christmas on Bear Mountain. In 1952, Uncle Scrooge was given his own comic book series, which became a top-seller in the market. Other famous characters of Carl's creation include Gladstone Gander and Gyro Gearloose, as well as McDuck adversaries the Beagle Boys, Flintheart Glomgold, and Magica De Spell.
After more than 25 years chronicling the adventures of Donald and his family, Carl retired from full-time comic book work. He continued to work with the Disney Ducks in a new medium—oil painting. Through 122 paintings and a series of lithographs, Carl brought his "Duckburg U.S.A." clan into the world of fine art.
Still, it's Carl's comic book work for which he is most famous. Towards the end of his career, the public began to take note of comics as an art form, paying greater heed to the writers and artists whose works were originally published anonymously. Once known to fans only as "The Good Duck Artist", Carl's name quickly became famous. He was one of the first inductees into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame in 1987.
Carl's canon of comics continue to live on in one of the most popular animated television series of all time, DuckTales, while his comic books have become highly collectible. On October 22, 1991, when honored at the Disney Legends Awards, the 92-year-old artist won a laugh from the audience when he said, "I want to thank all the kids that bought my comic books for a dime and are now selling them for $2,000."
Carl Barks passed away on August 25, 2000, at age 99, in Grants Pass, Oregon.
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| Mary Blair (1911–1978) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1991 |
An imaginative color stylist and designer, Mary Blair helped introduce modern art to Walt Disney and his Studio, and, for nearly 30 years, he touted her inspirational work for his films and theme parks alike. Animator Marc Davis, who put Mary's exciting use of color on par with Matisse, recalled, "She brought modern art to Walt in a way that no one else did. He was so excited about her work." Animator Frank Thomas added:
"Mary was the first artist I knew of to have different shades of red next to each other. You just didn't do that! But Mary made it work."
Walt connected with Mary's fresh, childlike art style. As Disney Imagineering artist Roland Crump once told animation historian John Canemaker, "The way she painted—in a lot of ways she was still a little girl. Walt was like that… You could see he could relate to children—she was the same way."
Born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1911, the inherently gifted artist won a scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. After graduation in 1933, at the height of the Depression, Mary took a job in the animation unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer rather than pursue her dream of a fine arts career. In 1940, she joined the Walt Disney Studio and worked on a number of projects, including the "Baby Ballet," a never-produced segment for a proposed second version of Fantasia.
In 1941, she joined the Disney expedition that toured South America for three months; her watercolors so captured the spirit of the Latin countries that she was named art supervisor on The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos. Mary's unique color and styling greatly influenced such Disney postwar productions as Song of the South, Make Mine Music, Melody Time, So Dear to My Heart, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. She also contributed to special shorts, including The Little House and Susie, the Little Blue Coupe.
During a break from Disney, Mary found a successful career as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. Among her works were the illustrations for several Little Golden Books, some of which, including I Can Fly, are still in print today.
Walt later asked Mary to assist in the design of the it's a small world attraction for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair; the final result was an attraction that is purely Mary Blair in its style and concept. Over the years, Mary contributed to the design of many exhibits, attractions, and murals for the theme parks in California and Florida, including the fanciful murals in the Grand Canyon Concourse at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort Hotel.
Mary Blair passed away on July 26, 1978, in Soquel, California.
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| Claude Coats (1913–1992) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1991 |
Among the stable of "enormous" talents at the Walt Disney Studio, Claude Coats stood above the rest—literally. Claude, a background painter, color stylist, and concept designer, stood 6-feet, 6-inches tall. The gentle giant with a warm wit once recalled how Walt used to kid him about his height. Claude said:
"When the Disneyland Stagecoach was completed at the Studio, Walt and a driver were giving rides around the lot, but he wouldn't let me get in. He said I spoiled the scale."
Born January 17, 1913, in San Francisco, California, Claude graduated from the University of Southern California in 1934 with an architecture and fine arts degree. He went on to study at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles before joining the Walt Disney Studio as a background painter in June 1935.
The stunning watercolor background paintings Claude created for Pinocchio continue to be heralded by Disney scholars, fans, and art collectors for the rich and textured beauty they lend to the classic film. He also developed backgrounds and color stylings for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, Victory Through Air Power, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Melody Time, Song of the South, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Fun and Fancy Free, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp.
In 1955, Claude was one of the elite artists and designers Walt selected to help bring Disneyland to life. As a show designer, he was part of the development team for the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Submarine Voyage, among others. Claude also contributed to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair attractions, including Magic Skyway, Carousel of Progress, and it's a small world.
He later helped conceptualize the Magic Kingdom's Mickey Mouse Revue at Walt Disney World and numerous attractions for Epcot Center, including Universe of Energy, World of Motion, Horizons, and several World Showcase pavilions. For Tokyo Disneyland, he helped design Meet the World and the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour.
After a long and happy 54 years with Disney, Claude retired in November 1989. As Walt Disney Imagineering President and Disney Legend Marty Sklar later recalled, "Claude paved the way in turning sketches and paintings into three-dimensional adventures. His energy, curiosity, and drive to create new experiences for our Disney park guests made him a leader and a teacher for all of us. He was a genuine one-of-a-kind."
Claude Coats passed away on January 9, 1992, in Los Angeles.
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| Don DaGradi (1911–1991) Legends Award Category: Animation & Film Year Inducted: 1991 |
Screenwriter Don DaGradi always called himself a "misplaced cartoonist" at heart. He began his career painting backgrounds for Disney animated films and, ultimately, went on to co-script such memorable films as the Academy Award® winning Mary Poppins. Yet it was Don's skill as an artist and his love of visual gags that enhanced the fun and fantasy of Disney's live-action films.
In their book, Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond, songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman described Don as "the sort of guy who wrote with a sketch pad and a charcoal pencil. He could visualize the sequences right there on paper and you could actually see them come to life.
"Almost everything you see [in Mary Poppins]—the entire "Jolly Holiday" sequence, people floating through the air and flying up the chimney—these visions were created by Don DaGradi. Our praise for Don is endless."
Born in 1911 to an Italian father and British mother in New York City, Don grew up in San Francisco, California. He later moved to Los Angeles to study painting at Chouinard Art Institute, and, like many of his fellow students, joined the Walt Disney Studio at the height of the Depression in the mid-1930s.
Before long, the multi-talented artist moved from painting backgrounds to the Story Department, where he wrote for Disney's animated shorts. He went on to serve as art director on such films as Dumbo, and to design layouts for The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, and Melody Time. Don also developed color and styling for such Disney animated classics as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, and later worked on story for Lady and the Tramp and production design for Sleeping Beauty.
In 1959, Don broke into live-action film production when Walt asked him to design the underground cavern sequences for Darby O'Gill and the Little People. He later developed story sketches for Kidnapped and served as sequence consultant on Pollyanna, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Parent Trap.
In 1962, he collaborated with fellow Disney Legend Bill Walsh on the live-action screenplay, Son of Flubber, followed by Mary Poppins. Their overwhelming success on that project led Don and Bill to write additional screenplays, including Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Blackbeard's Ghost, Scandalous John, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Love Bug, and more.
Amidst Don's many contributions to film, Walt also tapped his artistic genius to design costumes, including band uniforms, for Disneyland cast members, and exteriors for attractions including Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. After 34 years with the company, Don retired in 1970.
Don DaGradi passed away on August 4, 1991, in Friday Harbor, Washington.
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| Sterling Holloway (1905–1992) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1991 |
During his nearly 40-year association with The Walt Disney Studios, actor Sterling Holloway supplied narration and character voice-overs for more than twenty Disney animated shorts, features, and television specials. Yet it was his irresistibly childlike portrayal of Disney's "silly old bear," Winnie the Pooh, for which he is most remembered.
Director of Disney Character Voices Rick Dempsey once described the actor's one-of-a-kind vocal quality: "Sterling just had a unique voice—a high-tenor, raspy voice unlike anything you ever heard. He was the first spoken teddy bear."
Born January 14, 1905, in Cedartown, Georgia, Sterling was educated at Georgia Military Academy. At 15, he enrolled in New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts and, upon graduation, appeared in musical revues, vaudeville, and on the radio. He then moved to Hollywood, where he launched his film career, appearing in such silent movies as Casey at the Bat with Wallace Beery. When the advent of talking pictures left many featured players without work, Sterling's distinctive voice brought him prosperity. In the 1930s and '40s, the lanky redhead with a knack for playing country bumpkin roles appeared in such films as Gold Diggers of 1933, with Dick Powell, and Blonde Venus, with Marlene Dietrich. He would go on to make more than 150 film appearances during his lifetime.
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| Before long, Sterling's unusual voice perked the ear of Walt Disney, who invited him to star as the voice of the Messenger Stork in the 1941 animated classic Dumbo. |
His first Disney performance led to subsequent voice roles including the adult Flower in Bambi and the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. Sterling also played Kaa, the hypnotic snake, in The Jungle Book, for which he sang the memorable song "Trust in Me." His most beloved role, however, was as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in such featurettes as the Academy Award®-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.
Among his other Disney film credits, Sterling played Professor Holloway and the Cold-Blooded Penguin in The Three Caballeros and Roquefort in The Aristocats. He also served as narrator for the "Peter and the Wolf" segment of Make Mine Music, and other Disney shorts, including The Pelican and the Snipe, Lambert, the Sheepish Lion, and Susie, the Little Blue Coupe.
In the 1950s and '60s, the actor segued into the budding medium of television, appearing in such popular situation comedies as The Life of Riley and The Baileys of Balboa. Among his Disney television credits, Sterling narrated Christmas at Walt Disney World and The Restless Sea, a combination live-action and animated story of the sea.
Sterling Holloway passed away on November 22, 1992, in Los Angeles.
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| Fess Parker (1924–2010) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1991 |
In the mid-1950s, when Fess Parker first donned a coonskin cap to play the historical character Davy Crockett for a three-part Walt Disney television show, little did he know he was about to become a hero to baby boomers across the nation.
More than 40 years later, in 1997, Fess described the profound influence his popular character had on young viewers.
"Folks tell me over and over how much that character shaped their lives," he said. "I have to believe that the impact of those programs was due as much to the values inculcated in them as to their entertainment quality."
Fess was catapulted to fame almost overnight after "Davy Crockett Indian Fighter," "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress," and "Davy Crockett at the Alamo" debuted on the Disneyland television series, beginning in 1954. Even the ditty he recorded for Disney and RCA records, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," was on the lips of every child in America at that time, winning the actor a gold record. And when Disneyland opened in 1955, Fess's personal appearance on horseback, in character as Davy Crockett, proved to be a huge crowd pleaser.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 18, 1924, Fess grew up on a farm in San Angelo, Texas. Named after his father ("Fess" means "proud" in Old English), he studied law and business administration before graduating from the University of Texas in 1950. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, studying drama at the University of Southern California. Shortly thereafter, he made his film debut in Untamed Frontier, starring Shelley Winters.
In 1954, Walt Disney spotted the actor in a film called Them! and quickly signed Fess to a studio contract. He went on to star in such Disney films as The Great Locomotive Chase, Old Yeller, and The Light in the Forest. He also starred in two additional Davy Crockett television shows, "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" and "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." Much later, in 1978, Fess appeared in NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney.
After leaving Disney, Fess donned his coonskin cap once again to play Daniel Boone. For six years, beginning in 1964, he starred in the popular television series of the same name and directed five of its most popular episodes.
Later, he went on to become a successful businessman and real estate developer. Fess founded the Fess Parker Family Winery and Vineyards in Los Olivos, California, where he could often be found signing his autograph for wine and Disney lovers alike.
Fess Parker passed away on March 18, 2010, at his home near Santa Barbara, California.
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| Bill Walsh (1914–1975) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1991 |
Bill Walsh was one of Walt Disney's top film producers and writers. By 1973, Variety named seven of his feature productions on their list of all-time box office champions, including the Academy Award®-winning musical Mary Poppins, which he co-wrote with fellow Disney Legend Don DaGradi. As a producer, Bill specialized in comedy and fantasy films; as a screenwriter, he infused his genius into character dialogue.
Songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman described Bill in their book Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond, recalling, "Bill was one of the most gifted men ever to have worked for Disney—deft with language and humor!"
Born in New York City on September 30, 1914, Bill attended the University of Cincinnati on an athletic scholarship. There, he began to write for the stage; he later joined Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay's theater company, Tattle Tales, as a rewrite man, earning $12 a week.
In 1934 Bill headed for Hollywood, where he joined the Margaret Ettinger publicity office; there, he wrote press releases and sketched advertisements for everything from the famous Brown Derby Restaurant to Elizabeth Arden Face Cream. One of his clients, Edgar Bergen, invited Bill to write jokes and gags for his famed ventriloquist act. Bergen also happened to be a friend of Walt Disney's.
In 1943, Bill switched from writing gags for Bergen's dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, to writing gags for Disney's Mickey Mouse comic strip. Then, in 1950, Walt asked Bill to write and produce the Studio's first television presentation, One Hour in Wonderland, which served as a promo for the upcoming animated film Alice in Wonderland.
Bill recalled:
"Walt called me in and said he'd decided to go into television and I was the guy who was going to do it. I looked stunned and said, 'But I don't know anything about television.' Walt smiled back at me and said, 'That's okay. Nobody does!'"
Disney's television debut was such a success that Bill went on to produce the popular Mickey Mouse Club and Davy Crockett television programs, among others.
In 1956, Bill switched to live-action features, going on to collaborate on 18 films either as writer, co-producer, or producer. Among them were Westward Ho the Wagons!, Toby Tyler, The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, That Darn Cat!, Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Blackbeard's Ghost, The Love Bug, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
After 32 years with Disney, and shortly after his return from filming One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing in London, Bill Walsh passed away on January 27, 1975, in Los Angeles.
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| October 21, 1992 |
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| Jimmie Dodd (1910–1964) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 1992 |
Always quick with a smile and a song, Jimmie Dodd was the unforgettable host of the Mickey Mouse Club. With his trusty "Mousegetar" in hand, the singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, and actor was a friend to children across the nation. He often transferred his infectious spirit through Doddisms, delightful instruction on the principles of good living, which he shared on each show to "help us all be better Mouseketeers."
According to Lorraine Santoli's The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book, one of Jimmie's favorite Doddisms was from the French philosopher Etienne De Grolier: "I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there by any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." Jimmie practiced this philosophy on and off camera.
As Mouseketeer Sharon Baird remembered, "Jimmie was one of the nicest human beings I've ever known in my life. He was genuine and he didn't speak down to kids, he included them. He was a great person to look up to."
Born March 28, 1910, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jimmie attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and the Schouster-Martin School of Dramatics in Cincinnati. His first professional job was playing guitar and singing his own songs for a St. Petersburg, Florida, radio station. He later appeared with bandleader Louis Prima.
A heart condition kept Jimmie out of the armed services during World War II; however, he and his wife, dancer Ruth Carroll, toured extensively with USO shows. While overseas he met television personality Jinx Falkenburg, who was influential in helping Jimmie make his television debut, first with Arthur Godfrey and later on Jinx's own show.
In the mid-1950s, Jimmie got a call from an old tennis pal, Bill Justice, who worked at the Walt Disney Studio. Bill explained that Walt wanted a special song composed for an animated "pencil" sequence on his television show. So Jimmie wrote and personally performed a little "pencil" ditty for Walt, which won him his role on the Mickey Mouse Club. According to Santoli, Walt suddenly proclaimed, "Hey, Jim is the one who should be on the Mickey Mouse Club!"
A prolific songwriter, Jimmie penned more than 400 songs during his lifetime, including "Rosemary," "Nashville Blues," and "Amarillo." He also wrote more than 30 songs for the Mickey Mouse Club, including the title "Mickey Mouse Club March."
Jimmie Dodd passed away on November 10, 1964, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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| Bill Evans (1910–2002) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1992 |
In 1952, third-generation horticulturist Bill Evans was called to landscape the grounds of Walt Disney's Holmby Hills home as well as the gardens that surrounded his backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific. Little did he know at the time, however, Walt had another task percolating in the back of his mind. In 1954, Walt asked Bill and his brother, Jack, "How about you fellows landscaping Disneyland for me?"
Within a year, Bill helped transform 80 acres of Anaheim orange groves into lush theme park attractions, including the Jungle Cruise. With its canopy of bamboo, ficus, and palms, which tower 70 feet overhead, the two-acre man-made jungle was described by Bill as "the best darn jungle this side of Costa Rica."
Indeed, Bill was known not only for using unusual plants, but for using plants in unusual ways. As Disney Imagineer Terry Palmer explained:
"In the Jungle Cruise, there's a group of orange trees that most people would never recognize because Bill planted them upside down. He decided the gnarled roots of the orange trees looked like suitably exotic jungle branches."
Born June 10, 1910, in Santa Monica, California, Bill's first botanical classroom was his father's three-acre garden. It was filled with exotic plants, including 150 varieties of hibiscus, collected by his father. In 1928, Bill joined the Merchant Marine and, while he traveled the world aboard the S.S. President Harrison, he gathered exotic seeds for his father's garden from distant lands including the West Indies, South Africa, and Australia.
Upon his return from duty, Bill studied at Pasadena City College before proceeding to Stanford, where he majored in geology. His education was cut short, however, by the Great Depression. In 1931, he helped transform his father's garden into a nursery business—Evans and Reeves Landscaping. Their inventory of rare and exotic plants soon caught the attention of Hollywood's elite; among their celebrity clientele were Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, and, ultimately, Walt Disney.
After Disneyland opened in July 1955, Bill stayed on as a consultant, drawing landscape plans, installing materials and supervising maintenance of the Park. Later, he was named director of landscape architecture, working on Disneyland additions and the master plan for Walt Disney World and EPCOT Center.
In 1975, Bill retired from Disney, but was soon summoned back to consult on landscape design for Tokyo Disneyland. He also consulted on the schematic designs for Walt Disney World's Polynesian Resort Hotel, Discovery Island, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney-MGM Studios, and other elements of the Florida resort. He was key in selecting plants for Disneyland Paris and Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.
Bill Evans passed away on August 16, 2002, at the age of 92. He was posthumously awarded the American Society of Landscape Architects Medal for his lifetime of achievements.
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| Annette Funicello (1942–2013) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1992 |
Mouseketeer Annette Funicello won people's hearts with her shy yet friendly smile, and by the end of the first season of the Mickey Mouse Club, her fan mail had ballooned to 6,000 letters a month.
Annette recalled Walt Disney's response to her phenomenal success: "I was about 13 and the fan mail started coming in and he said to me, 'Do you have lots of Italian relatives?' 'No, why?' I replied. 'The amount of mail for you is incredible!'"
Born in Utica, New York, on October 22, 1942, Annette was four when her family moved to Los Angeles. The next year, her mother enrolled her in dance lessons, to help Annette overcome her shy nature.
In 1955, at the age of 12, she performed the lead role in Swan Lake at the Burbank Starlight Bowl. Little did she know at the time, Walt Disney was sitting in the audience; he was there scouting children for his new television show, the Mickey Mouse Club. The next day, Annette's dance school received a call from the Studio asking to see the little girl who played the Swan Queen. Annette soon became the 24th Mouseketeer. She would go on to be cast in several of the show's serials, including Adventures in Dairyland and Spin and Marty.
In 1959, after the Mickey Mouse Club disbanded, Annette was kept on contract with the Walt Disney Studio and went on to appear in many television shows, including Zorro, The Horsemasters, and Elfego Baca, as well as feature films The Shaggy Dog, Babes in Toyland, and The Monkey's Uncle.
She also enjoyed a successful recording career at Disney, recording 15 albums that featured such hit singles as "Tall Paul" and "How Will I Know My Love?" In 1994, Walt Disney Records released a double CD retrospective, Annette: A Musical Reunion With America's Girl Next Door. That same year, her autobiography, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: My Story, written with Patricia Romanowski, was published by Disney's Hyperion Press. The book was made into a telefilm in 1995, featuring Annette in an appearance as herself.
In the early 1960s, Annette starred with teen idol Frankie Avalon in a string of successful movies, produced by American International Pictures, including Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo. In 1987, she teamed up once again with Frankie Avalon, co-producing and starring in the motion picture Back to the Beach, followed by a "Frankie and Annette" concert tour in 1989 and 1990.
In July 1992, Annette publicly disclosed her battle with multiple sclerosis, a crippling disease of the central nervous system. She created the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases, and has since pursued numerous business ventures including the successful Annette Funicello Teddy Bear Company.
After a long and courageous struggle, Annette Funicello passed away on April 8, 2013 in Bakersfield, California. She was 70.
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| Joe Grant (1908–2005) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1992 |
Story artist Joe Grant's lengthy career at The Walt Disney Studios came full circle. In 1940, he contributed to Fantasia and, 50 years later, he fathered the "flamingo with a yo-yo" concept for the "Carnival of the Animals" sequence featured in Fantasia 2000.
In fact, Joe enjoyed two separate careers at Disney. His first began in the early 1930s, when he contributed to the story and character development of such animated classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. Then, in 1949, he left Disney to pursue his own artistic ventures. Years later, in 1989, he received an unexpected phone call from Disney's feature animation department, asking if he would consult on Beauty and the Beast.
Subsequent Disney animated films, such as Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan, benefited from Joe's talent and humor. Former Walt Disney Feature Animation President Thomas Schumacher once said, "Joe is both a creative force and a touchstone. Not only is he among the most prolific artists in feature animation, but he's always willing to let me run an idea by him and I always get an honest assessment. I depend on him as a sounding board for what is appealing, charming and entertaining."
Born in New York City on May 15, 1908, the son of a successful newspaper art editor, Joe was educated in the newsroom by his father. His first professional break came when he was hired as a staff illustrator for The Los Angeles Record, sketching weekly cartoons and caricatures of Hollywood celebrities. His drawings caught the eye of Walt Disney, who hired Joe to design caricatures for Mickey's Gala Premiere in 1933.
Walt eventually invited Joe to join the Studio, where he soon became one of its top writers and gagmen.
He also founded the Character Model Department, where characters were designed and visuals and stories developed. As head of the department, it was often said that no model sheet was official until it bore the seal "O.K., J.G."
Along with his writing partner and fellow Disney Legend Dick Huemer, Joe accompanied Walt and Leopold Stokowski on a retreat to select music for Fantasia and, later, led its story development. He also co-wrote Dumbo, which was inspired by a children's book. During World War II, Joe contributed to many patriotic-themed shorts including the Academy Award®-winning Der Fuehrer's Face. Other early credits included The Reluctant Dragon, Saludos Amigos, Make Mine Music, and Alice in Wonderland.
After his return to the Studio, Joe contributed to the visual and character development of a number of features, including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc.
Joe worked four days a week at Disney until he passed away on May 6, 2005, nine days short of his 97th birthday. His story, alongside that of fellow Disney Legend Joe Ranft, is told in the 2010 book Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Storytellers Joe Grant & Joe Ranft.
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| Jack Hannah (1913–1994) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1992 |
Jack Hannah directed some of the most outrageous animated shorts ever produced by The Walt Disney Studios. Among them were 65 Donald Duck shorts, which have been praised as the funniest of Disney's animated duck tales. Jack's work was honored on numerous occasions by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences; eight of the cartoons he directed were nominated for Oscars®, including Tea for Two Hundred, Toy Tinkers, and No Hunting. Not bad for a guy, who, as Jack said, was hired by Disney on "a two-week tryout that lasted 30 years."
Born January 15, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona, Jack migrated to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art Guild Academy. Among his first jobs was designing movie posters for Hollywood theaters.
Then, in 1933, during the Depression, Jack decided to leave his portfolio with The Walt Disney Studios. He was soon hired as an in-between and clean-up artist, working on Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Silly Symphony cartoons.
Jack received his first animation credit for Gulliver Mickey and, later, served as a key animator on the Academy Award®-winning short The Old Mill. In 1937, he first lent his wild imagination to Donald Duck as an animator on Modern Inventions, and, from then on, devoted much of his work to Disney's duck star.
In 1939, Jack moved from animation to the story department, where he wrote and illustrated tales featuring his feisty, feathered friend. At one point, he even teamed up with Donald Duck comic book artist and fellow Disney Legend Carl Barks to create 27 of Disney's most classic duck shorts. Among Jack's story credits are Donald Gets Drafted, Donald's Vacation, and Trombone Trouble.
He became a director in 1943, introducing the troublesome chipmunks, Chip and Dale, and other antagonists to Donald shorts. He was also instrumental in bringing Disney's duck to television, directing 14 hour-long television shows. Many of these featured Walt Disney talking at his desk with Donald. Jack's television credits include A Day in the Life of Donald Duck, At Home with Donald Duck, and Two Happy Amigos.
Jack retired from the Studio in 1959 to pursue his love for oil painting. His landscapes were exhibited in major art galleries throughout the West; he also had a yen for nurturing new talent and taught many painting classes.
Then, in 1975, he was asked by the Studio to develop and direct the School of Character Animation at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), which Walt Disney helped found. He served at CalArts for eight years.
Jack Hannah passed away on June 11, 1994, in Burbank, California.
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| Winston Hibler (1910–1976) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1992 |
Winston Hibler is probably best known as the friendly voice that narrated Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures films. The veteran producer, however, contributed in many other ways during his nearly 35 years with The Walt Disney Studios.
Affectionately called "Hib" by staff, he produced and co-produced more than 150 films and shared credit on nine Academy Awards® and an Emmy®. Hib also contributed to Disney's rich entertainment legacy as a writer, director, lyricist, and actor. He was inspirational during story meetings; as his colleague Jack Speirs recalled in 1976:
"Hib would very likely be acting out the scene in detail. I think, sometimes, we should have filmed those story conferences because he was such a good actor."
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 8, 1910, Hib planned to seek his fortune in the theater from the time he was 12. In 1930, he graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and performed on Broadway and in summer stock. A year later, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a motion picture career and took up freelance writing for magazines and radio to help supplement his income.
In 1942, Hib joined The Walt Disney Studios as a camera operator, and soon became a technical director on armed service training films that were being produced by Disney for the U.S. government during World War II.
His first pure entertainment work was writing the "Johnny Appleseed" segment of Melody Time. Walt took notice of his talents and assigned him to work on the stories of such animated features as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella.
Along with his writing partner Ted Sears, Hib also composed lyrics for Disney songs, including "Following the Leader" from Peter Pan and "I Wonder" from Sleeping Beauty.
In 1946, when the Studio began producing nature films, Walt cast Hib (and his smooth voice) as narrator of Seal Island, which won an Academy Award. Hib then went on to write and narrate other True-Life Adventures, including The Vanishing Prairie and The Living Desert.
He combined his talent for writing, narrating, and directing on Men Against the Arctic, which won an Academy Award, as well as Operation Undersea, a television special that dramatized the filming of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which won an Emmy in 1955. He also narrated Disney's "People and Places" travelogue series.
Among his other credits, Hib co-produced such films as Perri, Those Calloways, and The Island at the Top of the World.
Winston Hibler passed away on August 8, 1976, in Los Angeles.
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| Ken O'Connor (1908–1998) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1992 |
As a Disney layout artist and art director, Kendall "Ken" O'Connor was a genius; it was his gentle, self-deprecating nature and wry sense of humor that made him a joy to work with. As director T. Hee once recalled, "Ken was a charmer. Being from Australia, he'd make some crazy crack that only an Aussie can do. He was a bright, clever man and a man who enjoyed life. He never got upset about things, but just brushed them aside and kept on going. That made it nice for us to work together."
Fellow Disney Legend Ward Kimball, whose work with Ken included several futuristic films for Disney television shows, added, "Ken arrived at some very interesting solutions… I'd ask him for some quick sketches of, say, how an underwater restaurant would look, and he would come up with some wild ideas."
Born in Perth, Australia, on June 7, 1908, Ken studied commercial art at Melbourne Technical College and fine art at the Australian National Gallery in Melbourne. In 1930, he emigrated with his family to the United States, settling in San Francisco, where he continued his education at the California School of Art.
In 1935 he joined The Walt Disney Studios, where he worked as either art director or layout man on 13 features and nearly 100 shorts.
Among the most memorable images Ken created for the screen were the magical coach in Cinderella, the marching cards in Alice in Wonderland, and the dancing hippos in Fantasia. His other credits include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Make Mine Music, Melody Time, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and more.
During World War II, Ken worked on training and educational films that Disney produced for the United States government, including Food Will Win the War, as well as theatrical cartoons such as Education for Death. Later, he provided layouts for the first 3-D cartoon, Adventures in Music: Melody. He also served as art director on three "space factuals" for Disney's television programs Man in Space, Man and the Moon, and Mars and Beyond. He also art directed the first CinemaScope cartoon, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, which won an Academy Award® in 1953.
After more than 30 years with the company, Ken retired in 1978. He continued to lend his imagination and artistry, however, to such projects as Epcot Center's Universe of Energy and World of Motion attractions. He also consulted on the Back to Neverland [sic] film, featured in the Magic of Disney Animation attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in Florida, which introduced park guests to the animation process. Ken also taught layout and art direction at the California Institute of the Arts, helping influence an entire generation of today's animation greats.
Ken O'Connor passed away on May 27, 1998, in Burbank, California.
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| Roy Williams (1907–1976) Legends Award Category: Animation & Television Year Inducted: 1992 |
In 1930, Roy Williams started his career at The Walt Disney Studios as an artist. He later became a storyman, until, after the advent of television, Walt Disney personally cast the "300 pounds of walking pixie" in a new role. As Roy later recalled, "Walt was in my office when suddenly, he looked up at me and said, 'Say, you're fat and funny looking. I'm going to put you on the Mickey Mouse Club and call you the Big Mooseketeer!'" Roy, with his impish grin, became an instant favorite with children around the world.
Born on July 30, 1907, in Colville, Washington, Roy grew up in Los Angeles. While attending Fremont High School, he learned to make people laugh with the outrageous cartoons he sketched. After high school he was offered a sports scholarship to the University of Southern California, but instead applied for a job at the up-and-coming Walt Disney Studios—and was personally hired by Walt.
During those early years, Roy worked on nearly all of the animated shorts produced by the Studio; at the same time, he attended evening classes at Chouinard Art Institute. He moved to the story department after presenting a Donald Duck gag to Walt. In the gag, Donald swallowed a magnet and attracted every metal object imaginable. Walt was so impressed with Roy's unbridled imagination that he tripled his salary.
Roy E. Disney, former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, once recalled, "Roy was amazing. You'd ask him for gags for a situation and he'd give you literally hundreds of them."
As a story man, Roy contributed to such animated films as Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, and Make Mine Music, while, as an artist, he contributed to the Silly Symphonies The Night Before Christmas, The China Shop, and many others. During World War II, he designed more than 100 insignias for the armed forces, including the award-winning Flying Tigers insignia.
Roy is best known, however, for the four seasons he played "Big Roy" on the Mickey Mouse Club. He is also credited with designing the trademark ears worn by the show's cast. His fun-loving nature and immense talent made him a perfect publicity representative for the company. On numerous occasions, Roy traveled across the country to promote the re-release of such films as Cinderella; in 1959, he served as goodwill ambassador for The Walt Disney Studios. Later, he worked as a Disney comic strip artist, cartoonist at Disneyland, and consultant on the traveling arena show "Disney on Parade."
Roy Williams passed away on November 7, 1976, in Burbank, California.
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| October 20, 1993 |
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| Pinto Colvig (1892–1967) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1993 |
Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig was a virtual human library of sound effects. In an array of Disney animated films and shorts, Pinto provided spitting for grasshoppers, belching for bugs, and grunting for hogs, among other quirky sound effects. The musician, artist, and former circus clown also lent his voice to Disney's beloved character, Goofy, from the time of the character's debut in the 1932 short Mickey's Revue until Pinto's death in 1967.
A little "goofy" himself, Pinto was fond of saying, "My mother covered me with a crazy quilt when I was born and I've been clowning ever since."
Pinto's clowning came in handy when he played the voice of Practical Pig in Three Little Pigs, Grumpy and Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the grasshopper in The Grasshopper and the Ants. He even woofed for Mickey Mouse's dog, Pluto.
Born in Jacksonville, Oregon, in 1892, Vance Colvig was nicknamed "Pinto" because of his freckled face. At an early age, he learned how to make people laugh by making faces and playing puckish pranks. He spent hours mimicking the sounds around him—the rusty gate, farm animals, and village noises. Along the way, he picked up a clarinet and, at 13, began performing at county fairs, carnivals, and in vaudeville acts across the country. In 1911 he enrolled at Oregon State College, but every spring took off to perform with the circus. In 1913, he quit school to perform in the prestigious Pantages Vaudeville Circuit.
Pinto also had a knack for drawing, working for a time as a newspaper cartoonist at the San Francisco Bulletin and, later, the Chronicle. He also dabbled in early animation, starting his own studio, Pinto Cartoon Comedies, which closed when his artists were drafted to serve in World War I.
In 1921 he headed for Hollywood. Before movies became "talkies," he worked with Mack Sennett, Hollywood's then-reigning king of comedy, writing story titles, developing gags, and performing bit parts in dozens of comedies. In the 1940s and '50s, he was the original "Bozo, the Capitol Clown," providing narration for a series of storybook albums produced by Capitol Records.
Pinto's wide range of talents was a perfect match for The Walt Disney Studios. Of the hundreds of voices he lent to a myriad of Disney characters, he said Goofy was his favorite. He once called Goofy "the epitome of all the hicks in the world and the easiest to portray. I guess that's because I'm a corn-fed hick, myself."
Pinto Colvig passed away on October 3, 1967, in Los Angeles.
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| Buddy Ebsen (1908–2003) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1993 |
Actor and dancer Buddy Ebsen shared a unique history with The Walt Disney Company. Probably best known as George Russel in the Davy Crockett television series, Buddy's tap dancing moves also served as a prototype for Walt Disney's earliest experiments in Audio-Animatronics® technology. His impeccable dancing and acting caused legendary Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper to declare Buddy, "Tops in taps or buckskins."
Born Christian Ebsen, Jr. on April 2, 1908, in Bellevue, Illinois, Buddy began hoofing at an early age in his father's dance studio. By 1928 he was cast in the chorus of Florenz Ziegfeld's Whoopee, starring Eddie Cantor, and, in the early 1930s, he and his dancing partner sister, Vilma, were headliners on Broadway.
In 1937, Buddy headed for Hollywood. Among his film credits are Broadway Melody of 1938, Lucky Star, and Banjo on My Knee. His most memorable movie moment probably came when he matched steps with Shirley Temple in Captain January. Later films included Breakfast at Tiffany's, Attack, and The Interns.
In 1951, Walt Disney hired Buddy to demonstrate a dance routine; the dance was filmed, and Walt's crew analyzed the action, frame by frame, to devise a way to animate a nine-inch figure with the same movements.
As Buddy later recalled, "He took me to a room where there were seven little guys with aprons and thick glasses working on a contrivance that pulled wires and a little mechanical man that moved his arms, legs, head, and mouth."
Known as Project Little Man, this experiment launched what would become Audio-Animatronics®, the robotic technology featured in such Disney theme park attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean," Haunted Mansion, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
A few years later, for the Disneyland television show, Walt cast Buddy in the profoundly popular episodes "Davy Crockett: Indian Fighter," "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress," "Davy Crockett at the Alamo," "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race," and "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." In 1955, the first three episodes were combined to create a theatrical release called Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier," and the latter two became a second feature. Buddy also appeared in the Disney feature The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band and on television in Corky and White Shadow and the Mickey Mouse Club.
In the 1960s, he starred as Jed Clampett in the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies, followed by his role as a detective in Barnaby Jones. In 1993, he appeared in a cameo role as Barnaby Jones in the feature film The Beverly Hillbillies and published his autobiography, The Other Side of Oz.
Buddy Ebsen passed away on July 6, 2003, in Torrance, California.
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| Peter Ellenshaw (1913–2007) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1993 |
Mary Poppins glides through the air beneath an umbrella. Fifty chimney sweeps dance over the rooftops of London. Captain Nemo pilots his submarine, the Nautilus, to the island of Vulcania. Such Disney moments, and many more, were created by Peter Ellenshaw, special effects artist, matte painter, and production designer. A renowned sea and landscape artist, Peter created paintings that look real enough to step into.
The story of how Peter first became interested in art is about as dramatic as his paintings. Born in London on May 24, 1913, Peter was raised in the town of Essex, which was in the path of German zeppelins during World War I. As he once recalled, "My mother put us [he and his two sisters] under the kitchen table while the zeppelins were overhead and gave us pencils and paper to draw with." An artist was born.
Because of his father's death in World War I, Peter was forced to leave school at age 14 to help support his family. While working as a grease monkey in a garage, he pursued his artwork and soon met matte artist Walter Percy Day. Before long, Day offered the young artist a job in film and Peter went on to work on Alexander Korda's Things to Come, Michael Powell's A Matter of Life and Death, and Mervyn LeRoy's Quo Vadis, as well as The Thief of Baghdad, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and Spartacus.
Peter first met Walt Disney in 1948, when Walt began production of his first completely live-action motion picture, Treasure Island, in England. Intrigued by Peter's artistry, Walt personally chose him to recreate scenes of long-ago England on painted backgrounds for the film.
Walt later brought Peter to Hollywood to work on his adaptation of Jules Verne's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; the film went on to win an Oscar® for best special effects in 1955. Ten years later, Peter won his own Academy Award® for his work on Mary Poppins. As a matte artist, he contributed to such films as Pollyanna and Swiss Family Robinson, and he was also responsible for production design on Johnny Tremain. In addition, Peter contributed to the special photographic effects of Darby O'Gill and the Little People, served as production designer on Island at the Top of the World, and as art director on Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In all, Peter contributed to more than 30 Disney feature films.
A collection of his breathtaking art was published in 1996 as The Garden Within: The Art of Peter Ellenshaw," which inspired the wildly popular "Winnie the Pooh in the Garden" series of Disney collectibles and merchandise.
Peter Ellenshaw passed away on February 12, 2007, in Santa Barbara, California.
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| Blaine Gibson (1918–2015) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1993 |
After animating all day at The Walt Disney Studios, Blaine Gibson would go home at night and sculpt; it had been a favorite hobby of his since childhood. Then, in 1954, Walt Disney happened to see one of Blaine's art exhibits, which featured several animal sculptures, and recruited him to work on special projects for his new theme park, Disneyland.
Blaine was somewhat ambivalent about being diverted from his goal to establish himself as one of the Studio's foremost animators. As he recalled in 1995, "I didn't think it was that important, but then I was told Walt was expecting me to work on these projects. So I said to myself, 'what the heck' and went [to Walt Disney Imagineering]. I was never sorry after that."
Born February 11, 1918, in Rocky Ford, Colorado, Blaine attended Colorado University, but left school to join The Walt Disney Studios in 1939. While working as an in-between artist and assistant animator, he took evening classes in sculpture at Pasadena City College and studied with a private instructor. Among his animation credits are Fantasia, Bambi, Song of the South, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
When first assigned by Walt to the Disneyland project, Blaine divided his time between sculpting and animating for the Company. In 1961, he transferred full-time to WED Enterprises, joining the design and development division to supervise the newly created sculpture department. Ultimately, Blaine went on to make a name for himself in 3-D animation, creating hundreds of sculptures from which Audio-Animatronics® figures and bronzes were produced for exhibits at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and Disney theme parks around the world. Among his credits are contributions to such attractions as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and the Enchanted Tiki Room.
He also directed the sculpture of every U.S. President, up to George W. Bush in 2001, for The Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World.
After nearly 45 years with The Walt Disney Company, Blaine retired in 1983. He continued to consult on such projects as The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. In 1993, the same year he was named a Disney Legend, Blaine created a life-size bronze of Walt and Mickey Mouse standing hand-in-hand. The statue, called "Partners," is located at the Central Hub in Disneyland and at Disney parks around the world. Blaine subsequently created a life-size bronze of Roy O. Disney—Company co-founder and brother of Walt—for display in Disney theme parks.
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| Harper Goff (1911–1993) Legends Award Category: Film & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1993 |
Artist Harper Goff first met Walt Disney in 1951 at the Bassett-Lowke Ltd. Shop in London; they were both interested in purchasing the same model train set. Harper later recalled that meeting:
"He turned to me and said, 'I'm Walt Disney. Are you the man that wanted to buy this engine?' Well, I almost fell over. He asked me what I do for a living, and I told him that I was an artist. He said, 'When you get back to America, come and talk to me.'"
Ultimately, Walt bought the locomotive, while Harper embarked on an exciting journey developing motion picture and Imagineering projects for The Walt Disney Company.
Among Harper's designs was the menacing Nautilus submarine, complete with plush Victorian interiors, for the film 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. He also developed conceptual ideas for Disneyland, including Main Street, U.S.A. and the Jungle Cruise and worked closely with Walt throughout the design and construction phases of the Park.
Born on March 16, 1911, in Fort Collins, Colorado, Harper later moved with his family to Santa Ana, California. He attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and lived in New York for a time, working as a magazine illustrator for publications including Collier's, Esquire, and National Geographic.
He returned to the west coast to work as a set designer for Warner Bros. on such films as Sergeant York, Casablanca, Charge of the Light Brigade, and the Errol Flynn classic Captain Blood. Later, he served as associate producer and art director for The Vikings, starring Kirk Douglas, and as art director for Pete Kelly's Blues and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Initially, Walt hired Harper to sketch storyboards for a True-Life Adventures short called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Instead, Harper designed sketches for a potential feature film he envisioned, based on the Jules Verne novel by the same title. After Walt studied the eight 4' x 8' storyboards that Harper had filled with imaginative designs, The Walt Disney Studios produced its first all live-action film made in the United States. In 1955, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea won Oscars® for art direction and special effects.
In his spare time, when not tinkering with his model trains, Harper played banjo with the "Firehouse Five Plus Two" Dixieland jazz band, made up of Disney artists including fellow Disney Legends Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas. In 1975 Harper also contributed to Epcot Center, designing the layout of the World Showcase, and designing concepts for the Japan, Italy, and United Kingdom Pavilions.
Harper Goff passed away on March 3, 1993, in Los Angeles.
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| Irving Ludwig (1910–2005) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1993 |
In 1953, when Walt and Roy Disney decided to create their own film distribution company, they called on seasoned exhibitor and distributor Irving Ludwig to help make it happen. Over the next 27 years, Irving helped grow the newly formed Buena Vista Distribution Co. to 20 regional offices in cities including Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The division he helped create arranged exhibition of Disney movies at theaters throughout the United States and Canada. He later recalled, "Booking theaters was always a good experience because the name 'Disney' assured exhibitors they would be showing movies that the whole family could enjoy."
Born in Russia on November 3, 1910, Irving immigrated to the United States with his family in 1920. Raised in Brooklyn, he later studied advertising and marketing at New York University. In 1929, he entered the entertainment industry as a part-time usher at New York's famed Rivoli Theatre. After making a suggestion to the owner that he replace a section of the theatre, which had become obsolete with the advent of talking pictures, with an additional 62 seats, he soon found himself promoted to house manager.
Then, in 1939, Irving was hired to manage the 8th Street Playhouse. In 1940, he opened and operated the Greenwich Village Art Theatre, the first movie house built in New York to exclusively screen foreign films. Later that same year, Irving joined The Walt Disney Studios to manage the roadshow engagements of Fantasia, in cities including New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.
Remembered Irving, "Back then, when you had a roadshow engagement, you had something unusual—reserved seats, two performances a day, a higher admission at $2—you made an impression upon the public."
In 1945, Irving became a full-time member of the Company's sales administration staff, helping direct motion picture promotional campaigns. Then, in 1959, after serving six years as vice president and domestic sales manager for Buena Vista Distribution Co., Irving was named its president. He went on to shape a successful program that mixed new films with reissues of Disney classic fare.
Among the high points of his career, Irving pointed to Mary Poppins, which he initially opened in only a handful of theaters until word of mouth paved its way to more movie screens. He explained, "We weren't in a position to promote it massively and we felt that a slow beginning could lead to bigger things." Indeed, at that time, Mary Poppins became Disney's greatest box office success and went on to win five Oscars®.
Irving retired in 1980. He passed away on November 26, 2005, at the age of 95, in Santa Monica, California.
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| Jimmy MacDonald (1906–1991) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1993 |
Jimmy Macdonald was a one-man sound effects wizard. Over his 48-year career with Disney, he created and assembled one of the largest and most impressive sound effects libraries in motion picture history. Beginning in 1934, he added extra dimension to all of Disney's animated shorts and features including even more current offerings such as the Mouseworks television series. He also worked on the soundtracks for most of the Studio's live-action films up through the mid-1980s. But perhaps most notable to fans was his greatest role: that of Mickey Mouse, to whom Jimmy gave voice from 1946 until 1977.
Born John James Macdonald in Dundee, Scotland, on May 19, 1906, Jimmy came to the United States when he was only a month old. He grew up in the Philadelphia area and received a correspondence school degree in engineering before moving to California in 1927. His first job was with the Burbank Engineering Department.
In 1934, he was playing drums and percussion for the Dollar Steamship Lines when the band, in between cruises, was called to the Disney Studios to record for a Mickey Mouse short. Jimmy stayed on to work in the newly formed Disney Sound Effects Department, doing vocal effects and cartoon voices.
His voice repertoire included yodeling, whistling, and sneezing for the Dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, barks for Pluto, and, on many occasions, the excitable, high-pitched voices of Chip and Dale.
Rarely was there a sound Jimmy could not make with one of the more than 500 innovative Rube Goldberg-like contraptions that he built from scratch. He could create sounds as obscure as a spider web shimmering or a friendly bumblebee washing up before supper. Animator and Disney Legend Xavier Atencio once recalled, "If he couldn't get a particular sound he wanted from one of those gizmos, Jimmy would do it with his mouth."
In 1946, Walt Disney handpicked Jimmy to be his successor as the official voice of Mickey Mouse, beginning with the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free. Jimmy provided the famed mouse's familiar falsetto on all film and television projects up until the late 1970s.
On screen, Jimmy was the silhouetted figure of a timpani player in Fantasia. Four decades later, in 1982, he assisted conductor and Disney Legend Irwin Kostal in the digital re-recording of that film. As an original member of the popular jazz group, "The Firehouse Five Plus Two," Jimmy played drums and made several Disney television appearances in the 1950s. In the live-action film arena, he supplied sound effects for everything from the Academy Award®-wining True-Life Adventures series up through The Black Hole in 1979. For the 1977 animated feature The Rescuers, he came out of retirement to provide sounds for the feisty dragonfly, Evinrude.
Jimmy Macdonald passed away on February 1, 1991, in Los Angeles.
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| Clarence Nash (1904–1985) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1993 |
Clarence "Ducky" Nash never intended to become the speaking voice for an animated duck. Clarence, who played the voice of Donald Duck for more than 50 years, once explained, "Actually, I wanted to be a doctor; but instead I became the biggest quack in the world."
Born in Watonga, Oklahoma, on December 7, 1904, Clarence grew up on a farm surrounded by animals, which he imitated for fun. He performed at school talent shows, getting big applause whenever he recited "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in his billy goat voice. After high school, he toured the Midwest as a mandolin player and animal impressionist on the Redpath Chautauqua and Lyceum vaudeville circuit.
By 1930, he moved to Los Angeles and won a spot on The Merry Makers radio show doing animal impressions. This led to a promotional job with a milk company. While working as "Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Birdman," entertaining children from a traveling milk wagon, he decided to stop by The Walt Disney Studios, where he heard animal cartoons were being produced. Within a few days, Clarence was invited to audition. After Clarence performed his billy goat voice, the casting director reached for the intercom to Walt's office and said, "I think we found our duck."
Clarence joined Disney in 1933, when production began on Donald Duck's debut short, The Wise Little Hen. He went on to portray Donald in five feature films, including Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Fun and Fancy Free, and Melody Time, as well as more than 150 shorts, including Orphan's Benefit and the Oscar®-winning Der Fuehrer's Face.
He said his greatest challenge was when cartoons had to be dubbed into foreign languages.
Words were written phonetically in the scripts for Ducky, who later recalled, "I learned to quack in French ('couac'), Chinese (Yes, Peking Duck!), and German. For some reason, German was the hardest."
Additionally, Ducky performed the voices of Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie; his duck-friend Daisy; a bullfrog in Bambi; dogs in One Hundred and One Dalmatians; and birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.
Ducky brought joy to fans by entertaining with a fiberglass Donald Duck ventriloquist doll at school assemblies, hospitals, and orphanages. In 1983, he furnished Donald's voice for the Oscar-nominated featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol. He appeared the next year on the Academy Awards®, the CBS television special Donald Duck's 50th Birthday, and at special Disney theme park celebrations. He also visited the White House, where President Ronald Reagan presented him with a plaque commemorating his unique place in American family entertainment.
Clarence "Ducky" Nash passed away on February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles.
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| Donn Tatum (1913–1993) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 1993 |
For more than 25 years, Donn Tatum served in senior executive roles with The Walt Disney Company. A low-key fellow, who ran the show with an iron hand, Donn worked with Roy O. Disney to complete the Herculean task of building Walt Disney World. He subsequently teamed with then Company president Card Walker to develop Epcot Center.
As Disney's former chief executive officer (CEO), Donn was particularly impressive in the way he conducted the annual stockholder's meetings. Former Company vice chairman, Roy E. Disney, once recalled:
"I loved to watch Donn in action. He was an excellent communicator and deft in his ability to handle the myriad of questions posed by stockholders."
Born on January 9, 1913, Donn grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Stanford University, where he earned a degree in political science and economics, and later received a Bachelors and Masters degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University in England. After passing the bar in 1938, he became a partner in the law firm Lillick, Geary and McHose, where he began working with radio and television interests.
Donn went on to serve as counsel for RCA, NBC, and ABC, and as a pioneer in television, helping shape legislation for the up-and-coming medium. He later became general manager of KABC-TV, Los Angeles, and western television director for ABC.
Walt Disney recruited Donn in 1956, as production business manager. He later served on the Company's Board of Directors and as vice president and administrative assistant to Roy O. Disney. After Roy's death in 1971, Donn succeeded him as chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company.
In this role, Donn's priorities remained steeped in Disney tradition. Duffy Myers, a former Walt Disney World publicist, once recalled how Donn noticed a Life magazine crew setting up its camera in a petunia patch at the new Florida theme park and said, "I don't care who… they are. If they step on those flowers, they are out of here." As Myers saw it, Donn was more interested in maintaining the theme park for visitors than a high-profile photo spread in Life.
As the first president of Walt Disney World Co., Donn also played a key role in the creation of the Walt Disney World resort and Tokyo Disneyland. In addition, he served as chairman of Disney's executive committee from 1980 to 1983; chairman of the board of the California Institute of the Arts, which was founded by Walt Disney; and as president of the Disney Foundation.
Donn Tatum passed away on May 31, 1993, in Los Angeles.
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| Card Walker (1916–2005) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 1993 |
In 1971, Esmond Cardon "Card" Walker was elected president of The Walt Disney Company, then known as Walt Disney Productions. He proceeded to successfully navigate corporate divisions, ranging from Disneyland to Studio Productions, through the uncertain times following the deaths of both Walt and Roy O. Disney. Card, who began working at the Studio in 1938, ultimately helped preserve Disney tradition while further expanding its magic around the globe. Under his direction and personal supervision, the Company grew to include such landmarks as Epcot Center, Tokyo Disneyland, and The Disney Channel.
In 1990, former Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner said:
"In a very real sense, Card is the link between the small, family-owned film company of the '30s and the major global corporation we are today. I'm grateful to have had the benefit of his experience, his judgment, and his convictions about the 'Disney way' of doing things."
Born January 9, 1916, in Rexburg, Idaho, Card and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1924. Upon graduation from UCLA, he joined Disney; his first job was in the Studio mailroom, where many of the company's 150 employees had started—Walt Disney believed that the mailroom was the best place for a new employee to get to know the entire Studio operation. Before long, Card took his first steps up the corporate ladder, beginning in the camera department. Later, he served as unit manager on short subjects in the production department.
Card's career at Disney was interrupted in 1941, when he enlisted with the U.S. Navy to serve as a flight deck officer during World War II. After four years he returned to the Studio to work in the story department, testing audience reactions to potential new film properties, such as Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella, using a new polling system called A.R.I. (Audience Research Institute).
In 1956, Card's corporate ascent accelerated when Walt Disney named him vice president of advertising and sales, promoting such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Four years later, in 1960, he was appointed to the Company's Board of Directors.
In 1965, Card was appointed vice president of marketing, followed by executive vice president of operations (in 1967), and executive vice president and chief operating officer (in 1968).
In 1976, after serving five years as the Company's president, he assumed the additional responsibility of chief executive officer. In 1980, he was appointed to chairman of the board. He retired from these roles in 1983, after overseeing the successful development of Tokyo Disneyland. He continued to serve as a consultant to the company until 1990. After 61 years of service to the Company, Card retired from the board of directors in 1999 and was designated an emeritus member of the board.
Card Walker passed away on November 28, 2005, in La Cañada Flintridge, California.
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| November 22, 1994 |
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| Adriana Caselotti (1916–1997) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1994 |
Adriana Caselotti never lost her sense of fun and enthusiasm for the Disney character she played in 1937—Snow White. At the drop of a hat, Disney's first ingenue of the animated screen would burst into a chorus of the songs that made her famous: "I'm Wishing," "Some Day My Prince Will Come," and "Whistle While You Work." At home in Los Angeles, she proudly displayed a "wishing well" on her front lawn. Reportedly, Adriana remembered every line, verse, and nuance of her most famous role.
As she recalled in 1987, "I'd never worked in show business before (Snow White). I feel very blessed. Not everyone gets the chance to be part of a genuine classic like Snow White."
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on May 6, 1916, Adriana was born into a musical family and began to sing almost before she could talk. Her father, Guido, taught music in New York, while her mother, Maria, had performed at the Royal Opera in London. Her sister, Louise, was a famous opera singer and teacher of Maria Callas.
Adriana was educated at an Italian convent, San Getulio, near Rome, while her mother performed in the Opera. After returning to the United States, she studied singing with her father. She was 18 when her father received a phone call from a Disney casting director, inquiring if any of his students might have a suitable voice for the lead female role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. More than 150 girls had already auditioned for the part, including Deanna Durbin, but Walt Disney still had not found the right voice.
Adriana happened to pick up an extension and, while listening to her father's conversation, chimed in, "Listen to me—wouldn't my voice do?" Indeed it did, and, over the next year, her voice was tested, songs were recorded, and the Disney animators studied her gestures for inspiration.
After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Adriana went on to make radio guest appearances in New York and Hollywood. She played bit parts in several movies, including The Wizard of Oz, and later authored a "how-to" book, "Do You Like to Sing?"
Over the years and many reissues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including its 50th Anniversary re-release in 1987, Adriana actively participated in publicity events and television specials celebrating the famous film. Infinitely proud of her contribution to Disney's legacy, she told a reporter in 1995, "I know that my voice will never die."
Adriana Caselotti passed away on January 19, 1997, in Los Angeles.
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| Bill Cottrell (1906–1995) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1994 |
Bill Cottrell, nicknamed "Uncle Bill" by his colleagues, was the first president of what is today known as Walt Disney Imagineering, the design and development arm of the Company. During the planning and construction phases of Disneyland, Walt relied heavily on Bill's creativity, wisdom, and foresight to make his dream come true.
Fellow Disney Legend Marvin Davis once said, "It was Walt who said, 'Let there be Disneyland,' like the good Lord said, 'Let there be a world.' But it was Uncle Bill who was Walt's counselor and right-hand man."
Born in 1906 to English parents in South Bend, Indiana, Bill graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, where he studied English and journalism. After working for a time on George Herriman's Krazy Kat comic strip, he was offered a job working cameras at The Walt Disney Studios in 1929. He soon moved into the Story department and contributed ideas for shorts, including Who Killed Cock Robin? Fellow Legend Joe Grant recalled, "Bill was a great fan of Gilbert and Sullivan and you will see elements of that, such as the jury box chorus, in Who Killed Cock Robin?"
Bill went on to direct the Wicked Witch and Evil Queen sequences in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and contributed to story on Pinocchio. In 1938, he married Lillian Disney's sister, Hazel Sewell. In 1941, Bill and Hazel joined Walt Disney and a small group of artists on a goodwill tour of South America on behalf of the United States Government. The trip inspired The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos, for which Bill also helped develop story. Bill later contributed to Victory Through Air Power, Melody Time, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan.
During the 1950s, he carried his interest in story over to WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), where he helped develop storylines and dialog for such Disneyland attractions as Snow White's Adventures.
Bill was also keen on nomenclature. As former senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering John Hench recalled, "He was a talented writer and helped shape how we referred to events and attractions at Disneyland. For instance, he encouraged us to quit using the term 'ride' and to refer to attractions as an 'experience,' which is exactly what they are—'an experience."
Among his many contributions to Disney, Bill helped develop the popular Zorro television series and, in 1964, was named president of Retlaw Enterprises, the Walt Disney family corporation. He held that position until 1982, when he retired after 53 years of service. A lifelong fan of Sherlock Holmes, Bill's idea for a movie about an animal detective inspired the 1986 animated feature The Great Mouse Detective.
Bill Cottrell passed away on December 22, 1995, in Los Angeles.
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| Marvin Davis (1910–1998) Legends Award Category: Film & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1994 |
In the early 1950s, with a handful of artists, art directors, designers, architects, and animators, Marvin Davis developed the master plan for Walt Disney's latest dream, Disneyland. Over the years he worked closely with Walt in designing and laying out virtually every aspect of the Park's conceptualization and architecture, including Main Street, U.S.A., New Orleans Square, Sleeping Beauty Castle, the exterior of Haunted Mansion, and more.
As former senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering John Hench once recalled, "Because Marvin had a rich background in live-action motion picture design, he had a strong sense and understanding of theater and how to give life or meaning to structures, which, typically, most formally-trained architects aren't interested in.
"He knew how to create architectural form that had a message for people. For instance, his structures on Main Street, U.S.A. are irrepressibly optimistic."
Born in Clovis, New Mexico, on December 21, 1910, Marvin attended UCLA for two years before transferring to the University of Southern California. He graduated with a degree in architecture and, as top student in the class of 1935, he also received the prestigious American Institute of Architects medal. Two years later, Marvin won a job at 20th Century Fox, where he worked as an art director on such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe, and The Asphalt Jungle, directed by John Huston.
In 1953, he was invited by his friend, former Fox art director Dick Irvine, to join WED Enterprises. Today WED is known as Walt Disney Imagineering, the design and development arm of the Company charged with creating theme parks. Said Hench, "Marvin was very conscientious about developing the Park. He worked extremely hard to help bring Walt's dream to life, exactly as Walt envisioned it."
After the theme park's successful opening in the summer of 1955, Marvin returned to art directing motion pictures, including Disney's Moon Pilot, Babes in Toyland, and Big Red, as well as such television series as Zorro and Mickey Mouse Club. In 1962, he received an Emmy Award® for art direction and scenic design on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
In 1965, Marvin returned to WED as a project designer for Walt Disney World in Florida. In addition to the master plan for the theme park and Walt's futuristic city of EPCOT, Marvin contributed to the design of resort hotels including the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Golf Resort. After 22 years with the Company, he retired in 1975.
Marvin Davis passed away on March 8, 1998, in Santa Monica, California.
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| Van France (1912–1999) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1994 |
As founder of the "University of Disneyland" training center, today called The Disney University, Van Arsdale France helped promote Walt Disney's philosophy of creating happiness. Through this unique forum, he encouraged smiles on employee faces and the treatment of Park visitors as very important guests.
Van's progressive concepts in guest service have been recognized as among the finest in the country. The training handbooks he authored, which feature themes such as "You're an Ambassador of Happiness" and "You're Here Because You Care," have provided the foundation for the training of every new Disneyland Cast Member since the Park's opening in July 1955.
Dick Nunis, former chairman of Walt Disney Attractions, once described Van as a combination of Jiminy Cricket, Mary Poppins, and an angry Donald Duck.
He elaborated, "Van believes in Walt Disney's dream of Disneyland and has convinced thousands of us that our goal is to 'create happiness for others.' He goes into a Donald Duck fit if he thinks we lose sight of the dream when we have to watch costs and make a profit. To survive in this changing dream, Van's mixed pixie dust with the grist of corporate reality."
Born in Seattle, Washington, on October 3, 1912, Van earned his liberal arts degree from San Diego State College in 1934. His first jobs proved varied, ranging from a dishwasher on an Ohio-Mississippi Riverboat to a laborer in a kelp processing plant.
His experience as an industrial labor relations expert began when he was hired as director of education for the Fort Worth Division of General Dynamics. This led to an appointment as a civilian educational consultant for the U.S. Army in England and, later, Germany. Upon his return to the United States, Van became superintendent of industrial relations for Kaiser Aluminum Corporation's Mead Works and director of labor relations for Kaiser Frazer in Michigan.
Van joined Disney in March of 1955, creating the University of Disneyland training program for the Park's newly hired cast. Over the years he went on to perform many roles at the Park, including area manager of Tomorrowland, organizational chairman of the Disneyland Recreation Club, and coordinator of the first Disneyland Cast Member magazine, Backstage Disneyland.
In 1978 he retired from Disney and became a special consultant to Dick Nunis, who then headed the Park. He also went on to author Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks, a career guide for senior working adults, as well as his autobiography, Window On Main Street: 35 Years of Creating Happiness at Disneyland Park. He remained an active member of the Disneyland Golden Ears Club and the Disneyland Alumni Club, and spoke on Disneyland history at conventions around the country.
Van France passed away on October 13, 1999, in Newport Beach, California.
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| David Hand (1900–1986) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1994 |
In 1930, David Hand joined The Walt Disney Studios as its 21st and most ambitious young animator. It didn't take long for Walt Disney to notice David's knack for getting things done, and so he moved Dave (as he was called by his friends) into directing animated shorts, such as Pluto's Judgement Day, Alpine Climbers, and Little Hiawatha. Later, in 1933, Walt promoted him to Production Supervisor of the Studio, and, around that same time, entrusted Dave with directing the first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Dave "was cavalier in transforming Walt's dreams into animation," recalled animators and Disney Legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. They added, "Dave knew enough to recognize quality, and if Walt said, 'Let's get that into the picture,' Dave would make sure that it got in and just that way. If Walt said, 'We can save money here; let's keep the cost down,' Dave would use every shortcut in the book. He never confused his own views or ambitions with Walt's."
Born on January 23, 1900, in Plainfield, New Jersey, Dave attended the Chicago Art Institute. After school, he landed a job at the J.R. Bray Studio in New York; there he met Max Fleischer, for whom he later animated the "Out of the Inkwell" series. In 1928,
Dave took an interest in The Walt Disney Studios, which had just produced Steamboat Willie—the first animated cartoon to have synchronized sound. Purely on spec, he decided to visit California and apply for a job at the Studio.
During his 14 years with the company, Dave worked on about 70 shorts and three features. He served as animator on the first Technicolor cartoon, Flowers and Trees, which won the first Oscar® for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) in 1933. He later directed Who Killed Cock Robin?—which was nominated for an Academy Award®—and Three Orphan Kittens, which won an Oscar® in 1936. He also served as supervising director on Bambi and animation supervisor on Victory Through Air Power, which was his last Disney project.
In 1944, Dave was invited to England by J. Arthur Rank to set up an animation studio. There he created the Animaland and Musical Paintbox cartoon series, while influencing a generation of British animators. In 1951, he returned to the United States to pursue a career in industrial filmmaking.
David Hand passed away on October 11, 1986, in San Luis Obispo, California.
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| Jack Lindquist (1927–2016) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1994 |
Jack Lindquist was hired by Walt Disney as Disneyland's first advertising manager, and eventually played a key role in making the Park a world-famous tourist attraction. From marketing the original "E tickets" to lobbying for Disneyland's millennial expansion, Jack was involved in nearly every aspect of the theme park.
Known for his relatively hands-off management style, Jack was among the most beloved of Park executives. As Disneyland's former executive vice president Ron Dominquez once said, "Jack is Jack, no matter where he is or what he is doing. He respects people. He goes out of his way not to be set up on a pedestal."
Born in Chicago on March 15, 1927, Jack's family moved to Los Angeles when he was four. A child actor, he appeared as an extra in episodes of the Our Gang series, and, later, danced in the Lucille Ball film Best Foot Forward. After graduating from Hollywood High School, Jack spent two years in the U.S. Air Force and then completed his education at the University of Southern California.
In 1955, while working for a Los Angeles advertising firm, Jack acted as a consultant to one of Disneyland's original corporate participants. During a meeting at the Park prior to its opening, Jack "fell in love with the place." One month later, he was working there.
Jack took his first step up the Disneyland corporate ladder in 1965, when he became director of marketing. He later set the course for marketing Walt Disney World and, in 1972, was named vice president of marketing for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Four years later, he was named vice president of marketing for Walt Disney Attractions; in 1982, he was again promoted to executive vice president of marketing and entertainment for all of the Company's outdoor recreation activities.
Jack went on to set up the Marketing Division for Tokyo Disneyland, and as executive vice president of creative marketing concepts for Walt Disney Attractions he developed promotional and entertainment ideas for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. In 1990, Jack was named president of Disneyland, a position he called "the best job in the world!"
During his 38 years with the company, he spearheaded myriad Disney projects, including Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom Club, Disney Dollars, the Disneyland Pigskin Classic, the Ambassador Program, and Grad Nites. He also lobbied for expansion of Disneyland, and the development of a second theme park for Disneyland Resort.
Jack Lindquist retired on Mickey Mouse's 65th birthday, November 18, 1993. A month later, he was honored with a window on Main Street, which reads, "J.B. Lindquist, Honorary Mayor of Disneyland." Jack published his memoir, In Service to the Mouse, in 2010.
Jack passed away on February 28, 2016, at the age of 88.
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| Bill Martin (1917–2010) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1994 |
In 1953, while working at 20th Century Fox, Wilson E. "Bill" Martin received a surprise phone call: Walt Disney was seeking help to create his new theme park, Disneyland. Eager to expand his talent as an art director and set designer, Bill readily accepted the challenge. He went on to contribute to the designs of many attractions, including Sleeping Beauty Castle, Snow White's Adventures, Peter Pan's Flight, and more.
Born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on June 15, 1917, Bill and his family later moved to Los Angeles. In 1937, he graduated from Los Angeles Junior College and continued his studies in architecture at nearby Chouinard Art Institute and the Art Center School of Design.
After school, he landed a job as a set designer for 20th Century Fox. He left the studio during World War II to serve as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained pilots and bombardiers. Following the war, he worked for Panoramic Productions and eventually returned to Fox as an assistant art director.
When Bill first joined WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering, he and other newly initiated Imagineers toured amusement parks across the country to fuel ideas for their new creative venture, Disneyland. Using the Studio's animated movies as the inspiration for attractions, they then helped Walt develop his three-dimensional world of fun and fantasy.
When Bill and the small group of Disney designers brainstormed together, Walt never knew what sort of wacky ideas they would devise.
As Bill once recalled with a chuckle, "One of our first ideas for Main Street was a corset shop called 'The Wizard of Bras.' For some reason, Walt didn't like it."
Walt did like Bill's creative genius, however, naming him art director of Fantasyland. Among his contributions included the layout of each Fantasyland attraction, and, later, the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail's course around the Park. He also contributed design elements to Carnation Plaza Gardens, Bear Country, New Orleans Square, Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia, and Haunted Mansion.
In 1971, Bill was named vice president of design at WED Enterprises, overseeing the master layout of the Magic Kingdom for Walt Disney World in Florida. His design projects included Main Street, U.S.A., Cinderella Castle, the utilidors beneath the Magic Kingdom, and the canal systems which crisscross Walt Disney World's 27,000-acre property. He also designed various watercraft, including the Admiral Joe Fowler and Richard F. Irvine riverboats, steam launches, and side-wheel steamboats.
In 1977, after 24 years with the company, Bill Martin retired. He returned, however, to consult on such projects as the Mexico and Italy Pavilions for Epcot Center and the master layout of Tokyo Disneyland.
Bill Martin passed away on August 2, 2010.
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| Paul J. Smith (1906–1985) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 1994 |
When composer Paul Smith arrived at The Walt Disney Studios in 1934, he was "fresh out of university and full of musical ideas," according to animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life.
The musical genius, who wrote scores for nearly 70 animated shorts and received an Oscar® with Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for the music in Pinocchio, later wrote background music for nearly every Disney True-Life Adventure, applying techniques he had learned while writing music for cartoons. As Thomas and Johnston recalled, "Paul's adaptation of cartoon techniques in the scores for the True-Life Adventures added immeasurably to that series of live-action films."
Born to a musical family in Calumet, Michigan, on October 30, 1906, Paul was raised in Caldwell, Idaho, where his father taught music at the College of Idaho.
Paul's father, Joseph, began teaching his prodigy son to play a variety of musical instruments beginning with the piano at age four, followed by the violin at age seven.
The youngster also played the trumpet and viola, and, by age 12, played the bass drum for the town band. Gifted with perfect pitch, Paul's experience helped him gain a more practical knowledge of the orchestra and he went on to conduct in high school.
In 1925, Paul enrolled in the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he received the Juilliard Scholarship in theory. After graduation, he went on to teach brass instruments at Elmhurst College and at York High School for two years. In 1932, he moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA, where he majored in English and wrote four musical comedies.
From UCLA, he joined The Walt Disney Studios as a pioneer in motion picture music. Versatile, prolific, and, like Walt, always bent towards exploration, Paul readily pushed the envelope in musical composition. As a result, he won eight Oscar nominations for such classic films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Song of the South, Saludos Amigos, and The Three Caballeros.
During the 1950s, he wrote symphonic scores for most of the critically acclaimed True-Life Adventures films, including Beaver Valley, Nature's Half Acre, The Olympic Elk, The Living Desert, The Vanishing Prairie, The African Lion, Secrets of Life, and Perri. He also recorded an album called True-Life Adventures, which was a compilation of his scores.
After three successful decades with The Walt Disney Studios, Paul retired in 1962. He passed away on January 25, 1985, in Glendale, California.
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| Frank Wells (1932–1994) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 1994 |
In September 1984, Frank Wells joined The Walt Disney Company as its president and chief operating officer. During his 10-year tenure, Disney enjoyed unprecedented growth and revitalization, with annual revenues rising from $1.5 billion to $8.5 billion. Disney stock prices increased a whopping 1,500 percent, while its theme park and resort revenues tripled. Disney Consumer Products revenues rose 13-fold, while Disney filmed entertainment revenues jumped 15-fold. Frank helped make Disney one of the most successful film studios in the world.
In 1994, former company chairman Michael Eisner said:
"Fortunately for all of us at Disney, Frank was a buccaneer in the office. He was smart, prudent, a dealmaker, and a great closer. He was always supportive of a great idea, whether it was swans on the outside of a building or 'ducks' for the name of a hockey team."
Appropriately, Frank was born on a date that is stated like a command: March 4th (March forth!), 1932. A native of Coronado, California, and son of a naval officer, he earned his bachelor of arts at Pomona College and attended Oxford University from 1953 until 1955 as a Rhodes scholar in jurisprudence. He completed his education with an LLB degree from Stanford University. Frank also spent two years in the United States Army, attaining the rank of first lieutenant.
He began his career as a partner in the Hollywood law firm Gang, Tyre and Brown, which specialized in entertainment industry law. Then, in 1969, he joined Warner Bros. as its vice president, West Coast, and was named president in 1973. Just prior to joining Disney, Frank was vice chairman of Warner Brothers, Inc., the motion picture subsidiary of Warner Communications, Inc.
Excellent with detail-oriented business and finance, Frank also readily delved into both creative and administrative endeavors. At Disney, he focused on all aspects of the company, including theme parks, real estate, finance, administration, and corporate sponsorships. As a key supporter of Disneyland Paris, Frank expanded the Company's international presence and also promoted development of The Disney Store. He was known throughout the company as a friendly, kind soul who was always approachable and open to ideas.
A born adventurer, Frank set out in 1983 to climb the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents within a single year—a feat never before accomplished at that time. He scaled six, but weather forced him to turn back near the top of Mount Everest. His mountaineering exploits were chronicled in his book, Seven Summits, published in 1986. He and his beloved hobby are also paid tribute in Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction, where mountain climbing equipment bearing the name "Wells Expedition" can be seen.
On April 3, 1994, Frank Wells died in a helicopter accident in Nevada; a building at The Walt Disney Studios was later dedicated in his memory. The Frank G. Wells building opened in 1998, with a ceremonial ribbon cutting by his wife, Luanne, and his friend and business partner Michael Eisner. Beside the building's entrance, a plaque contains a quote that Frank carried on a slip of paper inside his pocket for 30 years: "Humility is the final achievement."
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| November 30, 1995 |
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| Wally Boag (1920–2011) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1995 |
At Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue, Wally Boag blasted audiences with squirt guns, spit out a mouthful of "teeth," and sculpted whimsical animals from colorful "Boagaloons" three times a day, five days a week, for nearly 27 years. By the time he retired from his role as the outrageous Pecos Bill in 1982, Wally had performed in nearly 40,000 productions of the popular Revue!
Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running stage production in show business history, Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue proved to be good steady work for the former vaudevillian, who once recalled, "My longest job before the Golden Horseshoe Revue was 54 weeks. And to think it all began with a two-week contract I signed with Walt Disney when the park opened."
Wallace Vincent Boag let out his first "yaa-hoo!" on September 9, 1920, in Portland, Oregon. At age nine, he joined a professional dance team; by 16, he was running his own dance school; and by 19, he had turned to comedy, performing in nightclubs and theaters across the country and around the world. Among them, Wally played Radio City Music Hall, the Palladium in London, and the Tivoli Theatres in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1945 he won a contract with Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, appearing in such films as Without Love, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and The Thrill of Romance, with Esther Williams.
A friend told him about auditions for Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue in 1955.
Wally won the role and quickly became one of Walt's favorite comedic actors, appearing on such television shows as the original Mickey Mouse Club, Disneyland, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
He also appeared in motion pictures, including The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, and The Love Bug.
At Disneyland, Wally provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronics® parrot, Jose, in the Enchanted Tiki Room. He took his act on the road in 1971 to open the Diamond Horseshoe Revue at Walt Disney World. His original Golden Horseshoe Revue act was featured in a 1980 Danny Kaye television special celebrating the 25th anniversary of Disneyland; Wally also hosted a 1981 episode of The Muppet Show, where he performed some of his Golden Horseshoe "Pecos Bill" routine.
Wally often toured and consulted on special projects and promotions for The Walt Disney Company. In 1980, he entertained audiences across the country during a 28-day, 20-city tour promoting the re-release of Disney's animated classic Lady and the Tramp. He later traveled to Japan to help translate material for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. Wally published his memoir, Wally Boag, Clown Prince of Disneyland, in 2009.
Wally Boag passed away on June 3, 2011, one day before his Golden Horseshoe co-star and fellow Disney Legend Betty Taylor. Comedian Steve Martin, who worked at Disneyland as a teenager, summed up Wally's influence: "My hero, the first comedian I ever saw live, my influence, a man to whom I aspired."
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| Fulton Burley (1922–2007) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1995 |
Fulton Burley's unique brand of humor and authentic Irish brogue made him an audience favorite at Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue, where the silver-toned tenor performed for 25 years.
Born on June 12, 1922, in Tipperary, Ireland, and raised in Ontario, Canada, Fulton came to the United States in 1943 after a telephone audition landed him the singing lead in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe Revue on Broadway. He later marveled at his "Irish" luck, saying, "The peculiar thing is I was at the Golden Horseshoe for 25 years, and I had started at the Diamond Horseshoe."
Fulton was born to sing. By age 7, he performed in church weddings; by 14, he could be heard on CKNW radio in Windsor three mornings a week before school. He later went on to sing with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
After high school, Fulton attended Patterson Collegiate Institute in Windsor, followed by Wayne State University in Detroit. There, he studied law with a minor in music. Ultimately he dropped his law studies to pursue a career in entertainment, and eventually won a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He appeared as a supporting actor in films such as Without Love with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and Homecoming with Clark Gable and Lana Turner.
During World War II, he served as a member of the 40th Special Services Division; under the command of actor Melvyn Douglas, he traveled to China, Burma, and India.
After the war, Fulton spent several years touring the United States with a number of musical productions, during which he developed his keen instinct for light comedy and a legendary repertoire of jokes.
In 1962, he was playing at the Hacienda Hotel in Las Vegas when he received a call from his pal Wally Boag, with whom he had worked as a contract player at MGM. Wally, who had been performing in the Golden Horseshoe Revue for seven years, explained that one of his fellow cast members had become seriously ill and urged Fulton to take over the role. Fulton did, and went on to light up the stage with his jovial nature and lilting brogue.
While at Disneyland, he also recorded the voice of Michael, the Audio-Animatronics® parrot featured in the Enchanted Tiki Room. He later entertained Disney fans across the country, traveling on special tours to promote the re-release of such films as the animated classic Cinderella in 1981. After a quarter century with The Walt Disney Company, Fulton retired from the Golden Horseshoe Revue in 1987. Ten years later he emerged from retirement to record a new narration for Walt Disney World's The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) alongside original Enchanted Tiki Room co-stars and fellow Disney Legends Wally Boag and Thurl Ravenscroft.
Fulton Burley passed away on May 7, 2007, in Carlsbad, California.
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| Dean Jones (1931–2015) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1995 |
When Dean Jones began his motion picture career in 1956, he was just biding his time until he got his real break. The former crooner-turned-actor once recalled, "I wish I could say I had this master plan for a career, but I always thought acting was something I'd just do until I had a hit record.
While Dean's hit record proved elusive, he scored a number of hit movies while under contract with The Walt Disney Studios. By 1975, Variety named six of his Disney features on its list of all-time box office champions, including The Love Bug, That Darn Cat, Snowball Express, The Ugly Dachshund, The $1,000,000 Duck, and Blackbeard's Ghost.
Dean's clean-cut appeal and good-natured hijinks made his name synonymous with Disney motion pictures. As former president of Walt Disney Pictures David Vogel once said, "When you think of Disney, you think of Dean Jones."
Born on January 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama, Dean liked to fish in the nearby Tennessee River and sing; his father, a railroad worker, would accompany him on the guitar. At 15 he left home to pursue a singing career, picking up odd jobs as a coal loader, cotton picker, and dishwasher. He began singing in a New Orleans club that paid three dollars a night, plus dinner. After four months the club folded, and Dean beat a path back to Decatur to complete his high school education.
A year of voice study at Kentucky's Asbury College was followed by a four-year hitch with the United States Navy, which took Dean to San Diego, California. Whenever he had a day off, Dean headed to Hollywood to audition for orchestras; he eventually won a screen test and contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Instead of singing for the cameras, however, he starred in mostly straight, dramatic roles. Among his early films were Vincente Minnelli's Tea and Sympathy, Torpedo Run with Glenn Ford, and Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley.
In 1960, Dean found fame in Broadway's Under the Yum Yum Tree. While starring in television's Ensign O'Toole, he was tapped by Walt Disney to become the Studio's leading man, appearing in such films as The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Shaggy D.A., and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. He returned to the Broadway stage in 1970, appearing in Steven Sondheim's Company.
Dean later appeared in a number of Disney television specials, including Disney's Greatest Dog Stars in 1976. He starred in the first of a number of Disney remakes—The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes in 1995; and, in 1997, That Darn Cat and the ABC television movie The Love Bug.
Dean passed away on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at the age of 84.
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| Angela Lansbury (1925–2022) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1995 |
Award-winning actress Angela Lansbury is everyone's cup of tea. And while she is probably best known to television audiences as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running detective series Murder, She Wrote, it's her performance as Mrs. Potts, the enchanted teapot in the animated classic Beauty and the Beast, that Disney fans cozy up to most.
When the film was released in 1991, film critic Leonard Maltin called Lansbury's performance "…just charming." He continued: "She expresses such warmth. To convey that with just your voice… there's something tremendously appealing about the character and the way she plays it."
Born in London, England, on October 16, 1925, Angela began to study acting at the Webber-Douglas School of Dramatic Art until World War II forced her family to escape the London Blitz and emigrate to the United States.
In New York, she enrolled in the Feagin School of Dramatic Arts and, at 16, earned her first professional job performing in a Montreal cabaret act. Her family eventually relocated to Los Angeles, and, in 1944, director George Cukor cast the 17-year-old actress as the Cockney maid in Gaslight. The role not only won her a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but also an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
A year later, Angela received a second Oscar® nomination for her performance as a music-hall singer in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
From there, she went on to make more than 40 films, including State of the Union with Spencer Tracy, The Harvey Girls with Judy Garland, and The Manchurian Candidate, for which she received her third Oscar nomination. She even played Elvis's mother in 1961's Blue Hawaii.
In 1966, Angela won the first of her five Tony® Awards for her performance as Mame Dennis in the hit musical Mame. She dazzled Broadway audiences with her interpretation of the madcap title role, displaying, for the first time, the full range of her extraordinary talents. Angela made her musical comedy motion picture debut in 1971, mesmerizing audiences as the delightful apprentice witch, Eglantine Price, in Disney's fantasy Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Twenty years later, Angela returned to Disney for Beauty and the Beast, in which she sang the Academy Award-winning title song of the same name. She encored as Mrs. Potts in Disney's 1997 direct-to-video sequel Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas as well as the video game Kingdom Hearts II in 2006. Angela later served as a segment host for the Studio's millennial animated classic Fantasia 2000, introducing Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.
Angela's achievements on stage, screen, and television are too numerous to recount, but include six Golden Globes and eighteen Primetime Emmy® nominations. She is the recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
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| Edward Meck (1899–1973) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1995 |
Publicist Edward "Eddie" Meck "wrote the book" on how to introduce new Disney theme park attractions. A self-proclaimed "soft sell," Eddie never pressed for—or manufactured—news stories during his career, especially where Disneyland was concerned. "If you have a good product," he said, "it's easy to get the message across. No gimmicks. Just truth and honesty. The greatest product is right here. Walt Disney."
From the beginning, when he joined Disneyland just months prior to its 1955 opening, Eddie believed the Park would sell itself. As he recalled:
Two months after the park opened, I told Walt that I didn't see how he could plant stories [in the press] about Disneyland. It's too fantastic and too hard to describe. So I told him we should bring the press here and let the park sell itself."
Eddie was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1899. At age 20, he took a job working on the night inspection crew for the Pathe Company in Chicago. Before long, he was offered a chance to work in publicity and promotion and, in 1922, headed west to work on the Pathe publicity staff. There, he promoted everything from Harold Lloyd comedies to the Perils of Pauline serials.
He joined Columbia in the early 1930s, where he promoted award-winning Frank Capra comedies including It Happened One Night, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Gary Cooper. In 1950, '51, and '54, the Motion Picture Herald honored Eddie for excellence in the "field of exploitation."
After almost 30 years in the movie industry, Walt Disney hired the folksy publicist to promote his new and untried theme park. Not only was Eddie the architect of the first Disneyland press event, giving journalists firsthand exposure to the delights of the Magic Kingdom, but he was also instrumental in the 1971 opening of Walt Disney World in Florida. His innate sense of enthusiasm was infectious, and legendary in the press and promotions fields.
As news columnist Joan Winchell wrote, "Eddie is a complete enigma to us [newspaper reporters]. How the heck can you light up like a Christmas tree 365 days and nights of the year raving about the very same thing? But Eddie does, claiming that every day [with Disney] is different."
Diminutive in stature, Eddie was often described by his friends in the press as if he, himself, was a Disney character. San Francisco columnist Herb Caen once wrote that Eddie Meck was "no relation to Mecky Mouse."
After nearly 20 years with The Walt Disney Company, Eddie Meck passed away in 1973.
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| Fred Moore (1911–1952) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1995 |
When a friend couldn't make a scheduled interview with Walt Disney because of a toothache, 19-year-old Fred Moore seized the opportunity and went in his place. A natural draftsman, with no formal art training except for a few night classes he earned in exchange for janitorial work at Chouinard Art Institute, Fred won the job. His animation genius would subsequently be imprinted on Disney films and an entire generation of fledgling artists, whom he inspired through his impeccable drawings.
Storyman Larry Clemmons once recalled, "He was such a help to other guys. Guys would come in his room and say, 'Fred, how would you do this?' Fred would say, 'Well, here!'—and he'd show them—he didn't lecture, he just did it."
Born Robert Fred Moore on September 7, 1911, he attended Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. While growing up, Fred often submitted drawings to the Los Angeles Junior Times, a magazine for young people. Each time a drawing of his was published, Fred earned what he called "bright Junior Times buttons," in lieu of cash.
Fred earned a lot of buttons by the time he joined Disney. While there, he transformed the look of Mickey Mouse from the traditional "rubber hose and round circle" school of drawing, which used a "squash and stretch" technique that made the character appear more elastic, to the beloved character still in design today.
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| The hallmark of Fred's drawing style, however, was his uncanny ability to give emotion, charm, and appeal to his characters, while also making their actions more convincing. |
When he animated the pigs in Three Little Pigs, for instance, Fred also won Walt's highest praise that "at last, we have achieved true personality in a whole picture." Fred contributed to nearly 35 shorts in all, including Pluto's Judgement Day, Three Orphan Kittens, which won an Oscar®, and Brave Little Tailor, which was nominated for an Academy Award®.
In 1934, Walt named Fred directing animator of the Dwarfs in the Studio's first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Dwarfs were among Fred's crowning achievements, according to animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. In their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, they wrote, "In the public's mind there have been no more memorable characters than the Dwarfs." Other characters Fred brought to life included Lampwick in Pinocchio, Timothy in Dumbo, and the Centaurettes in Fantasia.
Fred Moore passed away on November 25, 1952, in Los Angeles.
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| Thurl Ravenscroft (1914–2005) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1995 |
Although Thurl Ravenscroft's name may not be familiar to Disney fans, his voice is. Probably best known to television audiences as the voice of Kellogg's Tony the Tiger, a character he played from 1952 until 2005, Thurl was a favorite among Disney vocal performers. His voice has been featured in Disney theme park attractions such as the Country Bear Jamboree; on television programs, such as Zorro; and in animated films, including Lady and the Tramp. In fact, Walt Disney selected Thurl and his quartet, The Mellomen, to croon, as well as bark, whine, and howl like canines in the delightful 1955 classic.
Thurl later recalled, "The most fun we ever had was singing barbershop for Tramp and the other dogs. Walt wanted the dogs to sing 'Home Sweet Home' from their prison cell—a kennel. But we had to sound like dogs, not people singing like dogs."
Born in Norfolk, Nebraska, on February 6, 1914, Thurl headed for Hollywood in 1933 to attend the Otis Art Institute. In 1937, he joined The Sportsmen Quartet, performing on the popular Jack Benny radio show. He later formed The Mellomen, which appeared with such popular artists as Elvis Presley, and in such films as The Glenn Miller Story, starring James Stewart.
The Walt Disney Studios often hired Thurl and his quartet to sing in its animated films, including Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella, and television programs, including Cavalcade of Songs and The Legend of Elfego Baca. Other classic Disney films that Thurl lent his voice to include One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Pete's Dragon, and The Fox and the Hound.
At Disneyland, his resonant voice can be heard singing in it's a small world, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Splash Mountain; in the Enchanted Tiki Room, he performs the voice of Fritz, the German Audio-Animatronics® parrot. Thurl is heard and seen in the Haunted Mansion; guests often mistake his mustachioed face, featured on a broken bust in the graveyard scene, for that of Walt Disney.
Thurl also performed on Disneyland Records, including Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. In 1990, he sang a version of the Haunted Mansion's whimsical theme song, "Grim Grinning Ghosts," on Disney's Sing Along Songs—Disneyland Fun.
Among Thurl's many non-Disney credits are several Dr. Seuss television specials. His voice can be heard in How the Grinch Stole Christmas," for which he sang the memorable "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." He also played the voice of Kirby, the vacuum, in The Brave Little Toaster, which aired on The Disney Channel.
Thurl passed away on May 22, 2005. In the June 6, 2005, issue of the ad industry journal Advertising Age, Kellogg's ran an ad commemorating Ravenscroft. The headline read: "Behind every great character is an even greater man."
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| Wathel Rogers (1919–2000) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1995 |
Imagineer Wathel Rogers was the man to call whenever inanimate objects needed to come to life in grand Disney fashion. Wathel breathed life into the robotic Audio-Animatronics® figures featured in such theme park attractions as the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland and The Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World. Former senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering John Hench once recalled, "Wathel was always making everything come to life. If it was stationary and we wanted it to move, all we had to do was call Wathel and in his quiet, calm way, he'd make it work."
Born on June 29, 1919, in Stratton, Colorado, Wathel's unique sculpting ability became evident when, as a boy, he would make one-of-a-kind toys out of household items and other scrap material.
In 1937 he entered Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and, from there, joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1939. Wathel worked first as an assistant animator and, later, as animator on such films as Pinocchio and Bambi.
World War II briefly interrupted his tenure; in 1943, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps to serve as a staff sergeant in the photographic section. After the war he returned to Disney's Animation Department, where he contributed to such beloved classics as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty.
In his spare time, Wathel continued to sculpt and build toys, including model railroads, which caught Walt Disney's attention. Soon he was asked to contribute his sculpting talent to the Studio, creating props and miniatures for live-action films including Darby O'Gill and the Little People and The Absent-Minded Professor, as well as television shows including Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro.
In 1954, Walt asked Wathel to help develop the model shop for his latest project, Disneyland. Wathel became an ace Imagineer, assisting in the construction of architectural models during the Park's design and development phase.
One of Wathel's greatest challenges came when Walt assigned him to help research and construct a nine-inch-tall figure of a moving and talking man. "Project Little Man," as it was called, became the prototype of Audio-Animatronics® technology; Wathel was about to become known as "Mr. Audio-Animatronics."
In the early 1960s, Wathel continued to pioneer the new technology. Among his greatest achievements was the development of a robotic Abraham Lincoln for the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction, which debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. He also contributed to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise; for the American Adventure at Epcot Center, he helped create the first "walking" Audio-Animatronics® figure, Benjamin Franklin.
Wathel Rogers passed away on August 25, 2000.
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| Betty Taylor (1919–2011) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1995 |
For more than 31 years, Betty Taylor graced the stage of Disneyland's popular Golden Horseshoe Revue. She made famous the role of Slue Foot Sue, the spunky leader of a troupe of western dance hall girls. Betty became the darling of nearly 10 million guests, who, over the years, visited the saloon to see the world's longest-running stage show. In the nearly 45,000 performances in which she appeared, the charming, vivacious blonde never lost her girlish enthusiasm for playing the role of Pecos Bill's sweetheart. As former Disneyland magic shop cast member, comedian Steve Martin, wrote in Betty's autograph book, "How come I'm the only one who grows old around here?"
Born on October 7, 1919, in Seattle, Washington, Betty began taking dance lessons at age three. By the age of 12, she appeared in her first professional stage production in Vancouver, British Colombia. At 14, she sang and danced in nightclubs across the country, and, by 18, she led her own band—Betty and Her Beaus. The group, which included 16 male musicians, appeared regularly at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle.
She went on to perform with a western radio show, "Sons of the Pioneers," and traveled with big band leaders Les Brown, Henry Bussey, and Red Nichols. She even played a six-week stint in Las Vegas with "old blue eyes" himself, Frank Sinatra.
In 1956, while living in Los Angeles, Betty was about to hit the road playing drums for a musical group when she heard about auditions for a singing-and-hoofing job in Walt Disney's new theme park. She threw her garter into the ring, so to speak, and was hired as Slue Foot Sue. She later described the role as "not a hard character, but rather like a Mae West or a Kitty on the vintage television series Gunsmoke."
On occasion, Betty and the 10-member Revue troupe performed outside of the Park. In 1968, for instance, they took their act on a USO tour of Greenland and Newfoundland, and, two years later, performed for President Richard Nixon and his family in the White House. Walt Disney personally asked Betty to perform a variation of her Golden Horseshoe routine on national television, with comedian Ed Wynn, in an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Betty retired from the Golden Horseshoe Revue in 1987. She continued to appear at special events, such as "Walt Disney's Wild West;" this retrospective of Walt's vision of the American West was showcased at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles in 1995.
Betty Taylor passed away at home on June 4, 2011, just one day after her fellow Golden Horseshoe alumnus and Disney Legend, Wally Boag.
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| October 16, 1996 |
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| Bob Allen (1932–1987) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1996 |
Bob Allen began working with Disney in 1955 as a ride operator at Disneyland. Eventually, he rose through the ranks to become vice president of Walt Disney World. Still, he remained a modest and low-key executive, who gained the respect of Central Florida's government and community. Civic-minded, Bob regularly volunteered to serve the state and the Orlando community. Among his posts, he served as chairman of the Central Florida Economic Development Advisory Council and member of the Governor's Committee on the Future. He was among Disney's greatest goodwill ambassadors.
In 1987, the Orlando Sentinel described Bob as a person "who knew how to be successful and compassionate at the same time." Fellow Disney Legend Joe Potter recalled that same year, "He was a great, great lover of people, and he showed it. When you met Bob Allen, he acted like you were the first person he ever met." Former Florida Governor Reubin Askew added, "Bob was an outstanding person. He did a tremendous job for Disney and beyond that he was a very warm human being."
Born in Corona, California, on February 4, 1932, Bob served in the United States Navy for four years during the Korean War. After the war, while majoring in physical education at Long Beach State College, he applied for a job at Disneyland on a "lark."
He won a position working on the Casey Jr. Circus Train in Fantasyland, charged with blowing a whistle if anyone fell off of the train.
During those early years he held a variety of posts, including manager of the Golden Horseshoe Revue and manager of guest relations. By 1963, he advanced to production coordinator at Disneyland. In 1964, Bob moved to Denver, Colorado, where he managed Disney's first venture into family recreation and location-based entertainment—the Celebrity Sports Center. Under his able guidance, the Center became a financial success. Then, in 1968, he returned to Disneyland to serve as staff assistant to the vice president of Disneyland and director of General Services. In that position, he helped prepare for the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.
In 1970, Bob moved to Florida to serve as director of General Services for Walt Disney World and was later named vice president of its Resorts Division. He was elected chairman of the Walt Disney World Operating Committee in 1973, and on January 1, 1977, was promoted to vice president of Walt Disney World. In that position, he supervised the Park's day-to-day operations, as well as its long-range development, until he passed away on November 8, 1987.
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| Rex Allen (1922–1999) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1996 |
Cowboy Rex Allen performed as a narrator, singer, and actor in more than 40 Disney westerns, primarily for the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color television series. Among his film and television credits are Pancho, the Fastest Paw in the West, The Legend of Lobo, and Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar.
Fans remember Rex as the honey-voiced baritone who, guitar in hand and astride his horse Koko, epitomized the spirit of the West.
A true cowboy, Rex owned no other clothes but western togs and boots. He once recalled Walt's reaction when he arrived at the Studio wearing a borrowed suit. Rex said, "Walt came up to me and said, 'Hardly recognized you incognito.'"
Born December 31, 1922, in Willcox, Arizona, Rex started his life on a remote ranch. There, he quickly learned to ride, rope, and shoot, as well as haul water, split wood, and hoe weeds. As a boy, he loved to sing in the church choir. His high school music teacher, who recognized his talent, encouraged him to study music. Despite winning a scholarship to Eastern Arizona Junior College for his solo of "Lost in London Town," Rex decided instead to hit the dusty trail, performing in rodeos, night clubs, and on the radio.
In 1944, he won a singing gig on WLS in Chicago that lasted more than four years until he earned his very own Rex Allen Radio Show for CBS. He then lassoed a contract with Republic Pictures to make his first movie, The Arizona Cowboy. Rex went on to appear in more than 30 Republic Westerns, including Under Mexicali Stars, Thunder in God's Country, and The Old Overland Trail.
A talented composer, Rex also penned more than 300 compositions. His records ranked among the nation's top sellers, including the single "Crying in the Chapel" and his album Under Western Skies.
It wasn't long before the "Voice of the West" moved into television, appearing in such popular series as Frontier Doctor. In 1956, he began his association with The Walt Disney Studios when he narrated Cow Dog, which was nominated for an Academy Award®. His other Disney credits include The Incredible Journey, A Country Coyote Goes Hollywood, Ringo, the Refugee Raccoon, Horse of the West, The Feather Farm, The Wahoo Bobcat, and My Family Is a Menagerie, among others.
Rex also lent his voice to Disney theme parks, performing live at Disneyland on numerous occasions. He might best be remembered for providing the voice of "Father" in General Electric's Carousel of Progress, which debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and subsequently appeared at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. An updated version of the show, which debuted in 1993, features Rex in the role of Grandfather.
Rex Allen passed away on December 17, 1999, in Tucson, Arizona.
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| X Atencio (1919–2017) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1996 |
Walt Disney valued multi-talented artists like Xavier "X" Atencio, who helped animate Disney classics, including Fantasia, and later developed music for such Disneyland attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean. X once described the thrill of acknowledgment when, as a young artist, Walt first greeted him with a robust, "Hi ya', X!" X recalled, "Walt was a father image. You felt good merely having been in the presence of his dynamic personality."
Born in Walsenburg, Colorado, on September 4, 1919, X moved to Los Angeles in 1937 to attend Chouinard Art Institute. Instructors gently prodded the shy young artist to submit his portfolio to The Walt Disney Studios. He startled neighbors the next year when, running from the Company's Hyperion Studio to his aunt's house, he bolted past their homes shouting "I got a job at Disney!"
Within three years, X had been promoted to assistant animator on Fantasia. World War II sent him to England with the United States Army Air Forces, but he returned to the Studio in 1945 to work on animated short subjects. In 1953, he received his first screen credit for Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, which won an Academy Award®. Other films he contributed to included Jack and Old Mac, as well as Oscar® nominees Noah's Ark and A Symposium on Popular Songs. X helped animate titles and sequences for such Disney live-action films as The Parent Trap, Babes in Toyland, and Mary Poppins, and he contributed his artistic skill to the "I'm No Fool" series for the original Mickey Mouse Club television show.
In 1965, Walt asked X to stretch his talents by relocating to Walt Disney Imagineering, then called WED Enterprises, to assist in the creation of the Primeval World diorama for Disneyland. He went on to help develop dialogue and music for such attractions as Adventure Thru Inner Space, Haunted Mansion (for which he co-wrote the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts"), and Pirates of the Caribbean (for which he wrote "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me").
He once said, "I didn't even know I could write music, but somehow Walt did. He tapped my hidden talents."
Later, X contributed to the If You Had Wings and Space Mountain attractions in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, as well as the Spaceship Earth, World of Motion, and Mexico Pavilions for Epcot Center. In 1983, he made several trips to Tokyo Disneyland to supervise recordings for Haunted Mansion.
X Atencio retired in 1984, after 47 years with The Walt Disney Company.
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| Betty Lou Gerson (1914–1999) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1996 |
While the winsome pups in Walt Disney's animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians may have stolen people's hearts, actress Betty Lou Gerson stole the show as the immortal queen of mean, Cruella De Vil. Betty Lou once said of the wickedly divine Ms. De Vil, "Cruella was such an exaggerated character, and that's exactly how I played her. She was a lot of fun, but I never expected her to become the cult figure that she became."
Disney Legend Marc Davis, who animated the sweeping, swirling, chain-smoking villainess, credited Betty Lou for inspiring his pencil work. He said, "That voice was the greatest thing I've ever had a chance to work with. A voice like Betty Lou's gives you something to do. You get a performance going there, and if you don't take advantage of it, you're off your rocker." Not only did Betty Lou's voice influence Cruella, but so did her physique. She recalled, "At the time, I was a slinky brunette with high cheekbones…"
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1914, and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Betty Lou first performed in a school play at the age of six. At 16 she moved to Chicago, where she eventually won her first role playing opposite Don Ameche in the popular radio serial First Nighter. Before long, she became known in the industry as the "Soap Opera Queen of Chicago;" among her radio credits were Grand Hotel and The Lux Radio Theater.
Betty Lou commented on her vocal quality, once, when she told this story. "My first husband used to make fun of my [Southern] accent. He called it a mid-Atlantic accent. He'd say: 'I know you've left New York, but I don't think you've quite arrived in England.'"
In the 1940s, she moved to Los Angeles and broke into film and television. She appeared in a string of B movies including Nightmare Alley, The Red Menace, and Undercover Girl, while her TV credits included The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, The Untouchables, and 77 Sunset Strip.
Betty Lou first worked with Disney in 1950, when she provided the "Once upon a time…" narration for the animated classic Cinderella. She also played an old crone in Mary Poppins. When cast as Cruella De Vil, Disney's first comical and non-magical villainess, the role brought Betty Lou much notoriety. As she once said, "It's very satisfying to know that 40, 50, or 60 years from now, that work is still going to be known and loved."
Betty Lou Gerson passed away on January 12, 1999, in Los Angeles.
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| Bill Justice (1914–2011) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1996 |
Bill Justice loved his work at The Walt Disney Company, whether it be programming Audio-Animatronics® figures for the theme parks or animating Mickey Mouse.
Once, when asked if he ever got bored drawing Mickey Mouse, Bill replied, "Have you seen me draw Mickey upside down?" He then did so—effortlessly.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, on February 9, 1914, Bill grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the John Herron Art Institute, where he studied to be a portrait artist. After graduation in 1935, he headed west and joined The Walt Disney Studios as an animator in 1937. During his 28 years with the Company, Bill served as an animator on such classics as Fantasia, Saludos Amigos, Victory Through Air Power, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. Among the memorable characters he animated are the precocious Thumper from Bambi and the mischievous Chip and Dale.
During the 1950s, Bill directed several experimental shorts, including Noah's Ark, A Symposium On Popular Songs, and The Truth About Mother Goose, all of which were nominated for Academy Awards®. Along with Disney Legend X Atencio and artist T. Hee, Bill used the painstaking technique of stop-motion animation in live-action Disney features, including The Parent Trap and Mary Poppins. In all, Bill contributed to 57 shorts and 19 features.
Bill also directed the "Mickey Mouse March," heard and seen on Disney's popular 1950s television series, the Mickey Mouse Club.
Recognizing Bill's immense talent, Walt Disney tapped him to join Walt Disney Imagineering in 1965. There, he programmed Audio-Animatronics® figures for such Disneyland attractions as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Mission to Mars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, and America Sings. Bill once said, "One of the most enjoyable Disneyland projects was the Pirates of the Caribbean. Manipulating the figures in each vignette was a multiple challenge." Bill went on to help bring to life the cast of Walt Disney World's The Hall of Presidents attraction. He also masterminded the Mickey Mouse Revue, featured at Walt Disney World and, later, Tokyo Disneyland.
Bill also had knack for designing parades. In 1959, he designed the floats and costumes for one of the first Disneyland Christmas Parades, and also produced sketches for the Main Street Electrical Parade. He created a number of murals for the Disney theme parks, including a massive "family portrait" of all the Disney characters for Walt Disney World's The Walt Disney Story pre-show area.
After 42 years with the Company, Bill retired in February 1979. He wrote a book about his Disney years called Justice for Disney, and was a frequent guest at Disneyana Conventions.
Bill Justice passed away on February 10, 2011, one day after his 97th birthday, in Santa Monica, California.
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| Bob Matheison (1934–2020) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1996 |
Bob Matheison wore many hats while working for the Disney theme parks. Among his contributions, he helped develop Walt Disney World and create its executive training program. Bob never considered his contributions to be "legendary," but instead pointed to his fellow employees. "I got to work with people that believed in loyalty, camaraderie and sticking it out through good days and bad days," he said. "No one person could do everything by himself or herself. It was a team effort."
Born January 30, 1934, in Portland, Oregon, Bob graduated from the University of Southern California in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications. After college, he served two years with the United States Army at Fort Hood, Texas, working as chief of the radio-television branch of the information office. For the next two years, he broadcast news, sports, and special events from radio station WFAA in Dallas, Texas. During his broadcast career, he also served as the "voice" of the California Angels and the USC Trojans.
In 1960, Bob received a call from an old college friend, who offered him a job at Disneyland as a sound coordinator. Bob accepted, becoming responsible for programming anything audible to guests, ranging from recorded music to teaching Jungle Cruise guides how to speak into their microphones. Bob then became manager of Guest Relations and, later, helped produce live radio and television broadcasts from Disneyland.
By 1965, Walt had tapped Bob to manage the operation of it's a small world and to supervise the technical assistance staff for Magic Skyway, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and the Carousel of Progress at the New York World's Fair.
Bob returned to California in 1966 to head the research and development team for Walt Disney World. He presented facts and recommendations to Walt about sizing, facilities, and other factors, and also helped develop a 13-week executive training program for Walt Disney World. This was the forerunner of Disney's current corporate training program.
In 1969, Bob was named director of operations at Disneyland and, a year later, he carried the title to Florida. There, he outlined an operating plan for the new theme park.
He recalled the Park's October 1, 1971 opening: "We didn't want to open to a big crowd, so we opened after school started. The day after Thanksgiving, however, we backed traffic up almost to Orlando."
He was promoted to vice president of operations in 1972, and was bumped up to vice president of the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT in 1984. Three years later, Bob was promoted to executive vice president of parks, Walt Disney World.
Bob Matheison retired in February 1994, after 34 years with The Walt Disney Company. He passed away on January 5, 2020.
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| Sam McKim (1924–2004) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 1996 |
Sam McKim inspired many a Disney film and theme park attraction with his imaginative drawings. But the actor-turned-artist is probably best known to Disney fans today as the creator of the Disneyland souvenir maps, issued between 1958 and 1964. Even today, his intricate and fascinating maps remain among the most sought-after pieces of Disney memorabilia. In 1992, Sam encored his cartographical genius when he created a new map in his unique style to commemorate the opening of Disneyland Paris.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 20, 1924, Sam moved to Los Angeles with his family during the Great Depression. At 10, he was spotted by a casting director while visiting a relative at MGM and began work as a movie extra. He became a child actor under contract to Republic Studios, working in a slew of western serials and B-pictures; over the years he appeared alongside Hollywood legends such as Spencer Tracy, John Wayne, Rita Hayworth, and Gene Autry.
But even then, Sam had a knack for art. He later recalled, "I was always drawing something or other. I'd draw caricatures of the actors and they would sign them for me."
During high school he submitted some of his drawings to The Walt Disney Studios and was offered a job in the traffic department, with an explanation that "the breaks would happen… later." Instead, Sam enlisted with the United States Army where he served in the American Infantry Division during World War II. Upon his return stateside, he enrolled at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and graduated in 1950; the day after his graduation he was drafted into the Korean War. After serving 14 months, during which his decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, he returned to the United States and attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
In 1953, Sam found himself having to decide between accepting a role in renowned director John Ford's The Long Gray Line or a job with 20th Century Fox making story sketches for films. He happily accepted the latter, because "working behind the camera was what I really wanted to do."
After layoffs at Fox in 1954, Sam joined Disney to create inspirational sketches for Walt's new theme park, Disneyland. Among his first sketches was Slue Foot Sue's Golden Horseshoe Revue in Frontierland.
He later contributed to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Carousel of Progress, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion. Eventually, every land at the Park benefited from Sam's magic touch.
Sam also contributed to Florida theme park attractions such as the Magic Kingdom's The Hall of Presidents and Universe of Energy in Epcot Center. Sam also developed inspirational sketches for the Disney-MGM Studios.
From time to time, Walt also asked Sam to storyboard Disney films. Among his projects were Nikki, Wild Dog of the North, Big Red, Bon Voyage, and The Gnome Mobile. He also developed storyboards for episodes of Disney's television series Zorro.
Sam McKim passed away on July 9, 2004, in Burbank, California.
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| Bob Moore (1920–2001) Legends Award Category: Animation & Film Year Inducted: 1996 |
Bob Moore had a wit as pointed as his pencil tip, and a free-wheeling imagination which he lent to Disney's animation, story, and art departments. An expert cartoonist, he is the only Disney artist to have initials of distinction placed after his name—Bob Moore, M.D. "M.D. stands for 'Mouse Draw-er,'" he once explained with a grin.
Born in Los Angeles on April 21, 1920, Bob had his sites set on a Disney career from an early age. His father, a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded music for some of the earliest Mickey Mouse animated shorts, including Plane Crazy. After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, Bob attended Chouinard Art Institute and joined Disney as an apprentice animator in 1940. There, he helped animate feature films such as Dumbo, The Reluctant Dragon, and The Three Caballeros.
During World War II, when the Studio produced special projects for the United States government, Bob helped animate training films for Navy pilots. He was later drafted into the Navy, and ordered to a special unit dedicated to producing animated training films. After the war he returned to Disney to serve as a story man, contributing to such animated shorts as Inferior Decorator, and package feature films including Melody Time and Make Mine Music.
In 1951, Bob was asked to head the one-man art department for publicity, which he ran for three decades. He singlehandedly developed clever promotional art concepts for Disney films and, later, its theme parks. He eventually was named creative director of marketing and designed many Disney movie posters, Christmas cards, letterheads, and logos. He also served as one of Walt Disney's official autographers, signing thousands of photographs with Walt's famous signature.
Among the highlights of Bob's prolific career was designing the commemorative Walt Disney United States postage stamp in 1968, as well as the official mascot for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Bob incorporated the mascot, Sam the Eagle, into the logos for each Olympic event. Bob also designed murals that adorn the halls of three Walt Disney Elementary Schools located in Tullytown, Pennsylvania; Marceline, Missouri; and Anaheim, California.
Besides being named a Disney Legend, Bob's name was immortalized when a color of Disney paint was named after him; tubes of Moore Red still line the walls of the Ink and Paint department today. In his free time he often freelanced, contributing to many Disney comic books. In 1983, after 43 years of service, Bob retired from The Walt Disney Company.
Bob Moore passed away on November 20, 2001.
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| Bill Peet (1915–2002) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1996 |
Artist Bill Peet had a knack for developing stories, and significantly influenced such Disney animated classics as Dumbo, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and The Sword in the Stone. His powers of observation, according to fellow Disney Legends Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, "enabled him to catch the essence of everything he drew, whether it be a boxcar on a freight train or a Bavarian dwarf living under a lily pad." Disney sketch artist and storyman Ralph Wright recalled Bill as one of the few artists "who dreamed up real characters that lived and breathed and thought and came from the heart of the story artist."
Born January 29, 1915, in Grandview, Indiana, Bill grew up in Indianapolis.
As a child, he ignored his family's poverty by sketching upbeat drawings and writing fanciful stories.
At the time, he didn't dream he could grow up and make a living doing what he loved—drawing and writing—because "it was too much fun." During high school, however, he won a scholarship to Herron Art Institute, and his life changed. "My life really began there," he later said. "I could see the light."
After briefly working for an Ohio greeting card company, he moved west. In 1937, he was hired as an apprentice animator at The Walt Disney Studios and worked on the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A year later, Bill moved into the Story Department. There, he contributed to such Disney films as Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Song of the South, and The Jungle Book.
During the 1950s Bill also worked on shorts, such as Susie, The Little Blue Coupe and Lambert, the Sheepish Lion, and television programs, including the Disneyland series. He eventually became the sole developer of the animated features One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone, for which he drew the characters, wrote the screenplays, and directed the actors' voice performances.
In 1959 Bill published his first children's book, Hubert's Hare-Raising Adventure. Then, in 1964, after nearly 30 years with The Walt Disney Company, he retired to pursue a full-time career as a children's writer. Bill subsequently wrote and illustrated more than 35 children's tales, which were translated into a multitude of languages.
His best-selling work is his 1989 book, Bill Peet: An Autobiography, which won him the Southern California Children's Book Writer's medal and was named one of four Caldecott Honor Books.
Bill passed away on May 11, 2002, in Studio City, California.
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| April 11, 1997 |
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| Lucien AdĂ©s (1920–1992) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 1997 |
In the tradition of Disney's rich storytelling legacy, Lucien Adés pioneered the first "read-along" record album for Disney Consumer Products in 1953. His idea for record albums with beautifully illustrated companion books, which combined a Disney story with music in a medium other than film, spread from France to the United States. Over the years, Lucien's idea has inspired many different forms of Disney recorded merchandise including "storyteller" albums and "sing-along" videos.
Former vice president of product development for Walt Disney Records Ted Kryczko once explained: "Read-alongs are a very important part of Disney. They've carved out their own unique niche in entertainment because they're interactive, imaginative and fun for children to use, while parents appreciate read-alongs because they're designed specifically for their children; there's great educational value in that."
Born on January 20, 1920, in Constantine, Algeria, Lucien studied arts at the nearby University of Algiers. After graduation, he served for a short time as a professor of French and Latin at a college preparatory school. In 1942, he entered the French Liberated Armed Forces. During World War II, Lucien was stationed with British troops in the Middle East.
After the war, Lucien arrived in Paris and opened a bookstore in the Parc Monceau district. His lifelong passion for children's literature inspired him to develop his first read-along record album, which was well-received by his customers. Not long after entering the music publishing business, Lucien sold his bookshop and, with product in hand, contacted the French offices of Walt Disney Productions. There, he established a friendship and collaborative partnership with fellow Legend Armand Bigle.
Bigle recalled, "Lucien's 'read-along' concept was a brilliant addition to Disney's line of merchandise. He was a very good licensee—one of our best!"
In 1957, four years after Lucien published his first read-along album in France, a version of his concept premiered in the United States when Disney merchandising produced its first "storyteller" albums. These featured songs and story narration from such films as Bambi, Dumbo, and Pinocchio.
Lucien's record company, Adés Editions, produced countless read-along books for Disney in France. Besides acting as publisher, Lucien composed the scripts and hired gifted artists to develop the illustrations. Famous French actors of the era were brought on to perform the roles. Although his priority was to publish children's read-alongs, his company also edited classical and contemporary records.
In 1988, after conducting business with Disney for more than thirty years, Lucien sold Adés Editions to long-time Disney licensee Hachette Publishing; he continued to work with the company for the next two years.
Lucien passed away on July 17, 1992, in Paris.
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| Angel Angelopoulos (1907–1990) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
Alkaios Angelopoulos, known as "Angel" to his friends and colleagues, loved to learn. In 1951, he founded Educational Materials Enterprises S.A., a company that represented foreign publishers and film companies in Greece. Angel was determined to bring a world of information and inspired entertainment to his native Greece and, in 1953, Walt Disney Productions joined his roster of prestigious clients. Mary Tenti, who worked with him in his Athens office, recalled, "Angel was very fond of education. His beloved baby, besides Disney, was the book."
Born in Patra, Greece, on August 8, 1907, Angel studied law and political science at Athens University. In 1934, he moved to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where he practiced law at the Mixed Courts of Ethiopia. He soon, however, turned to newspaper reporting for the International News Service (INS) and covered the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-36) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
During World War II, he enlisted with the Greek Resistance forces against German occupation. He continued to report for the INS after the way, covering the Balkans and Near East. Then, in the early 1950s, Angel decided to switch careers again; this time he became a representative of intellectual properties such as Encyclopedia Britannica and, of course, Disney.
True to Angel's enthusiastic nature, he pursued his Disney marketing venture with vigor. Among his contributions was the launch of the first Greek Disney magazine, Mickey Mouse Weekly, published by licensee Terzopoulos. He also recruited licensees to manufacture character merchandise; these included Panini, an Italian company that produced popular Disney-themed stickers and sticker books. Before long, Angel's responsibilities spread to developing markets in Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Egypt. He also provided exceptional leadership fighting against the piracy of Disney characters in Greece, creating an environment in which Disney licensees could thrive.
Former European sales representative Armand Bigle recalled, "There were no strong copyright rules in Greece, at the time, like there were in France or England. Angel fought very hard to protect Disney and its characters."
Later, Angel's love of Disney and learning motivated him to assist Roy O. Disney in raising funds for the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. The art school, founded in 1970, was a dream of Walt Disney, who died in 1966 before its completion. As Roy O. Disney wrote to Angel in 1969, "You have supported the school on faith alone in past years. We hope you will continue to participate with us as the promise becomes a reality."
Filled with passion and tremendous drive, Angel worked eight to 10 hour days into his 80s. Angel passed away on May 13, 1990, in Athens.
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| Antonio Bertini Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1997 |
Disney experienced unprecedented growth in Italy during the tenure of former president of Walt Disney Creations S.p.A., Antonio Bertini. As the Company's annual income base increased from an estimated $74 million to $300 million, Antonio expanded merchandising from 30 to nearly 100 licensees. These licensees produced various Disney-themed products for the Italian marketplace.
Antonio's optimistic business philosophy proved itself true. As he explained, "There is always a market. There is never a problem when you give a good product at the right price." He added: "And Disney is a very good product."
Born in Milan, Italy, on January 13, 1927, Antonio was the only child of a metalworker and homemaker. He attended the nearby University of Pavia and, as a student there, presented a paper on a little-known concept in the country at the time—market research. In 1955, he graduated with a Ph.D. in political science.
After school, he began his career as a planning officer at Lever Brothers in Milan, coordinating the operating, marketing, and publicity plans of four Italian factories which produced such products as soap, perfume, and margarine. In 1960, Antonio answered an anonymous ad in the local newspaper for a job. Little did he know at the time, the company was Walt Disney Productions and he was about to embark on a lifelong career.
Antonio joined Disney on July 1, 1960, as an assistant to the Company's Italian sales representative, Major John "Jack" William Holmes. Within one month, Antonio negotiated a number of new contracts with licensees to create such products as Disney-themed tablecloths, toys, and figurines; this subsequently increased Company profits by 25 million Italian lira. His stellar efforts were rewarded a year later, when he was promoted to sales manager and invited to join the Company's Board of Directors. Two years later, Roy O. Disney personally named Antonio president of Walt Disney Creations S.p.A.
In 1978, Antonio initiated the production and marketing of 8-mm and 16-mm Disney shorts and educational films throughout Italy. Within a year, his experiment earned an additional $1 million worth of revenue for the Company and paved the way toward its dominance in the home video market during the early 1980s.
Then, in 1987, he proposed that the Milan-based Company cease to have licensees publish Disney books, comics, and magazines, such as the weekly Topolino, but rather own and operate its own publishing division. Antonio later said, "Business jumped 1000 percent after we became our own publisher."
After 30 years of service, Antonio Bertini retired from Walt Disney Creations S.p.A. in 1990.
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| Armand Bigle (1917–2007) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1997 |
In 1949, when Armand Bigle was asked by Company co-founder Roy O. Disney to accept a commission sales job, opening new territories for Disney in Europe for 30 percent of the gross, he had to think about it. After all, it offered no salary. Roy E. Disney, son of Roy O. Disney, later recalled:
"At the time, we had no significant merchandising business in Europe. Once Armand accepted the position, however, the deal soon had to be re-negotiated because he grew the business rather wildly."
"Armand was always full of outrageous marketing ideas," Roy added. "When Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier was released, he had my wife, Patty, and his wife, Betty, walking up and down the famed Champs- Elysees wearing coonskin caps—he wanted to create a new fashion rage in Paris."
Indeed, Armand is known as Disney's Godfather of Europe. By generating the creation of Disney toys and publications in more than a dozen countries, he helped bring the Disney name to households throughout the continent. He also laid the foundation of what would become a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
Born in Paris on November 13, 1917, Armand graduated with a law degree from the University of Paris in 1938. During World War II he worked as a correspondent for Opera Mundi, a news agency serving the Western European press, covering activities in Belgium and Holland.
In 1946, he happened to interview Walt Disney for a feature article. During their meeting, said Armand, Walt turned the tables and began to interview him. Subsequently, Armand received several letters from The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank until, the following year, Company co-founder Roy O. Disney traveled to meet him in Brussels.
He soon founded his own company, Screpta Brussels, to serve as representative for Walt Disney Productions in Benelux and Switzerland. He launched the successful Mickey Magazine, which sold more than 60,000 issues a week in Belgium.
Based on the magazine's success, Roy asked Armand to relocate to Paris to serve as the Company's premier European special sales representative. In that position, he was charged with the awesome task of opening new territories for Disney merchandise and publications by recruiting licensees in such countries as Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Greece, Israel, Indonesia, Benelux, and the Middle East. Armand later said, "It was a challenge to open in these countries; many were still recuperating from the war."
After serving Disney for more than 40 years, Armand Bigle retired in 1988. He passed away on August 25, 2007, in Paris.
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| Gaudenzio Capelli Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
During his nearly 33-year career, Gaudenzio Capelli helped make Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters honorary citizens of Italy. Gaudenzio served first with Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, the Disney publishing licensee in Italy, and later with Walt Disney Company Italia S.p.A. in Milan. As former director of Topolino, Italy's Mickey Mouse magazine, he worked diligently to enhance and expand Disney publishing throughout the country.
His wife, Rosalba, later recalled, "He was working, working, working all of the time and he was very happy. He never stopped developing, creating, and making things better. Quality is very important to him. He always says, 'It is best to do something well or simply do not do it.'"
Born December 7, 1929, in Milan, Gaudenzio graduated as an industrial chemist from the State University of Milan. In 1961, after military service in the Italian Army, he won an editorial position at Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, one of the most important publishing houses in Italy. He began his career there as a reader and translator of Topolino, whose editor-in-chief was then Mario Gentilini.
During the late 1960s, Gaudenzio helped develop the popular Manuali, or Disney Handbooks, a series of "how-to" manuals for children featuring Disney characters.
These provided instruction on such subjects as sports, cooking, and gardening. The success of the Manuali led to the creation of Enciclopedia Disney and Enciclopedia Disney Geografica, general knowledge books for children.
After fellow Disney Legend Gentilini retired as editor-in-chief in 1980, Gaudenzio assumed his responsibilities and expanded the translation of Topolino stories for publication in other European markets, including Germany, France, and Scandinavia. He also displayed innovative leadership beyond publishing; among his contributions, he expanded the Italian Topolino Trophy youth ski competition to include additional youth competitions in tennis, golf, swimming, fencing, and more. The Topolino Trophy quickly spread from Italy to Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
As editor-in-chief of Topolino in 1982-83, Gaudenzio appeared on 34 episodes of the children's ecology television series Vai col Verde to promote the magazine; at the time, the publication was recognized as a leader in the preservation of ecology and wildlife. When, in 1988, Topolino passed from Mondadori Publishing to Walt Disney Company Italia S.p.A., Gaudenzio became a full-fledged Disney employee. Under his continued leadership, Topolino reached an unprecedented milestone, selling more than one million copies a week in July 1992.
Gaudenzio also helped found the Disney Academy in Milan, which is dedicated to discovering and nurturing young artists and to helping develop new technologies for Disney magazines.
After developing another 40 Disney-themed magazines for children, including pre-school magazines Cip and Ciop (Chip and Dale) and Bambi, Gaudenzio Capelli retired from Walt Disney Company Italia S.p.A. on March 31, 1994.
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| Roberto de Leonardis (1913–1984) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1997 |
Raised in Italy, Roberto de Leonardis became fluent in colloquial American English during two years as a prisoner alongside America GIs in a Japanese prison camp. It was a skill that served him well when the war was over; in 1947, Roberto was hired by Disney to translate its films, including Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and others, into Italian for audiences there to enjoy.
Roy E. Disney, former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, later recalled, "Roberto was a good friend to the Company. With his skilled English, he translated the Studio's films with great care and precision and, subsequently, helped make Disney an integral part of the nation's entertainment landscape."
Born in Naples on February 14, 1913, Roberto's father was an admiral in the Italian Navy. Young Roberto followed in his footsteps, attending the Military Academy in Livorno, Tuscany, and graduating as an officer.
As a captain, Roberto served as commanding officer of an Italian naval ship under the flag of King Victor Emanuel III. When confronted by the Japanese after Italy surrendered to the Allies on September 8, 1943, Roberto scuttled his ship in China's Yangtze Kiang River. As a result, he was taken prisoner and detained until American troops freed him in 1945.
Roberto returned to Italy after the war and, with his newly acquired English skills, began to translate American films into his native language.
In 1949, as a member of the association of Italian short film producers, Roberto developed Filmeco, a production house that created about 50 documentaries. These included an episode of Disney's People and Places travelogue series, Sardinia, in 1956.
Two years later, Roberto established his own dubbing company, Royfilm. This new venture translated Disney films into the Italian language, in addition to motion pictures produced by other major American studios including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, and Universal.
In 1961, Roberto was commissioned to work as executive producer on the Circarama film Italia '61. This 360-degree motion picture, which features a tour of Italy as well as spectacular views of the Genoa harbor and Mount Vesuvius, was prepared for the Italia '61 Exposition in Turin. Considered cutting-edge technology at the time, the motion picture was filmed with a unique camera invented by Disney Imagineers.
Roberto de Leonardis passed away on September 21, 1984, in Rome.
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| Cyril Edgar (1907–1987) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1997 |
Cyril Edgar sure could sell a Disney film. His success was fueled by his winning personality and his sheer love of Disney; described by his colleagues as a witty fellow with an engaging personality, Cyril made everyone feel at ease around him. Even his wife, Tricia, observed, "Cyril had the most marvelous knack of changing any conversation about himself to the other person. Someone would ask a question, perhaps about the film industry, and before you knew it Cyril turned the tables so the other person would be talking about him or herself."
Born in London, England, on May 4, 1907, Cyril was the son of a doctor and a homemaker. As a schoolboy he was inclined toward sports, participating in everything from boxing to cricket. After school, he won a job at British Lion Film Corporation Ltd. on Wardour Street; he eventually worked his way up to circuit manager, overseeing the booking of first-run films at theater circuits throughout the country.
In 1950, Cyril took a job with Disney as its liaison with RKO, which distributed Disney movies at the time. He proved to be an able sales and public relations representative; after observing Cyril with RKO's distribution team in 1951, former Disney head of domestic and foreign distribution W.B. Levy wrote to Cyril, saying, "I was happy for the opportunity to observe how you have assumed your duties and maintained RKO relationships with efficiency and intelligence."
Four years later, when Disney opened its own distribution operation in the United Kingdom, Cyril proved instrumental as director of sales, overseeing a number of regional offices throughout England, Wales, and Scotland.
In 1956, he was named joint managing director of Walt Disney Productions, Ltd., a title he shared with Disney Legend Cyril James. Known to all as "the two Cyrils," they were an effective team; Cyril James tended to administration and finance, while Cyril Edgar sold Disney films to theater circuits and television shows to broadcast stations.
In December 1961, Cyril reported that his sales team had booked nearly 2,000 play dates at theaters throughout the United Kingdom during the lucrative holiday season; according to Cyril, it was a record at the time for any motion picture distributing company in the nation.
Fifteen years later, in April 1971, he was named European supervisor in charge of sales for the entire continent, and transferred to the Company's European headquarters in Paris. The next year he retired, after serving more than 20 years with Disney.
Cyril Edgar passed away on February 5, 1987, in Bournemouth, England.
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| Wally Feignoux (1906–1981) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1997 |
As Disney's continental cinema representative in Paris, Wally Feignoux went above and beyond the call of duty. During the 1930s and '40s, he not only ably represented the Company's interests to its motion picture distributor at the time, RKO, but he made heroic contributions by keeping Disney's Paris office open during the Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945.
As his sister, Jacqueline Vieuille, recalled, "Wally had been brought up by our parents that you have to do your duty no matter the circumstances. He was proud to represent Disney and felt passion for his work. During the Occupation, when it was a danger to stay in the 52 Champs-Elysee building, where, coincidentally, the German 'Propaganda Stafel' was also located, Wally struggled to keep Disney's office open."
Born Raoul Wallace Feignoux on March 26, 1906, in Paris, Wally was the son of a pharmacist and a homemaker. After studying at Nassillon and Lycee Charlemagne in Paris, he entered the import/export business supplying textiles to the women's fashion industry.
In the early 1930s, he entered the film industry as a sales representative for Fox Movietone. During this time, he met Walt and Roy O. Disney through a mutual friend and, subsequently, joined the Company in 1936. With a staff of ten, he was responsible for supervising RKO's distribution of Disney films throughout Continental Europe.
Hitler seized Paris three years later and, at great risk to himself, Wally surreptitiously buried all the Disney film prints in his possession to keep them out of Nazi hands.
Fellow Legend and former head of European merchandising Armand Bigle later said, "It was a very dangerous thing for him to do. But Wally made sure the films were safe, and that they were returned to the Studio after the war."
Upon Allied victory, one of Wally's first tasks was to book Fantasia at a Paris theater. According to Bigle, this proved to be a challenge; French theater owners thought the movie might be too sophisticated for audiences. Wally proved persuasive, however, and on November 6, 1946, Fantasia premiered at the Empire Theater. Apparently French audiences enjoyed the film; on February 5, 1947, an RKO press release touted that Fantasia was enjoying its 10th successful week in Paris.
Wally later supervised the translation of all Disney motion pictures into the French language and, in 1963, helped the Company establish its own independent distribution arm in France. After devoting 35 years to Disney, he retired in 1971.
Wally Feignoux passed away on May 30, 1981, in Bordeaux, France.
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| Didier Fouret (1927–1989) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
Didier Fouret, former director of Hachette Publishing in Paris, played a key role in bringing Disney's beloved cast of characters to children and their parents throughout France. Fellow Disney Legend and former chairman of Walt Disney Productions Card Walker recalled, "Didier was a good friend to Disney. He helped with our publishing for many years and developed some very popular publications for France."
Disney's former European special sales representative Armand Bigle added, "When I first approached Hachette about publishing books and magazines in the early 1950s, Disney was not well-known in France. Didier helped convince the company heads to publish Disney books and magazines and, as a result, Disney has since become one of Hachette's great success stories."
Born June 25th, 1927, in Paris, Didier earned his bachelor's degree from the nearby Lycee Janson in 1943. He then enlisted with the French Liberated Army and served in the famed 2nd French Armored Division, commanded by General Jacques Philippe LeClerc, which helped free Paris from German occupation on August 25, 1944.
After the war, he joined his grandfather Edmond Fouret, president of Hachette Library, at the Paris publishing company. There, Didier began developing books for children and, by age 30, he was named director of the company.
Besides helping establish relations between Disney and Hachette, Didier expanded the line of Disney-themed publications in France. He worked with fellow Disney Legend Paul Winkler on the 1952 re-issue of the weekly magazine Le Journal de Mickey; the first issue had been published, in 1934, by Winkler. The magazine, which introduced Mickey Mouse to a whole new generation of French children, became an instant hit, selling between 650,000 and 700,000 issues per week.
Didier also helped guide the creation and design of the famous Hachette albums for children, which were based on the popular Little Golden Book series developed by Western Publishing in the United States. The beautifully illustrated Hachette albums featured stories from Disney animated motion pictures such as Peter Pan and Cinderella.
In 1979, Didier took a personal interest in EPCOT Center, which was being constructed at Walt Disney World in Florida. His interest soon transformed into a vision for a fine restaurant for the French Pavilion in World Showcase. After gaining the blessing of Disney corporate heads, Didier proceeded to recruit revered national chefs Paul Bocuse, Gaston LeNotre, and Roger Verge as his partners in Les Chefs de France, which continues to serve the finest French cuisine west of the Seine.
In all, Didier contributed nearly 40 years to building Disney's image in France through publishing.
Didier Fouret passed away on July 5, 1989, in Paris.
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| Mario Gentilini (1909–1988) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
Mario Gentilini pushed the envelope of invention in the world of comic publishing. The former director of Topolino magazine, he had an artistic, captivating, and tireless personality, which he infused into the popular Italian publication. Under his leadership, the Mickey Mouse-starring Topolino transformed from a monthly into a weekly publication and featured original Disney stories by classically trained Italian artists. As former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney recalled, "Mario was a great pioneer in the comic field."
Born July 8, 1909, in Luzzara, Italy, Mario studied art at the Accademia di Brera in Milan and, in time, became a well-known figurative painter. His work was featured in exhibitions in Paris and Rome.
Mario taught at a local high school until 1936 when he was offered the opportunity to fill in for an artist on leave from Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. While at the prestigious publishing firm, Mario learned of Topolino magazine, which the company had recently acquired the rights to publish. He became enchanted by Disney's little mouse star and, as a result, quit teaching to began a new career in publishing. He started by retouching drawings for Topolino and, nine years later, Mario was promoted to its editor.
At that time, only Disney stories from the U.S. were typically translated and published in the magazine.
Mario, however, transformed the publication from a monthly into a weekly and, as a result, initiated original Disney stories by Italian artists to help fill Topolino's estimated 3,500 published pages per year. The artists he recruited were from top Italian schools, such as Scarpa in Venezia.
Mario's other contributions include I Classici di Walt Disney, a monthly magazine that featured only the best stories of Topolino. First published in 1958, the magazine was a huge success selling two million copies in seven languages per issue. Ten years later, Mario published the first of a successful series of Disney-themed handbooks for the Italian boy scouts called Manuale dell Giovani Marmotte.
In addition to his publishing genius, Mario was a clever marketer; in 1960, he founded the Topolino Ski Trophy for children ages 6 to 12, the first sports program of its kind in Europe. He also developed Il Club di Topolino for readers of Topolino, who collected and traded special stamps that were published in the magazine. Founded in 1954, the club grew to more than 500,000 members by the late 1960s.
After 35 years with Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Mario retired in 1980. Future fellow Disney Legend Gaudenzio Capelli assumed his responsibilities as director of Topolino.
Mario Gentilini passed away in February 1988, in Milan.
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| Cyril James (1910–1975) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products & Film Year Inducted: 1997 |
Cyril James has been called Roy O. Disney's British counterpart because, like Roy, Cyril was a business genius. He skillfully handled all of the financial and administrative affairs for Walt Disney Productions, Ltd., in London, England.
Colleagues remember Cyril's good nature and his dry, often pointed, wit. As former treasurer of Buena Vista International and fellow Legend Don Escen recalled, "When I first traveled from Burbank to the London offices, Cyril jokingly greeted me with 'Good morning, and when is it you're leaving, again?'"
While Cyril transformed Disney into a "proper" English company by hosting a formal tea each afternoon in the London offices, his sense of loyalty to the American Company was legend.
Not only did he name his home "Burbank," in honor of the California city where Walt and Roy O. Disney built their famed Studio, but he practically busted buttons whenever the Company met with success.
His son David James said, "I remember the night he came home after it was announced that Disney's live-action film Rob Roy had been selected for the Royal Command Film Performance. He woke me up to give me a Rob Roy lead figure. I was a small child then, but I still remember the pride and excitement in his eyes."
Cyril was born September 1, 1910, in Tonipandi, South Wales. He trained in London as a chartered accountant and joined Walt Disney Productions, Ltd., as Company secretary in 1938.
Four years later he left Disney to join the war effort, serving as a sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. After the war, Cyril rejoined the Company and was instrumental as its liaison with RKO, which distributed Disney movies. These included Disney's first all-live-action films, which were produced in the United Kingdom beginning with Treasure Island in 1950.
In 1956, Cyril was promoted to joint managing director of Walt Disney Productions, Ltd., a title he shared with fellow Disney Legend Cyril Edgar. Known as "the two Cyrils," the men were an effective team; Cyril James attended to the Company's administration and finance, while Cyril Edgar focused on selling Disney films to theater circuits and television shows to broadcast stations.
Three years later, Cyril James became Roy O. Disney's point man when he was named sole managing director for England and Europe. He served in that position until his retirement in 1972, after spending 35 years with the Company.
Cyril James passed away on August 25, 1975, in London, England.
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| Horst Koblischek (1926–2002) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1997 |
As the creator of the Sport Goofy Trophy, Horst Koblischek took Disney's name from the tennis courts of Europe to the former Soviet Union. Beginning in 1981, and inspired by a similar program called "Trophy Topolino" in Italy, Horst developed the junior tennis tournament for German children under 14.
The tournament quickly spread throughout Europe and the world with open championships held in Monte Carlo in 1982 as well as Moscow in 1990. Such future champs as Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Michael Chang made their debuts on the Sport Goofy tennis courts.
Bo Boyd, then president of Disney Consumer Products, recalled, "Horst was the father of Sport Goofy. His concept was impressive and incredibly successful."
Born July 8, 1926, in Reichenberg, Czechoslovakia, Horst was the son of a shoe retailer and a homemaker. In 1943, he entered officer training school for the German Army but, by the time he graduated, World War II had ended and he was placed in a POW camp in Heilborn. Work was scarce in Germany when he was released, but in 1950 Horst won a job at a small Berlin advertising agency.
Eight years later, he moved to Frankfurt to join Disney's newly established German office as director of sales. He was promoted to managing director in 1961.
By the mid 1960s, Horst had introduced the Disney Comic Pocket Book to children. The pocket-sized books continue to be the most successful Disney publishing concept in Germany today. He also founded the Company's German record business in 1965, featuring read-alongs and recordings for children based on such Disney films as Mary Poppins.
In 1973, he inaugurated Disney's Super 8-mm film business in Germany, which grew into the lucrative home video market. In 1975, he negotiated Disney's first television contract in Germany, featuring one Mickey Mouse cartoon per week.
In 1988, as a part of Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday celebration, Horst helped organize the first Disney Film Festival in the Soviet Union. The three-city tour, which took place in Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and Estonia, featured special guest appearances by Roy E. Disney, then vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, and Mickey Mouse. Audiences who had not seen a Disney animated film on the big screen since before the war readily embraced such motion pictures as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and Fantasia. As the cold war ended in 1992, Horst re-introduced Disney characters to other Eastern European countries including Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic via books and publications.
After 35 years with Disney, Horst Koblischek retired in 1990. He served as a consultant until 1993, negotiating a contract to publish the first Mickey Mouse magazine in China.
Horst Koblischek passed away November 11, 2002.
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| Gunnar Mansson (1927–2007) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1997 |
Gunnar Mansson was not only Disney's representative in the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden, but he was also its most eligible bachelor.
As his wife, Yvette, later said, "When we married, Gunnar was a 64-year-old bachelor!
The company's co-founder, Roy Disney Sr., used to always ask, 'Why aren't you married, yet?' And Gunnar, who was very good looking and had gorgeous girlfriends, would reply, 'Why do you want me to be married?' Roy answered, "Because you're the only one of our company representatives who isn't married and we can't keep tabs on you!'"
Born July 17, 1927, in Stockholm, Sweden, to a merchant and an administrative secretary, Gunnar studied commerce at the University of Stockholm. In 1947, he enlisted with the Swedish Air Force as part of compulsory national service, and served as a pilot outside of Stockholm. He joined the Phillips Company in Stockholm in 1949; during his four years with the Dutch company, he marketed such products as records, radios, and record players.
Then, in 1953, he won a position with Kellogg's in Copenhagen, marketing its line of breakfast cereals in Sweden and Norway. While there, he became personally acquainted with the Disney company. Kellogg's was one of Disney's character licensees, developing free Disney-themed prizes for children, hidden in cereal boxes, as well as character cut-outs featured on the back of boxes.
Ten years later, Gunnar received an unexpected invitation to join Disney from its then-head of merchandising, O.B. Johnston. He became manager of Disney's Stockholm office, and was promoted to managing director when it moved to Copenhagen a year later.
In that position, Gunnar juggled many areas of responsibility. These included merchandising, promotions, character licensing, music, educational materials, and publishing in all five Nordic countries. Among his contributions, he oversaw publication of a popular 32-page Donald Duck magazine (known as Anders And & Co. in Danish and Kalle Anka in Swedish), which was published by Gutenberghus beginning in the late 1960s. The magazine, which featured Disney comics as well as promotions for the Company's films, toys, records, and other products, quickly grew to a combined circulation of one million readers per week. Gunnar recalled, "The magazine was directed toward children, but many adults read it, too. I guess you could say, it was really aimed at families and, as a result, was a tremendous success."
After more than 25 years establishing the image of Disney in the Nordic countries, Gunnar Mansson retired from The Walt Disney Company in 1989. He and his wife lived in Australia after his retirement. Gunnar passed away in 2007.
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| Arnoldo Mondadori (1889–1972) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
In the Italian children's magazine Topolino, European publishing legend Arnoldo Mondadori treated Mickey Mouse with the same respect he afforded such classical authors as Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway, and Gabriele D'Annunzio.
Mondadori's company published Topolino from 1935 to 1988. As former director of Topolino, Gaudenzio Capelli, recalled, "Arnoldo had a keen intuition for discovering new authors such as Pirandello and D'Annunzio. From the moment he first saw Mickey Mouse, he had a feeling he'd become a big Italian star."
Born November 2, 1889, in the village of Poggio Rusco, Italy, Arnoldo was the son of a farmer and a homemaker. At a young age, he won a job in a typography shop and, by 15, achieved a dream by publishing his very own newspaper, La Luce.
His dream did not stop there, however, and Arnoldo continued to work tirelessly to develop other books and publications. Eventually, he established one of Europe's most prestigious publishing houses, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. He published consumer magazines, such as Time, and books, ranging from classical literature to reference works.
In 1935, Arnoldo first saw Disney's Topolino magazine, which was then printed in newspaper size by the publisher Nerbini in Florence. He fell in love with Topolino and felt he could do more for the image of Disney's cartoon star if he were publisher of the monthly magazine. So, Arnoldo arranged a personal introduction to Walt and Roy O. Disney and, subsequently, convinced them of his ability to gain a larger audience for Mickey in Italy.
Capelli added, "When Arnoldo met Walt and Roy Disney, they did not speak Italian and he did not speak English. Yet within a few minutes they reached an agreement that he would publish Topolino in Italy."
Upon gaining rights to the magazine, the publishing genius immediately changed its format to pocket size, so children could easily carry it with them and share it with their friends. This simple innovation, along with Arnoldo's ability to develop appealing editorial and artistic content, propelled the magazine to extraordinary success at the time, selling 200,000 issues per month. With the success of Topolino, Arnoldo went on to publish Donald Duck magazine, as well as other Disney comic books.
Of all the authors and publications Arnoldo ever dealt with, he held a special spot in his heart for Mickey Mouse. According to former employees, Arnoldo would personally check the work in Topolino every night before he went to sleep.
Arnoldo Mondadori loved his work and never retired. He passed away on July 1, 1972, in Milan.
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| Armand Palivoda (1906–1960) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1997 |
Armand Palivoda, who distributed Disney motion pictures in Switzerland, was a friend of the Company and of the Disney family. Roy E. Disney once recalled, "Armand once took very good care of a young, married couple, me and my wife, Patty, when we were visiting Switzerland. He even helped get me a good deal on a Patek Philippe watch for Patty one Christmas. Armand was a good friend of my dad's [Roy O. Disney] and a trusted advisor to him, too."
Armand's son Robert Palivoda recalled, "It was like a big family. My father used to meet with Roy O. Disney, who traveled to Switzerland at least once a year. On several occasions, my father organized a Disney congress in our home and all the film exhibitors of Switzerland were invited to these festivities where Roy would talk about the Company and its future.
"Whenever he visited, he made us feel like family because he was always communicating on a personal, down-to-earth level."
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1906, Armand was the son of a tailor and a homemaker. He left school at 14 to work in a factory that produced bed sheets. Then, at age 20, he took a job as a traveling salesman in the fledgling film industry in Switzerland. He later started his own film distribution company in Geneva, which went out of business in 1933. He then moved to Paris for a time, where he worked for Le Films Osso, until 1936, when he returned to Switzerland.
The next year, Armand joined RKO as manager of its Swiss office and was responsible for distributing and promoting motion pictures throughout the country, including Disney animated classics. Robert recalled, "My father orchestrated great promotions with Disney. I remember, every Christmas a new animated picture was released, and the theaters and the streets of Geneva were decorated in theme. For my father, Disney films were a joy to promote because they were so universal and unique."
Then, in 1958, when Walt Disney decided to produce the live-action Third Man on the Mountain on location in Zermatt, Armand helped lay the groundwork. He established Swiss contacts for the production team, and conducted on-site publicity. Around the same time, he purchased the Swiss distribution arm of RKO, changing its name to Parkfilm, and continued to distribute and promote Disney animated and live-action films throughout the country.
Robert added, "My father was well-loved by the Swiss press and business colleagues. I still meet people today who say, 'he was one of a kind.'"
Armand Palidova passed away on November 11, 1960, in Geneva.
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| Poul Brahe Pedersen (1910–1978) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
In his native Denmark, Poul Brahe Pedersen was nicknamed "A Gentlemen of the Press" by his newspaper colleagues. In Burbank, California, he had another prestigious title, according to former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney. As a trusted friend of Roy O. Disney, Poul was among the select few who sometimes joined the Company co-founder around his kitchen table. Roy E. Disney once recalled, "I always thought of Poul as a member of my Dad's European 'kitchen cabinet.' It was an apt phrase, because that's where mother and dad always fed their friends."
Born October 24, 1910, in Heidelberg, Germany, Poul studied law at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. After graduating in 1937, he learned of a job opening as legal advisor to the editor of one of Denmark's largest daily newspapers, Berlingske Tidende. Poul's law career turned toward publishing and, in 1942, he transferred to the staff of the morning edition, called B.T., where he was appointed editor during the German occupation. In that position, Poul weathered the many professional challenges of the time, including Nazi censorship.
He remained editor of B.T. until 1954, when he joined Disney licensee Gutenberghus Publishing in Copenhagen as its managing director of weekly publications.
In his new position, he traveled to California to meet with Roy O. Disney and proceeded to negotiate a 17-year contract for the right to publish Donald Duck magazine. As a result, a long-term goal was established to expand its publication from Denmark to other countries.
To help meet this lofty goal, Poul transformed the magazine from a monthly into a weekly publication. He hired highly skilled English specialists to translate American stories into Danish, as well as talented artists and writers to develop original artwork and stories for the magazine.
Sometimes the magazine introduced new words invented by writers, some of which have since become a part of everyday Danish language. These included "langbortistan," meaning "far away land," according to Poul's son Christian Brahe Pedersen. The stellar quality of Donald Duck magazine paved its way to such "langbortistans" as Sweden, Norway, and West Germany.
Christian said, "My father made Donald Duck magazine a class publication. Its translation was never in slang and the character art was flawless. Even today, the magazine is so popular that when an original issue goes on auction it can sell for as much as $10,000."
After serving more than 21 years with Gutenberghus, Poul Brahe Pedersen retired in 1975 and passed away three years later, on February 13, in Copenhagen.
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| Joe Potter (1905–1988) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1996 |
William E. "Joe" Potter was an engineering and logistical planning genius, which is why Walt Disney recruited the retired United States Army major general to oversee the early construction of Walt Disney World in Florida. In this role, Joe ably guided the Herculean task of transforming 300 acres of Florida land into the Magic Kingdom, while also preserving the area's ecology and beauty.
As former president of Walt Disney Attractions Dick Nunis recalled in 1988, "Joe was a man Walt Disney was very fond of. Without Joe Potter there would be no Walt Disney World today."
Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on July 17, 1905, Joe graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the National War College in Washington D.C. During World War II, he directed logistical planning for the invasion of northern France, an operation nicknamed "Red Ball Express." After the war, he served in Washington, D.C. as assistant chief of engineers for Civil Works and Special Projects.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Joe to serve as governor of the Panama Canal Zone. In that role, he was responsible for governing a community of over 40,000 people, as well as services including education, military, public health, medical care, fire and police protection, and the postal system. At the end of his tenure as governor, and after 38 years with the United States Army, Joe retired in 1960. In his long career, he had been decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Croix de Guerre
Soon after his "retirement," he became executive vice president of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, charged with construction of the federal and state attractions. These included 26 state pavilions and the $17-million United States pavilion.
During this time he met Walt Disney, joining the Company in 1965 as its vice president of Florida Planning. In that role, Joe oversaw construction of the Park's entire infrastructure; this included underground utilities and sewer, power, and water treatment plants that were considered revolutionary at the time. He also developed drainage canals for the entire property, which were known as "Joe's ditches."
At the time of his second "retirement" in 1974, Joe was serving as vice president for EPCOT Planning and senior vice president of Walt Disney World Co. In this role, he was responsible for construction, operation, and administration of the entire Florida project. He also served as president of the Board of Supervisors of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which was formed by the Florida Legislature to provide the public services necessary for the tourist and residential population at Walt Disney World. To many, Joe was known as "Mister Disney" because of his liaison work between the park and surrounding community during the 1960s and 1970s.
Joe passed away on December 5, 1988, in Orlando, Florida. One of the ferries that transports Walt Disney World guests across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom was later re-christened the General Joe Potter in his honor.
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| AndrĂ© Vanneste (1927–1995) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1997 |
In 1958, when Walt Disney was scouting new ideas for Disneyland at the World's Fair in Brussels, he called on the company's Benelux representative, Andre Vanneste, to help get him into the exposition without being noticed by the press. Didier Vanneste, son of Andre, recalled, "Walt wanted to visit the exposition like a regular tourist. My father got him into the exposition, but the journalists recognized Walt even though he was incognito wearing a hat and sunglasses. Walt was well known in Belgium. There, he was considered the number one friend of all children."
While Andre was Disney's number one friend in Belgium, Didier said:
"Whatever my father did for the Company, it was as though he was doing it for himself or for his own family. He cared very much for Disney and treated the business very personally, whether he was signing a contract or spending a penny."
Andre was born in Brussels, Belgium, on May 12, 1927. At age 16, during World War II, he volunteered with the Belgian Red Cross on a rescue team which saved victims from buildings bombed by the Nazis. Two years later, in 1945, he was presented a Red Cross Award for his acts of bravery.
After the war, in 1946, he graduated from the St. Louis Commercial School in Brussels, where he had studied business and finance. He first served as a sales representative for a Belgium brewery, and, in 1948, Andre entered the film industry as a representative for Universal Pictures in Brussels. During this time he met Armand Bigle, who he later joined at Screpta Brussels; this was the Swiss/Benelux agency for Walt Disney Productions, founded by Bigle in 1947. There, Andre served as manager of the commercial department, helping promote Disney publications throughout the country.
He was soon promoted to director of the agency and, during this time, signed a contract with one of the largest publishing houses in Europe, VNU, in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Subsequently, Andre helped create an extensive portfolio of Disney magazines, published by VNU, while breathing life into existing publications, such as the Donald Duck Magazine.
Under his leadership, the magazine achieved great popularity in The Netherlands, selling as many as 380,000 issues a week.
In 1973, Walt Disney Productions purchased Screpta Brussels and Andre became an official member of the Company. Around this same time, he expanded his focus from publishing to merchandising and sales promotion, developing corporate promotional tie-ins with Disney animated releases such as Cinderella and Peter Pan. After serving more than 40 years, he retired as vice president and managing director of The Walt Disney Company (Benelux) S.A. in 1993.
Andre Vanneste passed away on May 2, 1995, in Brussels.
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| Paul Winkler (1898–1982) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 1997 |
Paul Winkler was the first to establish Disney's presence in France through publishing. In 1930, he was so determined to bring Mickey Mouse to the French public that he traveled all the way to Hollywood by ship and railroad to personally negotiate publishing rights with Company founders Walt and Roy O. Disney.
As former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, Roy E. Disney, said, "Talk about foresight! Paul was a great friend to Mickey Mouse. When it comes to comic books published in France, Paul started it all."
Born July 7, 1898, in Budapest, Hungary, Paul graduated from Protestant Lycee and then moved to Holland, where he studied at the University of Amsterdam.
In the mid-1920s, he moved to Paris and founded Opera Mundi ("The Works of the World"), a press agency that sold articles to newspapers throughout Western Europe. Paul contacted the then-largest American syndicate, King Features, and Opera Mundi became its European representative. In turn, Paul sold King Features comic strips, which included Mickey Mouse, to the French press. In 1930, the Mickey Mouse comic strip debuted in the newspaper Le Petit Parisien. Four years later, Paul developed the first French Mickey Mouse comic magazine, Le Journal de Mickey, which was an immediate success. It eventually boasted a weekly circulation of about 400,000.
In June 1940, when the Germans invaded Paris, Paul and his family emigrated to the United States. While living in New York, he founded a second news agency, Press Alliance, which offered articles and columns by popular writers of the day, including American columnist Elsa Maxwell. He also served as foreign political columnist for the Washington Post and published the anti-Nazi books The Thousand Year Conspiracy: Secret Germany Behind the Mask and the U.S. best-seller Paris Underground, which he ghostwrote with his wife, Betty, in 1943. The latter was made into a 1945 United Artists' movie, by the same name, starring Constance Bennett.
After the war, Paul returned to France and resumed directing Opera Mundi. Along the way, he hired talented young news reporters such as Armand Bigle, who would one day join him as a Disney Legend. Among Paul's post-war Disney publishing ventures was the 1947 eight-page Donald Duck comic book Hardi, Presente Donald.
In 1952, Paul re-issued Le Journal de Mickey, again published by Hachette. The updated comic magazine sold between 650,000 and 700,000 issues per week.
In addition to his successful Disney publications, Paul founded numerous other periodicals, including Confidences, a woman's magazine, in 1945. He also fathered Editions de Trevise book publishing, which specialized in French political biographies, and served as director-general and editor of the newspaper France-Soir.
Paul Winkler passed away on September 23, 1982, in Melun, France.
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| October 16, 1998 |
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| James Algar (1912–1998) Legends Award Category: Animation & Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
Director, writer, producer, and narrator James "Jim" Algar loved the action and adventure associated with creating Disney's nature pictures. While directing the True-Life Adventure The African Lion in 1955, he lived among the lions of Kenya; while producing the feature Ten Who Dared in 1960, he challenged the raging whitewater rapids of the Colorado River.
Among the many hats he wore, however, the most important was that of storyteller. Jim penned five Academy Award®-winning motion pictures for Disney, including Nature's Half Acre, The Living Desert, and The Vanishing Prairie. As former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney once recalled:
"Jim was a great storyteller, who made invaluable contributions to our animated classics, theme parks, and, especially, our nature films. He added tremendously to the Studio's reputation for superior storytelling."
Born June 11, 1912, in Modesto, California, Jim attended Stanford University. There, he served as editor of the campus humor magazine, The Chaparral. He frequently drew cartoons for the magazine and soon developed an interest in animation. In 1934, after receiving his master's degree in journalism, he joined The Walt Disney Studios as an animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Walt Disney noted Jim's talents and tapped the artist to direct the Mickey Mouse short The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which became the foundation of the 1940 animated classic Fantasia. Jim then went on to direct sequences in Bambi, as well as several wartime films produced by the Studio for the United States Armed Forces, including Victory Through Air Power. In 1949, he directed The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
After the war, when Walt decided to produce live-action films about animals and nature, he asked Jim to direct the first True-Life Adventure. The film, Seal Island," won an Academy Award in 1948. Other Oscar®-winning films he contributed to include Beaver Valley, Bear Country, White Wilderness, The Alaskan Eskimo, and Grand Canyon.
Jim also worked on 26 one-hour episodes for The Wonderful World of Disney television series, producing 14 episodes and narrating several, including Wild Geese Calling. He also contributed to such memorable feature films as The Legend of Lobo, The Incredible Journey, and Rascal.
Among his many theme park contributions, Jim wrote and produced Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and, later, Disneyland. He also wrote and produced several of the CircleVision 360 productions, including "America the Beautiful," as well as The Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World.
After 43 years with The Walt Disney Studios, Jim retired on October 31, 1977. He passed away on February 26, 1998, in Carmel, California.
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| Buddy Baker (1918–2002) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 1998 |
One of Disney's most prolific music men, Buddy Baker composed more than 200 scores for Disney motion pictures, television, and theme parks. Among his vast contributions, the multi-talented artist scored the live-action movie Napoleon and Samantha, which garnered the Studio an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Dramatic Score in 1973, television's Mickey Mouse Club," and the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland.
Buddy later recalled what it was like working with Walt Disney:
"During the 28 years I worked at the Studio," he said, "Walt never came to a recording. He had confidence in me and in everybody else. He trusted his people. He also knew what kind of music worked—not the notes, the kind."
Born Norman Baker on January 4, 1918, in Springfield, Missouri, Buddy studied music at Southwest Baptist University, where he earned his doctorate. He began his career in the late 1930s, playing trumpet with such bandleaders as Harry James, Kay Kyser, and Stan Kenton, and composed music for television programs including The Jack Benny Show.
In 1954, Disney staff composer George Bruns brought him on board to help with the Davy Crockett series. From there, Buddy went on to score more than 50 films, including Toby Tyler, The Gnome-Mobile, and The Fox and the Hound. He also scored such animated featurettes as the Oscar®-winning Donald in Mathmagic Land and the original three Winnie the Pooh films.
As the Studio ventured into television, Buddy contributed to such series as Walt Disney Presents and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. He then moved into the theme park arena, beginning with the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, scoring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress. Buddy later wrote "Grim Grinning Ghosts" with fellow Legend X Atencio for the Haunted Mansion.
As musical director for Epcot Center, Buddy supervised and composed music for the Future World pavilions and World Showcase. Among the attractions he scored were Universe of Energy, the American Adventure, and Impressions de France, for which he wove a tapestry of original music and classical works by French composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Satie. The digital score, which was recorded in London, featured Buddy conducting a 100-piece philharmonic orchestra.
In 1983, Buddy retired as the last staff composer at a major Hollywood studio. He went on to direct the University of Southern California film scoring program, widely considered the best in the nation. Buddy even continued to score Disney theme park attractions, including Innoventions at Disneyland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at Walt Disney World, and Sindbad's Seven Voyages for Tokyo DisneySea.
Buddy Baker passed away on July 26, 2002 in Sherman Oaks, California.
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| Kathryn Beaumont Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1998 |
When Walt Disney began production on the animated classic Alice in Wonderland in 1949, he sought the perfect voice to play the literary ingénue. He was looking for a voice, recalled Kathryn Beaumont, that "would be English enough to satisfy British audiences, but not so English that it would put off American audiences." After hearing 10-year-old Kathryn's audition, Walt chose her for the voice of Alice and, later, Wendy Darling in Peter Pan.
Born in London, England, on June 27, 1938, Kathryn came to the United States under contract to MGM and appeared in several films, including On an Island with You starring Esther Williams. She soon landed at The Walt Disney Studios, where she not only recorded the voice of Alice, but also portrayed her on film. Animators regularly referred to her filmed performances as they brought her character to life.
She later said, "When I look at the film now, I can recognize some of the movements. It's a little like seeing myself 30 years ago. I can see some of the mannerisms I used, which the animators captured to give the characters a naturalness of movement."
In 1951, Kathryn went on a promotional tour for Alice in Wonderland, which included a trip aboard the Queen Mary to her native England. Within two weeks of her return, she was cast as Wendy in Peter Pan. Again, she served as both speaking voice and physical model of the animated character. She also served as a model for Tinker Bell.
Kathryn once recalled being hoisted up by a wire into the air, on one of the Studio sound stages, and swinging back and forth so animators could study her movement for the "flying" sequences. "I had a slight fear of heights," she later recalled. "Most kids would think, 'Oh, what fun!' I, however, was petrified!"
In 1950, Kathryn appeared with Walt in his first one-hour television special, One Hour in Wonderland, and returned the next year, as Wendy, in The Walt Disney Christmas Show.
After the 1953 release of Peter Pan, Kathryn graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where she earned a degree in education. She taught elementary school in Los Angeles for the next 36 years, retiring in 1997.
Over the years, she lent her voice to Disney theme park attractions, including the Alice in Wonderland attraction in 1984. In 1992 she returned as the voice of Wendy, calling out to Peter Pan during the pirate sequence of Fantasmic! Six years later, she helped promote the release of Peter Pan on video and made a guest appearance at the Disneyana Convention in Walt Disney World. She has also occasionally revisited the characters she helped make famous in various video games and the Disney's House of Mouse television show.
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| Virginia Davis (1918–2009) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1998 |
Walt Disney once said, "It all started with a mouse." The Walt Disney Studios, however, actually began five years before the birth of Mickey Mouse, with a four-year-old girl from Kansas City, Missouri, named Virginia Davis. In 1923, Virginia became Walt's first human star, appearing in the first 13 titles of his "Alice Comedies" series, which featured an innovative blend of live action and animation on film.
The comedies—low-budget, one-reel projects—featured simple plots about the adventures of a live girl in Cartoonland. As Virginia later recalled:
"It was always a little story where I would get into the cartoon through a dream or I was hit on the head with a baseball and suddenly I'd find myself in a world of cartoon characters."
Born to a homemaker and a traveling salesman in Kansas City, Missouri, on December 31, 1918, Virginia began taking dance and dramatic lessons at age two. A couple of years later, Walt Disney happened to see Virginia in a Warneke's Bread advertisement in a local theater. At the time, Walt was struggling with his first studio, Laugh-O-gram Films in Kansas City; later, when he went to produce his first Alice Comedy, Alice's Wonderland, he remembered Virginia's long, blonde ringlets and charming smile. Walt placed a call to her parents, who moved along with Virginia to California, and for the next two years, she starred in such Disney shorts as Alice's Day at Sea, Alice's Wild West Show, and Alice's Spooky Adventure.
Virginia ended her tenure as Alice after 13 films, although Walt would go on to make more than 40 other Alice comedies. She continued performing in the theater, including a West Coast tour of Elmer Rice's Street Scene, and in a number of films for such studios as MGM, RKO, Paramount, and Fox. Among her credits are Three on a Match, with Joan Blondell, and The Harvey Girls, appearing alongside Cyd Charisse and Judy Garland. She also appeared in such early television shows as Your Hit Parade and One Man's Family.
Virginia went on to earn a degree from the New York School of Interior Design and became a decorating editor for the popular 1950s magazine Living for Young Homemakers. In 1963, she began a successful career in the real estate industry in Connecticut and, later, Southern California.
Over the years, Virginia remained in contact with The Walt Disney Company and was often a special guest at Disneyana Conventions.
Virginia Davis passed away on August 15, 2009, at the age of 90.
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| Roy E. Disney (1930–2009) Legends Award Category: Administration, Animation, Family & Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
If the Walt Disney Studios were to have a real-life Jiminy Cricket, it would have to have been former vice chairman Roy Edward Disney, son of Roy O. Disney and nephew of Walt Disney. Besides being its conscience, Roy has also been called the "soul of the Company;" he often looked to its past to define its future.
Roy once said, "The thing that distinguishes us from everybody else, and always has and always will, is our past. The goal is to look over our shoulder and see Snow White and Pinocchio and Dumbo standing there, saying, 'Be this good.' We shouldn't be intimidated by them; they're an arrow pointing someplace."
Born in Los Angeles on January 10, 1930, Roy practically grew up at the Studio. His father managed the Company's business affairs, while his uncle inspired artists to create magical animated worlds for movie screens. Roy was there when Snow White and Pinocchio were born and once recalled:
"The animators used to test stuff out on me. They'd say, 'Come on in and watch this and see if you think it's funny.'"
In 1951, Roy graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Southern California's Pomona College. He soon launched his entertainment career as an assistant film editor on the television series Dragnet, starring Jack Webb. He joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1954, working as an assistant editor on the successful True-Life Adventures films. These included The Living Desert and The Vanishing Prairie, both of which won Academy Awards®. He later wrote and co-produced Mysteries of the Deep, which won an Oscar® nomination in 1959.
Roy also wrote for television series, including Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and the popular Zorro, starring Guy Williams. Then, in 1964, he formed his own production unit to write, produce, and direct some 35 television and theatrical productions including Varda, the Peregrine Falcon, The Owl That Didn't Give a Hoot, and Pancho, the Fastest Paw in the West. He joined the Company's Board of Directors in 1967.
After 23 years, Roy left the Studio in 1977 to become an independent producer and investor. He returned seven years later to serve as the Company's vice chairman and head of the animation department. Subsequently, Disney animation produced some of its greatest box office successes of all time, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.
Roy achieved a long-time dream when he revived one of his uncle's most colorful visions with Fantasia 2000. A continuation of Walt Disney's 1940 classic Fantasia, which combined classical music with original animation, Fantasia 2000 rang in a new millennium on January 1, 2000, at IMAX theaters across the country.
Roy also spearheaded the effort to complete Destino, the surrealistic cartoon envisioned by Salvador Dali and Walt, but subsequently shelved. The film appeared in 2003.
After another brief time away from the Company, Roy returned as a consultant and Director Emeritus in 2005. He was also a trustee at the California Institute of the Arts, and an avid sailor; he smashed several speed records and participated in more than a dozen Transpacific Yacht Races in a series of ships named Pyewacket. Roy also produced a number of documentaries about sailing, including 2008's Morning Light.
Roy passed away on December 16, 2009. In 2010, the feature animation building at The Walt Disney Studios was re-dedicated as the "Roy E. Disney Animation Building," paying tribute to Roy's efforts to revitalize the art form. The 2009 documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty was also dedicated in his honor.
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| Don Escen (1919–2006) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 1998 |
Unofficially, The Walt Disney Studios used to be divided into two groups of employees. "Walt's Boys" were the creative staff, and "Roy's Boys" comprised the legal and financial minds behind the magic. Former financial administrator and company treasurer Don Escen was a key member of "Roy's Boys," and ably assisted Roy O. Disney in successfully navigating the Company through some difficult times after Walt Disney's untimely death in 1966.
Charged with overseeing the Company's financial affairs in Burbank, and its film distribution and merchandising offices overseas, Don was respected by all who worked with him. Barbara Wilcox, his assistant from 1965-1984, recalled:
"Executives liked dealing with Don because he was always a fair-minded and logical person. He had a good, sensible head and I think Roy respected him for that, and asked his advice on a lot of occasions."
Born in Litchfield, Minnesota, on July 13, 1919, Don graduated from the Minnesota School of Business in Oakdale. He served in the United States Army during World War II, participating in the landmark D-Day invasion of Normandy. After the war, he headed for California where, in 1949, he joined The Walt Disney Studios' accounting department.
Don began to ascend the corporate ranks in 1953, when he was appointed accounting office manager. Then, in 1960, he became assistant treasurer and controller. When Roy O. Disney purchased one of the Company's first computers, a RAM 500, he stationed it in Don's office. Roy made regular visits to watch it compute the day's trial balances.
After Walt Disney's death, the Company faced a tumultuous period and numerous outside companies courted Roy with offers of a merger, all of which he rejected. Instead, he devised a plan that Don was instrumental in implementing, which involved convertible debentures—bonds that could be converted to stock after the stock rose to certain price.
In 1968, the Company issued $40 million in convertible bonds, which were converted to stock within a year. The Company then issued another $50 million, followed by $72 million worth of convertible bonds. Three stock conversions were issued in all, allowing Walt Disney World, the most expensive theme park built by the Company at that time, to open debt-free in 1971.
In 1975, four years after Roy's death, Don accepted the titles of financial administrator and treasurer of Buena Vista International, the Studio's international film distribution wing. In this role, he supervised 13 foreign offices and numerous foreign representatives. Simultaneously, he also served as assistant treasurer of the Company.
After 35 years of service, Don retired from The Walt Disney Company in 1984. He passed away on February 6, 2006.
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| Wilfred Jackson (1906–1988) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1998 |
Walt Disney first came to rely upon Wilfred Jackson's genius and sense of perfection in 1928, the year Mickey Mouse was born. It was the age of silent movies, but Walt had a notion to marry music and animation. Newly arrived in the Studio's animation department, Wilfred devised a method of synchronizing animation with music by using a metronome that could then be converted to a music track. The innovation, which was featured in Mickey Mouse's debut film Steamboat Willie, revolutionized the entertainment medium and competing studios spent more than a year trying to figure out Disney's production "secret."
Walt quickly promoted "Jaxon," as he was called, from animator to director.
As Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote in their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, "Jaxon was easily the most creative of the directors, but he was also the most 'picky' and took a lot of kidding about his thoroughness."
Born in Chicago on January 24, 1906, Jaxon enrolled at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1925. Three years later, just before Charlie Mintz stole Walt's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character, Jaxon began hanging around The Walt Disney Studios. It was a poor time to ask for a job, but he volunteered to wash cels and assist animators; one day, he found himself holding a paycheck. He later said, "I'm the only guy [at Disney] who was never hired."
He quickly moved up the ranks to animator, contributing to the Silly Symphony shorts. After Steamboat Willie, Jaxon went on to direct 35 shorts, three of which won Academy Awards®: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Country Cousin, and The Old Mill. Probably the greatest example of his skill in synching action to music was The Band Concert, starring Mickey Mouse.
Jaxon also applied his talent to 11 animated features including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, Melody Time, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp. He directed such memorable sequences as "Night on Bald Mountain" in Fantasia, and all cartoon and combination live-action footage in Song of the South. During the war years, he also produced and directed government films for the United States Navy.
In 1954, as Walt entered the new medium of television, he asked Jaxon to produce and direct animated shows for the Disneyland series. During the next four years he directed 13 shows, including "The Story of the Animated Drawing." After nearly 35 years with The Walt Disney Studios, he retired in 1961.
Wilfred Jackson passed away on August 7, 1988, in Newport Beach, California.
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| Glynis Johns (1923–2024) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
Best known to Disney fans as feminist Winifred Banks in the Academy Award®-winning Mary Poppins, actress Glynis Johns is everyone's favorite sister suffragette. Like many a moviegoer, Walt Disney loved her sparkling screen persona and personally asked Glynis to play the lively and witty role. His choice of casting was right on, as film critic Leonard Maltin pointed out in his book The Disney Films. "She lights up the screen the minute she appears [in Mary Poppins]," he wrote. "She makes every minute count, and her amusing suffragette song is most enjoyable."
Born to Welsh parents on October 5, 1923, in Pretoria, South Africa, Glynis made history when she received a degree to teach dance by age 10. By 12, she won 25 gold medals for dance in England and, by 13, appeared in her first film, South Riding. Her first adult role came in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 49th Parallel, released in America as The Invaders and starring Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, and Raymond Massey. By 19, she became the youngest actress to play the lead role in the theatrical production of Peter Pan.
She became associated with The Walt Disney Studios in the early 1950s, when it began to produce live-action films in England.
She starred as the capricious Mary Tudor in 1953's The Sword and the Rose, co-starring Richard Todd. As Helen Mary MacGregor in Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue, she played the spirited wife of a Scottish freedom fighter. A decade later, in 1964, she returned to Disney to star in Mary Poppins. The hit musical amassed 13 Academy Award nominations and garnered five Oscars®.
Glynis also starred in such television shows as General Electric Theatre, The Cavanaughs, as well as her own series, Glynis. Other programs included Batman, Cheers, and Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury.
In 1960, Glynis won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Firth in The Sundowners, starring Robert Mitchum. She received a Tony Award® in 1973 for her stunning stage performance as Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. In all, she has performed in more than two dozen theatrical productions and more than 50 feature films, including Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband starring Paulette Goddard, Dear Brigette with James Stewart, and The Secret Garden co-starring Derek Jacobi.
In 1994, Glynis returned to The Walt Disney Studios to co-star in the Touchstone comedy The Ref with Kevin Spacey. The next year she appeared in Hollywood Pictures' smash hit While You Were Sleeping, starring Sandra Bullock.
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| Kay Kamen (1892–1949) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1998 |
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Herbert Hoover promised a chicken in every pot; Kay Kamen, however, promised a Disney character in every home. A stickler for quality, he set an unprecedented standard in licensing Disney character merchandise—books, music, plush toys, and more—and, subsequently, helped transform Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters into megastars.
As Tom Tumbusch, publisher of Tomart's Disneyana Update, once explained, "Kay Kamen invented the whole licensing industry. Not just for Disney, alone; others followed suit."
Born Herman Kamen on January 27, 1892, in Baltimore, Maryland, Kay began his professional career as a retail hat merchant. He later entered advertising and, in 1932, the young executive placed a call to Walt Disney. Kay was certain he could sell Mickey Mouse in a new and better way than was being done at the time. After his phone conversation with Walt, Kay immediately boarded a train bound for California. Two days later, he personally met with Walt and Roy O. Disney in Los Angeles; a contract soon followed, naming him the Company's sole licensing representative.
By 1935, three years after Kay joined forces with Disney, Mickey Mouse products numbered in the thousands. This brought the fledgling Studio much-needed income so that Walt Disney could spin his dreams, including the first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. When the animated classic was released in 1937, Kay had an extensive Snow White merchandising campaign in place, which was the first of its kind and later copied by other studios.
Tumbusch added, "What made Kay unique was that he not only sold licenses to manufacturers, but made personal calls on department store buyers, twice a year, to promote the Disney product being manufactured. As a result, by 1935, Mickey Mouse ruled in 50 or 60 of the largest department stores."
Kay helped make Mickey Mouse so popular that companies such as watch manufacturer Ingersoll Waterbury were saved from bankruptcy because of their association with the superstar mouse.
In 1933, when Ingersoll Waterbury introduced the first-ever Mickey Mouse watch, it was such a huge hit that the troubled company was able to increase its dwindling number of factory workers from 300 to more than 3,000. Macy's department store in New York City sold a record of 11,000 of the timepieces in one day.
Once Kay helped establish Mickey's mass appeal, companies paid large sums to be associated with the Disney star. In 1934, at the height of the Depression, General Foods paid $1 million for the right to put Mickey Mouse cut-outs on the back of cereal boxes.
After 17 years associated with The Walt Disney Company, Kay died in a plane crash over Spain on October 28, 1949.
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| Paul Kenworthy (1925–2010) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
With the success of the True-Life Adventures series, photographers around the country inundated Walt Disney with endless reels of wildlife film footage. But it was the striking images by N. Paul Kenworthy of insect life on the great American desert that caught Walt's eye. He was so impressed with Paul's unusual film sequences that he hired the college student to return to the desert and gather more footage.
Roy O. Disney later recalled that Paul "practically lived down in the desert, like a desert rat, many months, in his little hut with cameras all set up, photographing tarantulas and lizards and desert flowers blooming. And we got the most wonderful batch of material…"
Paul's footage was subsequently assembled with other freelance material to create the Studio's first feature-length True-Life Adventure, The Living Desert, which garnered an Academy Award® for best documentary in 1953.
The film featured breathtaking sequences such as a pepsis wasp battling a tarantula, and a king snake pursuing baby kangaroo rats underground; it also led to more assignments for the fledgling filmmaker.
Born Norman Paul Kenworthy, Jr. on February 14, 1925, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Paul received his bachelor's degree in economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He followed this with a master's degree in motion pictures from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1953.
After the initial success of The Living Desert, his masterful photography of prairie dogs and other animals appeared in Disney's The Vanishing Prairie in 1954. It, too, won an Academy Award for best documentary. Paul then went on to co-direct Perri, the story of a female squirrel's life cycle, with Ralph Wright. In his book The Disney Films, critic Leonard Maltin called the True-Life Fantasy, which featured live-action and animated sequences, "a truly dazzling accomplishment."
Paul directed "Rusty and the Falcon," the story of a boy who finds an injured falcon and tries to train him, for the Walt Disney Presents television series in 1958. He also developed a story about the first ascent of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, which became the 1959 live-action feature Third Man on the Mountain, starring James MacArthur.
Paul then returned to Pennsylvania to care for his family's wool business, but, by 1962, he returned to the film industry, shooting television commercials in New York and Los Angeles.
His interest in motion picture camera work led him to help develop what became known as the Kenworthy/Nettmann Snorkel Camera, a remote-controlled periscope system originally developed to film architectural models, for which he received an Academy Technical Award in 1977.
Paul passed away on October 15, 2010, in Ventura, California.
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| Larry Lansburgh (1911–2001) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1998 |
One of the Walt Disney Studios' premier animal lovers was Larry Lansburgh. Among the 18 television and feature productions he directed were the Academy Award®-winning The Wetback Hound in 1957 and The Horse with the Flying Tail in 1960. An accomplished horseman, Larry often filmed and directed on horseback, as he did with 1966's Run, Appaloosa, Run.
Larry was particular about his animal stars; he hand-picked magnificent creatures, many of which retired to live on his Southern California ranch. As former vice chairman Roy E. Disney recalled, "I once suggested to Larry what I thought was a great idea, that he direct a story I'd found about an ugly—although heroic—little half-breed pony. He quickly dismissed the suggestion saying, 'I don't do stories about ugly horses.'"
Born in San Francisco, California, on May 18, 1911, Larry graduated from Mt. Tamalpais School in nearby Mill Valley in 1929. A lover of horses, he gained employment as a ranch-hand in Texas before later returning to California. Through an acquaintance, he broke into the movie business as a stunt artist on such films as The Woman in Red, starring Barbara Stanwyck.
After falling from a horse and severely breaking his leg, Larry gave up stunt work and joined The Walt Disney Studios as a traffic boy in January 1938. He later said, "It was the best break I ever had because it put me behind the camera."
Larry soon moved into the Editing department and, in 1940, accompanied Walt Disney and a select group of artists on a goodwill tour of South America, on behalf of the United States government. Larry recorded the trip using a 16mm hand-held camera; some of his footage was featured in 1943's Saludos Amigos, a combination live action and animated film.
Afterwards, Larry served as an associate producer on The Three Caballeros and technical advisor and production assistant on So Dear to My Heart. In 1954, he directed Stormy, the Thoroughbred with an Inferiority Complex; in 1955, he submitted a story idea to Walt for The Littlest Outlaw, about a young boy in Mexico and his love for a horse he rescues from a bullring. Larry produced the film, which was shot in Mexico; it was filmed twice—once in English and once in Spanish—for a simultaneous release on both sides of the border. The next year, Larry won an Oscar® nomination for his featurette Cow Dog.
In 1971, after more than 30 years at The Walt Disney Studios, Larry Lansburgh retired to his Oregon ranch. There, he continued to produce films including Disney's Chester, Yesterday's Horse, Runaway on the Rogue River, and Twister, Bull from the Sky.
Larry Lansburgh passed away on March 25, 2001, in Burbank, California.
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| Hayley Mills Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
Walt Disney once called actress Hayley Mills "the greatest movie find in 25 years." Indeed, her unaffected and naturally expressive acting style made her an instant favorite among audiences when she made her American film debut in Disney's Pollyanna, for which she earned a special Oscar® in 1960. Among her numerous Disney credits, however, Hayley is probably best remembered for The Parent Trap, in which she played twin sisters who scheme to reunite their divorced parents, played by Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara.
The daughter of famed British actor Sir John Mills and playwright and author Mary Hayley Bell, she once recalled her first meeting with Walt Disney, who at the time was seeking the perfect youngster to star as Pollyanna. Said Hayley, "I went to Walt's suite at the Dorchester Hotel, in London, along with my parents, my younger brother and our Pekingese, Suki. Walt laughed a lot as he spoke, in rather a shy way, which I found very endearing. I think that's what made me warm to him. That, and the fact that he liked childish things—I remember he and I were crawling around the floor after Suki, who was eating potato crisps off of the carpet."
Born on April 18, 1946, in London, England, Hayley made an auspicious screen debut at 13, portraying a frightened little witness alongside her father in Tiger Bay.
Her able performance caught Walt Disney's attention, and he signed her to a five-year contract in 1960. Among her Disney credits are In Search of the Castaways, starring Maurice Chevalier; Summer Magic, with Burl Ives; The Moon-Spinners, with Eli Wallach; and That Darn Cat, starring Dean Jones.
Hayley also released a Buena Vista record album, Let's Get Together, named after the hit song she performed in The Parent Trap. As songwriter Richard Sherman recalled, "'Let's Get Together' was just a scene in The Parent Trap, but kids were going into the movie house with little tape recorders and taping it!" The recording was re-released in 1997 as part of Walt Disney Records' Archive Collection.
Beginning in 1967, Hayley moved on to star in such non-Disney films as The Trouble With Angels, Endless Night, and Deadly Strangers. She returned to the Disney fold in 1981, hosting the television special Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, as well as acting in three Parent Trap sequels and the series Good Morning, Miss Bliss for The Disney Channel. She also appeared in the Disney Channel Premiere Film Back Home in 1990.
In 1997, Hayley Mills made her America stage debut as the prim governess Mrs. Anna in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, which she performed in theaters across the country. She has made a number of stage appearances in Britain and America, and has been repeatedly featured in British television productions.
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| Al Milotte (1905–1989) and Elma Milotte (1907–1989) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
In 1948, Walt Disney viewed a short wildlife film by Alfred and Elma Milotte. Inspired by what he saw, Walt contacted the couple and, without a specific project in mind, hired them to film on location in the Alaska wilderness. The result was the first of Disney's celebrated True-Life Adventure films, Seal Island, which won an Academy Award®.
Al later recalled, "Walt was great. He said, 'Just go out and get some good pictures.' He never told us how to do it. He gave us independence."
With the success of Seal Island, the Milottes continued to travel the globe for the True-Life Adventures series, which were released between 1948 and 1960, and the People and Places travelogue films, released from 1953 to 1960. During their Disney career, the Milottes' films won a total of six Oscars®, including Beaver Valley, The Alaskan Eskimo, Bear Country, Nature's Half Acre, and Water Birds.
Al Milotte was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1905, and Elma was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1907. The couple met in Seattle and headed north to Ketchikan, Alaska, where they were married. There, they owned and operated a photography studio. They later broke into the lecture circuit, traveling the United States and showing films they produced about Alaska.
During World War II, the Milottes temporarily stopped producing wildlife pictures, while Al made instructional films for North American Aviation. After the war ended, they resumed filming scenes of Alaska.
About this same time, Walt had taken an interest in the nation's last frontier, Alaska, and had even traveled there. He contacted a wildlife magazine editor who suggested he see the Milottes' work, which he did. Walt was particularly enamored by the couple's humorous sequence of bears scratching themselves.
For the next decade, Walt kept the couple busy crisscrossing the globe. Among their stops were Florida, where they filmed Prowlers of the Everglades; Australia, where they photographed Nature's Strangest Creatures; and Africa, where they lived for three years while filming The African Lion.
Elma had a theory about their unique relationship with wildlife. She once said, "I think the animals know we aren't predators. When hunters come into an area, the animals stay away for days."
The Milottes' work also appeared on television, in segments of the Mickey Mouse Club, and in a personal story called "Cameras in Africa," featuring an introduction by Walt Disney.
In 1959, Al and Elma retired to Sumner, Washington, where they wrote three books: The Story of the Platypus, The Story of the Hippopotamus, and The Story of an Alaskan Grizzly Bear. They also filmed a seagull sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
Elma Milotte passed away on April 19, 1989, and Al Milotte followed her five days later.
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| Norman "Stormy" Palmer (1918–2013) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
One of The Walt Disney Studio's most celebrated film editors was Norman "Stormy" Palmer, who left indelible marks on many Disney feature films. These included The Living Desert in 1952, The Incredible Journey in 1963, and The Gnome-Mobile in 1967. He is probably best known, however, for his contributions to Disney nature films, including Water Birds and the innovative CinemaScope short Grand Canyon. This pictorial interpretation of composer Ferde Grofé's famed suite featured no narration or dialogue.
His onetime assistant, former company vice chairman Roy E. Disney, once recalled, "I particularly remember Stormy's work on the film 'Water Birds.' For one sequence, he cut images of birds flying to Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody. This was the Studio's Fantasia of the nature films, and not only did it create a whole new genre, but it won an Academy Award®. After that, virtually every one of our True-Life Adventures had a sequence like this until, ultimately, Stormy edited the film Grand Canyon Suite, which was cut to the Grand Canyon Suite, winning yet another Oscar®."
Born on October 7, 1918, in Santa Ana, California, Norman Palmer was nicknamed by his father. Stormy recalled, "He hung the name on me when I was one or two years old—I'm not sure if I deserved it or not, but it stuck."
In 1937, he graduated from Hollywood High School and submitted an application to the nearby Walt Disney Studios. He then headed north to work on a ranch in Oregon and, while there, received a phone call from his father saying the Studio wanted to hire him.
He joined Disney as a projectionist in 1938, but soon transferred to the Editorial department where he worked on such films as Pinocchio and Fantasia. When World War II interrupted his career, he joined director John Ford at the Field Photographic Branch of the Office of Strategic Services. There, he edited films for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C. Stormy later transferred overseas, where he worked as an aerial photographer taking surveillance photos of European countries, including England, France, and Italy.
He returned to Disney after the war, editing films including Make Mine Music and Melody Time. When Walt began producing the True-Life Adventure series, Stormy edited such Oscar winners as The Living Desert, Beaver Valley, and White Wilderness. Other films he contributed to included The African Lion and Nature's Half Acre.
Stormy also contributed to more than 20 Disney television shows including Atta Girl Kelly, The Best Doggone Dog in the World, and One Day at Teton Marsh. He retired from The Walt Disney Studios in 1983, after 45 years of service.
Norman "Stormy" Palmer passed away on March 23, 2013, in Northridge, California.
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| Lloyd Richardson (1915–2002) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
Lloyd Richardson contributed his editing skills to an array of Disney animated and live-action motion pictures. These included, most notably, the Studio's nature and animal films including the 1954 Academy-Award® winning True-Life Adventure The Vanishing Prairie.
Former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney once described his former boss: "Lloyd exemplified the editor as a creative force. He was an original thinker who didn't just make one cut match another cut, but always considered the whole story."
Born in Portland, Oregon, on April 21, 1915, Lloyd attended Los Angeles City College in Southern California. During the Depression, he quit school to work a variety of odd jobs at such companies as Eastman Kodak and Adohr Dairy.
In 1937, he landed a position as a traffic boy running errands at The Walt Disney Studios. Before long, however, Lloyd moved to the Editorial department. There, he began to learn his craft on such films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio.
For the next four decades, Lloyd worked as an editor-at-large on a variety of projects. He worked in foreign editing, matching languages such as Italian and Portuguese to animation. During World War II, he helped edit training films produced by the Studio for the United States Armed Forces.
After the war, Lloyd went on to edit the animated features Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as the combination live-action/animated features Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart. Around the same time, Walt Disney began developing the Studio's True-Life Adventures series, of which Lloyd edited the Academy Award-winning Bear Country in 1953, as well as The Vanishing Prairie.
As television began to proliferate during the 1950s, Walt asked Lloyd to direct and edit segments for the Disneyland television series. As fellow editor and Disney Legend Stormy Palmer recalled, "Lloyd gave his all to the Disneyland series. His work was impeccable."
Lloyd went on to contribute to more than 50 television projects in all, including Disney's first color broadcast, An Adventure in Color: Mathmagic Land, in 1961. That same year, he won the American Cinema Editors Award for his contributions to the telefilm Chico, The Misunderstood Coyote.
In 1969, Lloyd helped create the animated featurette It's Tough To Be a Bird, with director and fellow Legend Ward Kimball, which won an Oscar® for Best Short Subject.
After more than 40 years with The Walt Disney Studios, Lloyd retired in 1980. He passed away on February 19, 2002.
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| Kurt Russell Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
Actor Kurt Russell is known for his roles in such action-adventure flicks as Escape from L.A., The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China." To those who grew up with Kurt, however, he's still remembered as the all-American "apple pie and ice cream" kid who starred as Dexter Reilly in Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See Him, Now You Don't, and The Strongest Man in the World. Over the years, Kurt has never lost his boyish charm, nor forgotten his Disney roots.
"The Disney years were my education in the film business," he later recalled. "I was fortunate to be able to work there consistently."
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 17, 1951, Kurt was raised in Los Angeles where his father, Bing Russell, starred as Deputy Clem on the Bonanza television series. Kurt loved baseball and, at the age of nine, decided to go into acting when he heard that his sports heroes Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were planning a movie, Safe at Home! He didn't get the part he auditioned for, but did win a role in Elvis Presley's It Happened at the World's Fair; this led to television's Travels with Jamie McPheeters and, ultimately, to the Disney Studios.
At 15, Kurt was cast in his first Disney picture, Follow Me, Boys! starring fellow Disney Legend Fred MacMurray. Walt Disney took an instant liking to Kurt and signed him to an exclusive Studio contract, making him the Studio's teen star of the 1960s and '70s. Kurt made 12 Disney features in all, including The Barefoot Executive, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, Charley and the Angel, and Superdad. In the 1968 Disney musical The One and Only, Genuine Original Family Band, Kurt met a young dancer named Goldie Hawn; she would later become his real-life leading lady.
He narrated the 1970 animated short Dad, Can I Borrow the Car? and later voiced Copper, the young hunting dog, in the animated feature The Fox and the Hound." Kurt also appeared in Disney television shows, including Willie and the Yank and The Secret of Boyne Castle. Alongside the Osmond Brothers, he hosted the 1970 The Wonderful World of Disney episode "Disneyland Showtime;" in the show, he introduced viewers to a new Disney theme park adventure, the Haunted Mansion.
Unlike many child stars, Kurt made a successful transition into adult roles. In 1979, his career came full circle when he earned an Emmy® nomination for his role as Elvis Presley in the John Carpenter telefilm Elvis. Other credits include Silkwood, Stargate, Executive Decision, Backdraft, and Soldier.
In 1992, Kurt returned to The Walt Disney Studios to star in Touchstone's Captain Ron; in 1993, he portrayed Wyatt Earp in Hollywood Pictures' Tombstone. Kurt tackled another biographical role, that of United States Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks, in 2004's Miracle. The film relates the story of the "miracle on ice"—the gold-medal triumph of the underdog American hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. In 2005, Kurt starred as the world's most famous superhero in the Disney family comedy Sky High.
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| Ben Sharpsteen (1895–1980) Legends Award Category: Animation & Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
When Ben Sharpsteen joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1929, he quickly became Walt's right-hand man for animated and live-action film production. As Walt once wrote, "Concerning Ben Sharpsteen and his contributions to the development of the Disney organization, I want to say he played a very important part."
Born in Tacoma, Washington, on November 4, 1895, Ben was raised in Alameda, California. He studied agriculture at the University of California at Davis and, in 1917, joined the United States Marines serving in World War I.
A gifted artist, he won a job after the war with the Hearst International Film Service, working on such early animated series as Happy Hooligan. He went on to work as an animator at Paramount, Jefferson Films, and the Max Fleischer Studio in New York.
A mutual friend recommended Ben to Walt Disney, who sent a letter inviting him to visit the Studio in Los Angeles. The day Ben arrived, Walt showed his prospective employee Mickey Mouse cartoons. "My first reaction," Ben later recalled, "was that they were excellent, compared to animation I knew…"
Walt valued Ben for his New York studio experience and hired him at $125 a week, a salary higher than his own, $50, and that of top animator Ub Iwerks, who was making $90.
For the next six years, Ben animated on 97 Mickey Mouse cartoons, including Mickey's Follies, The Chain Gang, and Mickey's Revue, as well as some Silly Symphonies. In 1933, at Walt's request, he established an in-house animation training program and acted as a talent scout, recruiting such stellar artists as Disney Legend Bill Tytla.
The next year, Ben directed the first of 21 animated shorts, Two Gun Mickey, and when the Studio moved into feature-length animation he served as a sequence director on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He would go on to serve as supervising co-director on Pinocchio and production supervisor on Fantasia, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland.
In 1947, Ben produced his first live-action film, Seal Island. It was the first of the True-Life Adventures series, and won an Oscar® for the Studio. He went on to produce 12 of the 13 True-Life Adventures, eight of which earned Academy Awards®.
During the 1950s, Ben also produced the "People and Places" series; three of these earned Oscars: The Alaskan Eskimo, Men Against the Arctic, and The Ama Girls. In 1954, Ben began producing the Disneyland television series and appeared on its first episode. After 33 years with the company, he retired in 1962.
Ben Sharpsteen passed away on December 20, 1980, in Calistoga, California, where he founded the Sharpsteen Museum, which is dedicated to the area's pioneers.
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| Masatomo Takahashi (1913–2000) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 1998 |
Like Walt Disney, who dreamed of uniting people from around the world at his California theme park, Masatomo Takahashi of the Oriental Land Company (OLC) had a dream.
His dream, however, was not to bring the children of Japan to Disneyland, but to bring Disneyland to the children of Japan. This vision was the beginning of Tokyo Disneyland.
Former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, Roy E. Disney, once said, "Masatomo's vision and desire to bring the joys of a Disney park to Tokyo were instrumental to the establishment and continuing success of Tokyo Disneyland. Thanks to Masatomo, for years to come, families around the Asia-Pacific region will experience the delights of Disney and its magical theme parks."
Born on September 4, 1913, in Fukushima, Japan, Masatomo graduated with a degree in law from Tokyo Imperial University in 1939. Upon graduation, he joined Riken Heavy Industries Company until World War II, when he served in Shanghai and New Guinea as an Army interpreter.
After the war, he joined Kenzai Co., Ltd. as its executive managing director and, later, its president. In 1961, Masatomo joined the real estate development firm OLC as its senior executive managing director. In that position, he was responsible for negotiating land reclamation with local fishermen.
Over the years, he steadily rose through the corporate ranks, becoming its president and representative director in August 1978. It was during this time that he first approached Walt Disney Productions with the concept of building a Disneyland theme park in Tokyo.
Masatomo's request, though bold, seemed eminently feasible after the success of the Walt Disney World resort in Florida, especially since OLC owned property near the densely populated city of Tokyo that was well-suited for recreational purposes.
Contracts were signed in April 1979 between Disney and OLC. Masatomo and other project leaders felt that the Japanese market did not want an Asian version of Disneyland, but a park just like those in America. Others questioned whether the Disneyland style of entertainment would succeed outside of the United States. Ultimately it was Masatomo who diligently guided the multi-million dollar theme park to fulfillment in 1983. Tokyo Disneyland was embraced by the Japanese public, and continues to draw more than 17 million guests each year.
As chairman of OLC, Masatomo expanded his vision in the late 1990s to include Tokyo DisneySea. This theme park, inspired by myths and legends of the ocean, sits adjacent to Tokyo Disneyland and overlooks the waters of Tokyo Bay.
Masatomo passed away on January 31, 2000, before the 2001 opening of Tokyo DisneySea.
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| Vladimir (Bill) Tytla (1904–1968) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1998 |
Animator Vladimir Tytla, nicknamed "Bill" by his friends and family, brought unprecedented depth, feeling, and personality to Disney characters—so much so that today he is considered "Animation's Michelangelo." Among the artist's most famed masterpieces are Stromboli, the evil puppeteer in Pinocchio; Chernabog, the menacing, winged devil featured in Fantasia; and the endearing baby elephant in Dumbo.
As fellow Disney Legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston recalled in their book The Disney Villain:
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| "Everything was 'feelings' with Bill… He did not just get inside Stromboli, he was Stromboli and he lived the part." Animator and fellow Disney Legend Eric Larson observed Bill's intensity and "all-out sincerity. He'd act out a scene in his room and I thought the walls would fall in." |
Born October 25, 1904, in Yonkers, New York, Bill won a job lettering title cards for the Paramount animation studio at age 16. He later accepted an artist's position at Paul Terry's animation studio. Fascinated with the fine arts, he later enrolled in New York's Art Students League and, in 1929, traveled to Paris to study painting. He returned to Terry Studios the next year, but was unhappy when his friend and colleague, animator Art Babbitt, moved to Hollywood to work for Disney in 1932. After many invitations from Art, Bill finally took a trip west and joined The Walt Disney Studios on a 'trial basis' in November 1934.
During his "probationary" year, Bill's versatile acting ability became apparent when he animated a broadly comic Clarabelle Cow in the short Mickey's Fire Brigade and a bully rooster dancing the carioca in Cock o' The Walk.
As a result of his genius, Bill was soon tapped to join fellow Legend Freddie Moore in developing and animating the Dwarfs in Disney's first full-length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A perfectionist, Bill made sure that even in mob scenes each Dwarf performed strictly according to his own unique personality.
After the astounding success of Snow White, Bill became one of the Studio's highest-paid animators, earning more than $300 a week. His supreme moment in animation remains Chernabog, the god of evil in Fantasia;" the character's emotions range from unabashed evil to the expression of physical pain when he hears church bells ring at dawn. Other films Bill contributed to include Saludos Amigos and Victory Through Air Power, as well as the war-themed short Education for Death.
In 1943, Bill left Disney to animate theatrical shorts for other studios and to direct television commercials. Among his non-Disney credits is the 1964 live-action and animated feature The Incredible Mr. Limpet, starring Don Knotts.
Bill Tytla passed away on December 31, 1968, in East Lyme, Connecticut.
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| Dick Van Dyke Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1998 |
One of Hollywood's most beloved stars is Dick Van Dyke, whom Disney fans best remember as Bert, the chimney sweep, in the Academy Award®-winning feature Mary Poppins. Many would agree with former Disney vice chairman Roy E. Disney, who once said, "Every time I see Mary Poppins, I'm amazed at how Dick's brilliant performance effortlessly ties this film together. After all, it is Dick who first welcomes us to number 17 Cherry Tree Lane. It is his chalk pavement picture that provides entry into one of the great fantasy sequences of all time. And, it is Dick who bids Mary Poppins goodbye at the end of the movie."
Born on December 13, 1925, in West Plains, Missouri, Dick was inspired to become an actor by the hilarious performances of Stan Laurel in the Laurel and Hardy comedies. Years later, after serving in the Air Force during World War II, he and a friend formed a pantomime act, "The Merry Mutes," and performed in nightclubs across the country. When he landed in Atlanta, Georgia, Dick broke into local television, which soon led to guest appearances on variety shows, such as those starring Ed Sullivan, Dinah Shore, and Jack Paar.
Even though he had never taken a singing or dancing lesson, he won his first Broadway role in 1959's The Boys Against the Girls, starring Bert Lahr. The following year, he landed the lead role in the musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie, for which he won a Tony Award®. He later repeated this successful stage role in the Hollywood film adaptation.
In 1961, Dick was cast as comedy writer Rob Petrie in the hit series The Dick Van Dyke Show, for which he won the Emmy Award® three consecutive years (1964-66). About this same time, Walt Disney approached him about playing Bert in Mary Poppins. After reading the script, however, Dick not only wanted to play Bert but also the fearsome chairman of the bank who eventually dies laughing.
He once recalled, "I saw the part of the old banker and thought, 'Oh, I'd love to be that character, too!'"
Dick went on to make Disney's Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. and Never A Dull Moment, co-starring Edward G. Robinson. He also played Ken in the Studio's hit television series, The Golden Girls, and D.A. Fletcher in its 1990 feature Dick Tracy, starring Warren Beatty. Dick has appeared in a number of television specials commemorating various aspects of the Disney legacy; these include 1981's Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, where Dick provided a sneak peek at the work then underway on Epcot Center.
Among his numerous non-Disney film credits are The Comic and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1993, Dick Van Dyke returned to television to star as Dr. Mark Sloan in the long-running television series Diagnosis Murder.
In 2001, Dick narrated a feature-length documentary about the life of Walt Disney, Walt: The Man Behind the Myth. Since 2000 he has performed in "The Vantastix," an a capella quartet that has made a number of public performances including Disney's own D23 Expo.
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| Matsuo Yokoyama Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1998 |
When The Walt Disney Company sought to meet the world in Japan, they depended on Matsuo Yokoyama. As former chairman of Disney Consumer Products Bo Boyd once said, "Matsuo's a marketing marvel. He developed relationships with many faithful licensees and made Mickey Mouse not just an American hero in the country, but a beloved member of the Japanese people and their rich culture."
Born in Tokyo on March 31, 1927, Matsuo was the son of a chef and restaurateur. At 17, he entered a boy's military school until August 1945 when Japan surrendered to the Allies. After the war, he worked in an iron factory by day and studied English at a local YMCA by night. In 1951, he enrolled in the University of Keio in Tokyo where he studied business management. Upon graduation in 1955, Matsuo joined Morinaga Confectionery Company in Tokyo as its marketing manager.
Six years later, in 1961, Matsuo answered a newspaper employment ad and was selected from more than 100 applicants to join Disney as a merchandise representative. At that time, fraudulent Disney character merchandise and advertising ran rampant throughout the country; Matsuo's first and most challenging job was to assert and establish Disney's copyrights in Japan. As part of this effort, he created the Disney Licensing Association. This was the first organization of its kind to encourage cooperation among legitimate licensees.
By 1964, copyright protection of Disney intellectual properties had passed a major hurdle and Matsuo was subsequently promoted to officer and director.
An instinctive business professional, Matsuo sensed that the Japanese market was becoming over-saturated with American character merchandise during the United States Bicentennial in 1976. That autumn, he limited the amount of Disney merchandise manufactured. Disney licensees argued that they were losing valuable sales, because American merchandise was a hot commodity in Japan. In the spring of 1977, however, American goods suddenly plummeted in value because of retail overstock; only Disney merchandise maintained its value, because of Matsuo's prudent foresight.
In October 1989, he was promoted to president of Walt Disney Enterprises of Japan. Two years later, at a special gathering in Matsuo's honor, former Walt Disney Company president Frank Wells named him chairman of the board and referred to his recent business success as "Matsuo's Missile."
Matsuo retired in September 1994 after dedicating 33 years to the development of Disney's presence in Japan. In that time he grew its royalty income from an estimated six million yen in 1961 to twelve billion yen in 1991. Matsuo subsequently served as consultant to Walt Disney Consumer Products Asia-Pacific Ltd., followed by a position as chairman emeritus of Walt Disney Enterprises of Japan from 1996 through 1998.
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| November 10, 1999 |
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| Tim Allen Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 1999 |
In 1991, Tim Allen paid his first visit to Sound Stage 4 at The Walt Disney Studios. There, the set for a new series called Home Improvement was under construction. The award-winning actor took one look at the set and asked, "If this show doesn't work—can I have all that wood?"
Needless to say, Tim didn't get the lumber, but his popularity skyrocketed among television audiences; by 1995, Home Improvement had become ABC's top show. Tim earned numerous awards for his bumbling Mr. Fix-It, Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, including a Golden Globe in 1994 and The People's Choice Award for four consecutive years from 1993-96.
Born in Denver, Colorado, and raised in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Tim graduated from Western Michigan University in 1975 with a degree in television production. In 1979, on a friend's dare, he made his stand-up debut at a local comedy club. His innate knack for making people laugh turned to gold when Tim began to talk about his passion for macho "tool-guy" stuff in his comedy acts. Men in the audience shared his tool and car obsession, while women laughed at his all-too-familiar male stereotypes, and Tim's trademark character was born.
Former Home Improvement producer Matt Williams once commented on Tim's immense popularity: "I think what people see in Tim Allen is a man-child," Williams said. "He's attractive, sensitive and strong, and he's a little impish 12-year-old boy. You feel like he could be you."
Home Improvement marked only the beginning of Tim's successful association with The Walt Disney Company. In 1994, Disney's Hyperion Publishing released his debut book, Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man. It topped the New York Times Bestsellers list and led to a second book, also published by Hyperion, I'm Not Really Here."
That same year, Tim made a successful transition from television to the big screen in Walt Disney Pictures' The Santa Clause. He won yet another People's Choice Award for his hefty and hilarious role as Santa Claus's proxy, complete with expanding waistline, rosy cheeks, and snow-white whiskers. He would later revisit the role twice, in 2002's The Santa Clause 2 and 2006's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
Tim later reunited with creative team from The Santa Clause, making Disney's Jungle 2 Jungle, a comedy about a father and son learning unexpected lessons from each other about the important things in life. He also starred in a feature remake of a Disney classic, The Shaggy Dog, in 2006.
In 1995, the multi-talented actor lent his voice to Pixar's first computer animated film, Toy Story. Tim reprised his role as Buzz Lightyear, an arrogant yet lovable space action figure, in two sequels, 1999's Toy Story 2 and 2010's Toy Story 3. He also appeared as the character in a number of Toy Story short films, including Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry, and Partysaurus Rex.
Tim lent his own voice as narrator to the 2012 Disneynature documentary, Chimpanzee. He also co-starred in the 2007 Touchstone comedy Wild Hogs.
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| Mary Costa Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 1999 |
Walt Disney gave opera diva Mary Costa her first professional singing job, playing the voice of Princess Aurora in his 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Only 22 at the time, she later recalled, "I really had no experience, but by the time the movie was released, I was singing in the opera. It was a very fast, exciting time for me."
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 5, 1930, Mary showed her musical ability at an early age, singing Sunday School solos at the age of six. At 14, she moved to Hollywood with her parents, Hazel and John, and soon won a Music Sorority award as the outstanding voice among Southern California high school seniors.
While studying for the concert stage, the glamorous blue-eyed blonde performed with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on radio and with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on stage. In 1952, she attended a party with her future husband, director Frank Tashlin; she happened to connect with the right people, and soon found herself auditioning for the part of Disney's Princess Aurora.
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| Within hours of her audition, Walt called Mary at home. The lyric soprano, with an agile coloratura range, won the role of Sleeping Beauty; her graceful voice helped make "I Wonder" and "Once Upon A Dream" Disney music classics. |
Mary went on to become "one of the most beautiful women to grace the operatic stage," according to the New York Times. She performed in 44 operatic roles on stages throughout the United States and Europe; these included the title role of Massenet's Manon at the Met, and the lead in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House in London. She also appeared with many of Hollywood's big names, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Benny.
Among other highlights of her career, Mary was honored when Jackie Kennedy asked her to sing at a memorial service for her husband, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which was telecast throughout the world from the Los Angeles Sports Arena in 1963. Nine years later, she starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature The Great Waltz, depicting the life of Austrian composer Johann Strauss. To this day, however, Mary still considers Sleeping Beauty to be the finest moment of her career.
"Of all the operatic roles I've performed," she said, "Sleeping Beauty is special to me because it's the one that keeps me close to young people."
Mary has dedicated her time to inspiring children and teenagers, giving motivational talks at schools and colleges across the country. She has also served as an ambassador for Childhelp USA, which ministers to the needs of abused children.
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| Norm Ferguson (1902–1957) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1999 |
Animator Norm Ferguson, affectionately called "Fergy" by his friends at The Walt Disney Studios, was never inhibited by anatomy and drawing rules. An instinctive artist, he drew what felt right, often surprising his peers with the unlikely results. As animator and Disney Legend Fred Moore once said, "Fergy doesn't know that you can't raise the eyebrows above the head circle, so he goes ahead and does it and it gives a great effect." Fellow Disney Legend Marc Davis summed up Fergy's contributions when he said, "Norm Ferguson was a sharp performer and a showman."
Born September 2, 1902, to a Scottish father and Irish mother, Fergy attended Brooklyn's Heffley Institute, a stenography and typing school, followed by the Pratt Institute, where he studied commercial art. In 1920, after working various stenographic jobs, he decided to pursue a career in the up-and-coming animation medium and quickly won a job at Paul Terry's Fables Pictures Inc.
Nine years later, he left Fables to join The Walt Disney Studios. There, he served as animator on more than 75 shorts, including The Chain Gang, Mickey's Orphans, and the Academy Award®-winning Three Little Pigs. Fergy was fast with his pencil, cranking out up to 40 feet worth of animation a day; the average was 10 to 15 feet, according to Disney historian Bob Thomas.
Fergy's sense of showmanship stemmed from the old vaudeville comedians that he loved to watch during his formative years in New York City.
Their influence on him surfaced in the famous flypaper sequence, which Fergy animated in the 1934 Disney short Playful Pluto. The memorable 65-second sequence, which begins with Pluto sitting on a sheet of flypaper and leads to a string of hilarious gags as he attempts to free himself from the sticky predicament, marked one of the first times an animated character appeared to be thinking onscreen.
In 1935, Walt Disney tapped Fergy to serve as supervising animator on the Studio's first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. For that film, Fergy supervised animation of the first of the great Disney villains, the evil witch; he followed that performance with the unsavory J. Worthington Foulfellow in Pinocchio.
Fergy went on to serve as sequence director on such classics as Fantasia and Dumbo; production supervisor on Saludos Amigos; production supervisor and director on The Three Caballeros; and directing animator on Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. In 1941, Fergy made a cameo appearance in Disney's The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley.
Norm Ferguson passed away on November 2, 1957, in Los Angeles, California.
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| Bill Garity (1899–1971) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 1999 |
Bill Garity gave Disney animation a technical edge. Among his contributions, the film pioneer helped put sound to the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Walt Disney soon came to rely on Bill, naming him the Studio's first manager.
"Bill Garity is an unsung hero of Disney history," Dave Smith, Disney's Chief Archivist Emeritus, once said. "With his pioneering efforts in sound and camera techniques, he helped set Disney Studios apart from others, while his planning and supervisory expertise resulted in the building of a highly efficient Studio in Burbank."
Born in Brooklyn on April 2, 1899, Bill attended Pratt Institute of Art in New York. During World War I, he served two years with the Radio Research and Development section of the U.S. Signal Corps. After the War, he met radio pioneer Lee DeForest and, for the next seven years, helped develop early sound for film.
In 1927, Bill installed an audio sound system in New York's Capitol Theatre to accommodate the first newsreel with sound; it featured footage of aviator Charles Lindbergh's Washington reception after his successful Atlantic crossing.
A year later, Bill met Walt while developing the Cinephone motion picture recording system. Their meeting was fate; Walt was determined to lift animation to a unique storytelling art form, and Bill had the technical know-how to help him achieve his lofty goal.
With the success of Steamboat Willie and his new sound cartoons, Walt purchased Bill's recording system for his small Hollywood studio and asked if he would install it and train a technician.
Bill's anticipated 60-day trip to California lasted more than 13 years when he joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1929.
While there, Bill headed a department of 18 skilled engineers, who helped design, build, and extend the capabilities of the animated cartoon. The team, under Bill's able guidance, also created the multiplane camera, which gave depth to animated films beginning with the 1937 short The Old Mill. It was also used by such animated classics as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. The invention, which made it possible to create camera movements which simulated live-action films, earned an Academy Award® in the Scientific and Technical category.
In 1940, Bill's team invented "Fantasound," an innovative stereo system installed in theaters for Disney's classic Fantasia. The stereo system, which greatly enhanced the effect of the musical animation masterpiece, also earned a nod at the 1941 Academy Awards.
A year later, Bill left the Studio to pursue other entertainment ventures. He later served as vice president and production manager of Walter Lantz Studios.
Bill Garrity passed away on September 16, 1971, in Los Angeles, California.
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| Yale Gracey (1910–1983) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 1999 |
Always interested in devising gadgets and building models, layout artist Yale Gracey's office at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank was always cluttered with his lunch-hour experiments. One Saturday afternoon, as Walt Disney made his rounds through the deserted offices to see what his staff was working on during the week, he came across one of Yale's mock-ups which featured the illusion of falling snow. Impressed, Walt later asked the gadgeteer to help research and develop attractions for Disneyland.
John Hench, former senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering, once recalled, "Whenever we needed a special effect, we went to Yale. Sometimes it took a while to get what we were asking for; however, along the way he'd develop other marvelous effects we could use. I remember one time we asked him to create a particular illusion and in the process of experimenting he developed a gopher bomb, which we all used in our yards. It worked very well!"
The son of an American consul, Yale was born in Shanghai, China, on September 3, 1910. He attended an English boarding school and, after graduation, moved to the United States. There, he attended the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles.
In 1939, Yale joined The Walt Disney Studios as a layout artist working on the animated classic Pinocchio. He did the same for Fantasia. He also contributed to the layouts and backgrounds of animated shorts featuring Donald Duck and other characters.
In 1961, Yale began the second and most significant stage of his Disney career as a special effects and lighting artist at Walt Disney Imagineering, then called WED Enterprises. With no special effects training other than his own hands-on experimentation, Yale worked as a research and development designer creating illusions. These included the "grim, grinning ghosts" featured in the Haunted Mansion and the flames of the burning city in Pirates of the Caribbean. He also contributed to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair attractions, including the Carousel of Progress; for that show, he developed a pixie dust projector that blocked out everything on stage during scene changes via the illusion of glimmering pixie dust. The technology is also used in Space Mountain to block out the surrounding roller coaster structure.
After 36 years with the company, Yale retired on October 4, 1975. He continued to consult on special effects and lighting for attractions at Walt Disney World and Epcot Center, including the breathtaking "CenterCore" finale of the World of Motion attraction.
Yale Gracey passed away in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 1983.
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| Al Konetzni (1915–2016) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 1999 |
In 1953, Al Konetzni joined Walt Disney Productions as an artist and idea man for the character merchandising division, then headquartered on Madison Avenue in New York. Over the next 28 years he developed ideas for toys, clothing, stationery, greeting cards, jewelry, and more. Featuring beloved Disney characters, these items were licensed for production by major American corporations. Among Al's most famous creations was a popular lunch box set, featuring a host of Disney characters on board a school bus. The lunch box, which sold its nine millionth unit in 1976, is now a prized collector's item among Disney fans.
Al loved designing and developing Disney merchandise. He once said, "One of the biggest thrills in my work was to see an item begin with my rough design, then develop into a prototype and become a product that reaches the sales counters and, eventually, people's homes."
Born in Brooklyn on May 19, 1915, Al showed an interest in art at an early age, asking his parents "only for crayons and drawing pencils for Christmas." After high school, he attended Pratt Institute of Art at night while working as an artist in the advertising department of the Gertz Company on Long Island. He went on to become an art director for the Pal Personna Blade Co., where he developed the company's Pal man character which was featured on product packages.
After 16 years with Pal, Al brought his creative skills and self-taught knowledge in sales, marketing, and copyright law to Walt Disney Productions. Al soon found himself named a marketing account executive, coordinating licensing with such industry giants as General Electric (for the Mickey Mouse night light); Lever Brothers (for the Mickey Mouse toothbrush); and Bradley Time and Elgin (for Mickey Mouse watches and clocks, among others). He was also responsible for the development and licensing of the now-collectible Pez Mickey and Donald candy dispensers.
Besides being an idea man and an artist, Al considered himself a salesman with a pencil. He said, "I had creative jam sessions with people from Hallmark or Hasbro and I'd always bring my drawing pad. I'm an artist and could best explain a concept through drawing. I imagine myself a silent salesman; I use my graphics to sell the products."
After retiring in 1981, Al served as a merchandise consultant for Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus for two years. During that time, he helped develop merchandise for the joint Disney and Ringling Bros. touring ice show, Disney on Ice. He also published a best-selling cartoon book, Double Bogey, which took a hilarious look at the foibles of golfers everywhere.
Al passed away on Monday February 8, 2016, at the age of 100.
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| Hamilton Luske (1903–1968) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 1999 |
A business major with no formal art education, Ham Luske was the first animator cast by Walt Disney on his daring new project Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In a memo dated from late 1935, Walt wrote, "From now on Ham Luske is definitely assigned to Snow White."
As the film's supervising animator, Ham was responsible for the most difficult character of all—Snow White. The audience had to believe in her for the picture to be a success; this led to the use of such groundbreaking techniques as live-action reference films. Ham adeptly directed a live-action model, actress Margie Bell, for filmed footage that artists referred to as they brought the character to life.
Animator and fellow Disney Legend Ollie Johnston recalled, "Ham's careful planning and shooting of the live-action footage, always with the idea in mind of how it would be used in animation, resulted in a very convincing character."
Born Hamilton S. Luske in Chicago on October 16, 1903, Ham earned his degree from the University of California at Berkeley. An innately gifted artist, Ham's first professional job was as a cartoonist for the Oakland Post-Inquirer.
In 1931, he joined The Walt Disney Studios, animating animals for the early Mickey Mouse short The Barnyard Broadcast. Three years later, he significantly advanced the art of personality animation with his portrayal of Max Hare in the 1935 Academy Award®-winning Silly Symphony The Tortoise and the Hare and Jenny Wren in the Silly Symphony Who Killed Cock Robin? Film star Mae West, who served as inspiration for Wren, was so impressed with the caricature's performance that she wrote a letter to Walt complimenting him on the animation.
Ham's ability to develop an easy-to-follow step-by-step system for planning a scene made him a natural teacher of younger animators and, under his guidance, many new artists were developed.
After the success of Snow White, Ham's career turned toward directing and, during World War II, he directed government training films such as Weather At War. He would later direct educational films, such as Donald in Mathmagic Land. He also served as supervising co-director on Pinocchio and sequence director on Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and the cartoon sequences featured in Mary Poppins.
Ham later moved into television, serving as associate producer and director on such series as Disneyland, Walt Disney Presents, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Ham Luske passed away on February 18, 1968, in Los Angeles, California.
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| Dick Nunis (1932–2023) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1999 |
When Dick Nunis joined Disneyland in 1955, the Park employed 600 cast members. By the time he retired from his "summer job" 44 years later, Disneyland boasted 13,000 cast members and Walt Disney World employed another 50,000.
During those early years, Dick learned Walt Disney's theme park philosophy firsthand. And, as he guided the growth of Disney's outdoor attractions from a single park into a worldwide resort, the premier theme park executive always kept his focus on the people.
"Walt believed strongly that what would make Disneyland different was the people—he wanted them to feel that they were part of the organization," Dick once said. "That's why he established the first-name policy—he was Walt, I was Dick, and so on. From an overall operations point of view, the most important thing is to work together to make sure that when guests come, they have a wonderful experience."
Born May 30, 1932, in Cedartown, Georgia, Dick received a football scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC). His ambition to become a professional football player and coach was cut short, however, when he suffered a broken neck while playing ball. In 1955, he graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Science in education.
Dick learned about Disneyland through his classmate, Ron Miller, who was Walt's son-in-law. On a lark, he decided to apply for a summer job at the new theme park and was hired by Van France, founder of The Disney University and author of the Park's orientation and training program. Just prior to the Park's July 17, 1955, debut, the duo began training Disneyland employees. Among members of their first class were Walt and his executives.
Dick soon worked his way up to attractions supervisor, developing standard operating procedures for all of the Park's attractions. Many of these are still in use today. In 1961, he became director of park operations and helped develop "Project X," better known as Walt Disney World.
From 1967-74, Dick also served as chairman of the Park Operations Committee, and, in 1968, was bumped up to vice president of operations. By 1971, the year the Magic Kingdom opened at Walt Disney World, he was named executive vice president of Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
In 1980, a month after his 25th anniversary with Disney, he was named president of the Outdoor Recreation Division, overseeing Walt Disney World, Epcot Center and, later, the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park. Dick also consulted on plans for Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland while serving on the Walt Disney Productions Board of Directors.
On May 26, 1999, exactly 44 years to the day since he joined the Company, Dick retired as chairman of Walt Disney Attractions.
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| Charlie Ridgway (1923–2016) Legends Award Category: Attractions Year Inducted: 1999 |
Journalist-turned-publicist Charlie Ridgway didn't consider himself a salesman when he joined Disneyland's publicity office in 1963. He did, however, know what made good news and, as a result, ably promoted Disney theme parks by assisting with the planning and logistics of more than 150 major press events. Among the most memorable moments of his career, Charlie recalled a 1964 dinner hosted by Walt Disney at Disneyland for the United States Olympic Team. It was attended by press and celebrities alike, including comedian Bob Hope.
According to Charlie, "We had a stage set up and Walt made a short speech and got a lot of good laughs. Then he sat down, and Bob Hope walked up to the microphone, when one of the whistles on the nearby train went 'toot, toot.' Hope didn't miss a beat and said, 'Walt, your waffles are ready.' He brought the whole house down."
Born July 20, 1923, in Chicago, Illinois, Charlie graduated from high school in Shelbina, Missouri, in 1941. Shortly thereafter, during World War II, he enlisted with the United States Army and served in the field artillery unit of the 13th Armored Division.
After the war, Charlie earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and, in 1947, began his career writing and editing news for radio and newspapers. Early jobs included WDZ in Tuscola, Illinois; WERC in Erie, Pennsylvania; and the Erie Dispatch. In 1952, he moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the staff of the Los Angeles Mirror-News, followed by the Long Beach Press Telegram in 1962.
Even before he was hired as a cast member, Charlie promoted Disneyland as a news reporter. During 1954-55, while the Park was under construction, he authored some of the first articles about Disneyland to appear in any of the major metropolitan newspapers. He also covered Disneyland's grand opening celebration on July 17, 1955. Eight years later, he joined the Park's publicity staff.
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| He once said, "Disneyland was the one public relations job I thought I would enjoy, and I was right. And my radio and newspaper background helped me to understand what the reporters needed and how best to work with them." |
As a result, Charlie was promoted to Disneyland's publicity supervisor in 1966. In 1969 he was bumped up to publicity manager and, later, director of press and publicity for the then under construction Walt Disney World. He helped launch the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 and Epcot Center in 1982. He also helped launch Disneyland Paris in 1992, as well as special projects for celebrations such as Donald Duck's 50th birthday.
After more than 30 years with Disney, Charlie Ridgway retired in 1994. He would go on to consult on special projects, including the launch of Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Disney Cruise Line. He published his memoir, "Spinning Disney's World," in 2007.
Charlie passed away on December 24, 2016.
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| October 12, 2000 |
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| Grace Bailey (1904–1983) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2000 |
After Disney produced its first Technicolor animated short, the 1932 Oscar®-winning Flowers and Trees, the former head of the Ink and Paint department, Grace Bailey Turner, was charged with expanding the Studio's inventory of colors. Once used to mixing and matching basic blacks, whites and grays, suddenly Grace was mixing a wide array of hues that would help bring Disney animation to vivid life.
As former Studio painter Betty Kimball once recalled, "Everything was so unscientific back then. We were just creating, and it was fun. I remember Grace was head of Paint, and she had developed a new blue color. She tried to describe it to me: 'It's the same color as your dress, Betty. What color is your dress?' I had dyed my dress and I told her that the name on the package of dye was 'sky blue.' So she right there and then named the new blue after the color of my dress."
Born Elizabeth Grace Randall on January 1, 1904, in Willoughby, Ohio, Grace attended the Cleveland School of Art beginning in 1922. She later moved to New York, where she worked on Max Fleischer's early animated Out of the Inkwell series, featuring Koko the Clown.
After relocating to Southern California around 1930, Grace took a job making custom lampshades in a Beverly Hills shop. In 1932, however, she decided to apply for a job at the nearby Walt Disney Studios and won a position in the Ink and Paint department, which was supervised by Walt Disney's sister-in-law Hazel Sewell. Before the advent of computers, inking and painting was part of a laborious process consisting of a staff of "inkers" who traced animators' drawings onto large sheets of celluloid, known as cels, and "painters," who colored in the drawings by hand. As Grace later recalled in an interview with author Christopher Finch, in those early years even Walt and Roy Disney pitched in to help ink and paint animation cels.
Grace worked her way up through the ranks of the department from painting supervisor to inking supervisor, where she trained new artists to ink the animators' drawings. Learning to ink could take as long as a year compared to paint, which took about six months.
As Kimball recalled, "Those inkers had to be really good. They weren't just tracing animators' drawings. They had to get the feeling of the animators' pencil lines, too."
In 1954, Grace was selected as head of the entire Ink and Paint department, a position she held until her retirement in 1972. As Bob Broughton, former Disney supervisor of special photographic effects once recalled, "Grace was quite a professional lady. She was class."
Grace Bailey passed away on August 23, 1983 in Ocklawaha, Florida.
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| Harriet Burns (1928–2008) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2000 |
As the first woman ever hired by Walt Disney Imagineering in a creative capacity, Harriet Burns helped design, prototype, and build theme park attractions featured at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and the New York World's Fair of 1964-65. And while she worked shoulder to shoulder with men in the model shop, wielding saws, lathes, and sanders, she was still the best-dressed employee in the department.
"It was the 1950s," she later explained. "I wore color-coordinated dresses, high heels, and gloves to work. Girls didn't wear slacks back then, although I carried a pair in a little sack, just in case I had to climb into high places."
Born August 20, 1928, in San Antonio, Texas, Harriet received her bachelor's degree in art from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She went on to study advanced design for another year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
In 1953, she moved to Los Angeles with her husband and small daughter. There, she accepted a part-time position at Dice Display Industries Cooperative Exchange, where she helped design and produce props for television's Colgate Comedy Hour along with interiors and sets for Las Vegas hotels, including the Dunes. Adept at her work, she was asked to spearhead the creation of the fanciful Southern California tourist destination Santa's Village, located near Lake Arrowhead.
When Dice went out of business in 1955, a co-employee who had once worked at Disney beat tracks back to the Studio and invited Harriet to come along. She was subsequently hired to paint sets and props for the new Mickey Mouse Club television show. Harriet soon began coordinating the show's color styling and even designed and built the famous "Mouse Clubhouse."
She later joined Walt Disney Imagineering, formerly called WED Enterprises, where she helped create Sleeping Beauty Castle, New Orleans Square, the Haunted Mansion, and more. She also helped construct Storybook Land, which features miniature villages inspired by Disney animated movies such as Pinocchio, and designed all of the "singing birds" in the Enchanted Tiki Room, the first Audio-Animatronics® attraction at Disneyland.
Harriet worked on everything from figure finishing to stage design for attractions featured at the New York World's Fair in 1964, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress. On occasion, when Walt would introduce new theme park attractions to television audiences, she would appear on segments of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
After retirement, Harriet remained an active member of the arts and music community in Santa Barbara, California.
Harriet Burns passed away on July 25, 2008, in Los Angeles, California.
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| Joyce Carlson (1923–2008) Legends Award Category: Animation & Imagineering Year Inducted: 2000 |
Joyce Carlson knows it's a small world. In fact, she's a bit of an expert on the Disney theme park attraction; she helped create the original it's a small world for the New York World's Fair of 1964, and later refitted it for its permanent home at Disneyland. But that's not all—she also helped create a new version of the attraction for Walt Disney World in 1971 and Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. So what's her favorite scene in the attraction?
"Though I've always liked the Europe scene with the balloon kids, can-can dancers, and Eiffel Tower, they're all my kids. I couldn't choose. You might say I've got a big family in it's a small world."
Joyce was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on March 16, 1923, and moved with her family to Southern California in 1938. After she graduated from Santa Monica High School, Joyce followed a friend to The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in 1944. There, she took a job in the traffic department delivering pens, pencils, paints, and brushes to animators.
Six months later, she was hired by the Ink and Paint department—the "nunnery," as it was called, since mostly women worked there.
Because of her good eye and steady hand, Joyce worked as an inker for the next 16 years on such films as The Three Caballeros, Victory Through Air Power, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty."
In 1960, inkers were being replaced by the new Xerox electrostatic process, which directly transferred animators' pencil drawings to cels. Joyce took her talents to Walt Disney Imagineering, then called WED Enterprises. There, she helped build miniature prototypes of attractions for the 1964 World's Fair pavilions and was among a small group of artists Walt Disney sent to New York to install it's a small world.
Because of her extensive experience with it's a small world, she was a natural to later help bring the attraction to Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. After spending 10 months in Tokyo in 1982, Joyce returned to the States and made Florida her new home. There, the show designer helped maintain many Walt Disney World attractions, and the Audio-Animatronics® characters featured in them, including the Carousel of Progress and, of course, it's a small world.
After 56 years with the Company, Joyce retired in February 2000. She continued to consult, however, passing along her trade secrets to young artists who help keep the attractions looking fresh and like new. "One thing they've learned from me is how to mix colors," she once explained. "They say, 'You want me to put in some raw umber?' – that's one of my secrets to perking up a color!"
Joyce Carlson passed away on January 2, 2008, in Orlando, Florida.
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| Ron Dominguez (1935–2021) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2000 |
Former executive vice president of Walt Disney Attractions, Ron Dominguez is a "native Disneylander." His family originally owned and lived on 10 acres of the orange grove-covered property that was purchased by Walt Disney for his theme park in 1954.
"Our house was located right about where the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean and Cafe Orleans are today," he once recalled. "The day we moved out, in August of 1954, we were walking in ditches and holes. Things were popping up around us because construction had to move ahead. They built Disneyland in a year."
Ron, his mother and brother all grew up on the Anaheim property. They had inherited it from Ron's grandfather, who had purchased 30 acres of land in the area in the late 1800s. The day they moved away was bittersweet; as Ron recalled, "It was a very emotional day."
Born on August 10, 1935, Ron later attended Anaheim High School and the University of Arizona, where he studied business administration. Then, on July 13, 1955, just four days before Disneyland opened, 20-year-old Ron took a summer job as a ticket taker at the new theme park. He found that Walt had moved his family's two-story, Spanish-style house behind Main Street, U.S.A. for use as administrative offices.
Ron gives his former boss Doc Lemmon credit for encouraging him to extend his summer job. Within one year of joining Disney, he had been trained on every attraction and was named temporary supervisor of Main Street, U.S.A.
One of his most memorable stints was working as Davy Crockett on the Keel Boats. Dressed in a coonskin cap, Ron was a popular target for photographers. He didn't relish the attention, and quickly asked for a transfer.
In 1957, Ron became assistant supervisor of Frontierland and went on to supervise Adventureland and Frontierland before being named supervisor of Tomorrowland in 1962. That same year, he became general supervisor of the west side of the Park and was later promoted to its manager.
By 1970, Ron was appointed director of operations, and, four years later, was named vice president of Disneyland and chairman of the park operating committee. In 1990, he was named executive vice president, Walt Disney Attractions, West Coast.
Throughout his career, Ron developed strong relations with the City of Anaheim, devoting hours of service to local organizations and helping pave the way toward creation of a second local theme park, Disney's California Adventure.
After 39 years of service to The Walt Disney Company, Ron Dominguez retired in August of 1994.
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| Cliff Edwards (1895–1971) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2000 |
Cliff Edwards' uniquely ebullient voice won him the role as Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio and resulted in one of the most inspirational of Disney songs, the Oscar®-winning "When You Wish Upon a Star."
As film critic Leonard Maltin wrote for a Cliff Edwards musical compilation released under the Take Two label, "His casting as the voice of Jiminy Cricket has granted him a kind of immortality; what man, woman or child hasn't heard him sing 'When You Wish Upon a Star?'"
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, on June 14, 1895, Cliff ran away from home at 14. He eventually landed in St. Louis, where he sang for nickels in saloons.
He learned the ukulele and developed an unusual singing style that he called "eefin," where he created a kazoo-like sound with his elastic, three-octave range voice. When a waiter couldn't remember his name, nicknaming him Ike, Cliff began to bill himself as "Ukulele Ike."
While living in Chicago he worked with pianist Bobby Carleton, who wrote the song "Ja Da;" the duo transformed it into one of the biggest hits of the 1920s. Almost overnight, Cliff became a popular crooner due to such recordings as "June Night."
On the stages of New York, Cliff worked with many stars of the time, including stuttering comedian Joe Frisco at the Palace Theatre. In 1924, he stole the show in George Gershwin's Lady Be Good, starring Fred Astaire, when he introduced the song "Fascinatin' Rhythm." He later replaced Rudy Vallee as the star of George White's Scandals.
In 1928, Cliff arrived in Los Angeles and signed a four-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, debuting in the Robert Montgomery feature So This Is College? He went on to introduce the song "Singin' in the Rain" in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, and established himself as a bona fide film star with appearances in more than 100 motion pictures including Gone With the Wind.
After Pinocchio, Cliff encored the voice of Jiminy Cricket in such Disney films as 1947's Fun and Fancy Free. In the years that followed, he would appear as himself, with ukulele in hand, or vocally as Jiminy Cricket in more than 30 episodes of the popular television series Mickey Mouse Club. Cliff also voiced one of the crows in the 1941 animated feature Dumbo, in which he introduced the infectious "When I See an Elephant Fly." In 1956, he recorded his final album, Ukulele Ike Sings Again," for the Disneyland label.
Cliff Edwards passed away on July 17, 1971, in Hollywood, California.
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| Becky Fallberg (1923–2007) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2000 |
Becky Fallberg served The Walt Disney Studios in many capacities, beginning as a telephone operator and ultimately working her way up to manager of the Ink and Paint department. While there wasn't any job she couldn't do at Disney, there was a favorite: "I loved supervising the Art Props department," she admitted. "There, I met people throughout the entire Studio, not just from a single department. The people were what made my years at Disney special, and in that position, I met many. And we were all working together toward the same goal—making magic."
Born June 10, 1923, in Los Angeles, Becky and her family moved near The Walt Disney Studios when she was 12. A lover of Disney cartoons, which she watched almost every Saturday afternoon at a local movie theater, she joined the Studio in 1942 after graduating from John Marshall High School and studying art for one year at Los Angeles City College.
Her parents, an electrician for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and a homemaker, didn't approve. "It wasn't long after the Depression," she later explained. "My father thought I should get a secure job at the postal service or the telephone company. He thought all I wanted was glamour."
Within months of joining Disney, Becky was promoted from telephone operator to painter, working on animated training and propaganda films, including Victory Through Air Power, which the Studio was producing in support of American military efforts during World War II.
By 1943, she moved from Ink and Paint to the Animation department, where she copied animators' drawings for the Color Model department and assisted animation supervisor Johnny Bond. As Bond's assistant, Becky helped farm out animation scenes to be drawn by artists.
Then, in 1947, she became a blue sketch artist for the Layout and Background department. There, she helped to trace and chart character movement within animated scenes for layout artists, as they created the rich and textured backgrounds that Disney characters moved against.
She returned to the Ink and Paint department in 1950 to serve as paint matcher and, later, final checker, ensuring that animation cels were properly drawn and colored. During the 1960s and early 70s, she worked in the newly-developed Xerox Camera department, followed by the Educational Films department, where she and her supervisor performed all Ink and Paint tasks.
Having worked on every Disney animated feature since 1943's Saludos Amigos, the seasoned and knowledgeable artist was promoted to manager of the Ink and Paint department in 1975. Becky Fallberg remained head of the department until 1986, when she retired after more than 45 years at The Walt Disney Studios.
Becky Fallberg passed away on October 9, 2007.
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| Dick Jones (1927–2014) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2000 |
Dick Jones was 10 years old and already a veteran actor in Hollywood when Walt Disney cast him as the voice of Pinocchio in 1939. The young actor, whose screen name was "Dickie" Jones, had already appeared in nearly 40 motion pictures, including Stella Dallas with Barbara Stanwyck, Wonder Bar with Al Jolson and Dick Powell, and Daniel Boone with George O'Brien and John Carradine.
He later recalled, "At the time, Pinocchio was just a job. Who knew it would turn out to be the classic that it is today? I count my lucky stars that I had a part in it."
Born February 25, 1927, in McKinney, Texas, Dick had been discovered by western film star Hoot Gibson by age three. Gibson was appearing in a rodeo in the youngster's hometown. "Hoot told my mother I ought to be in pictures and sponsored our trip to Hollywood," said Dick, who went on to work with practically every cowboy actor including Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, and Bill Elliott.
Among his memories of Pinocchio, Dick recalled donning a puppet costume and acting out scenes for a live-action film study to which animators could refer. And when there was a lull in recording lines, remembered Dick,
"Mr. Disney would take an old storyboard drawing, pin it up on a four-by-eight celotex sheet, and start a dart game with me using pushpins. He was good at throwing pushpins, underhand, and making them stick with fantastic accuracy. He always won the game."
During the 19 months Dick worked on Pinocchio, he also managed to complete roles in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Destry Rides Again, both starring James Stewart, as well as other features.
In 1944 he was drafted into World War II. By the time he finished training, the war was over. After his Christmas Day discharge in 1946, Dick appeared in a few more films; his favorite was Rocky Mountain, starring Errol Flynn. As he once pointed out, the film "marks the first time in motion picture history the United States Cavalry arrived too late—we all died."
In 1949, he debuted in television when Gene Autry hired him as a stuntman for his Flying A Productions. During this time, Dick played Jock Mahoney's sidekick in The Range Rider, a western series, which led to his own series, Buffalo Bill, Jr. He went on to guest star on other television shows, including Gunsmoke, Annie Oakley, and The Lone Ranger. In all, Dick worked on nearly 100 films and more than 200 television episodes.
By 1959, he retired from show business and began a new career in real estate. In 1992, Dick founded his own agency, White Hat Realty.
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| Dodie Roberts (1919–2008) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2000 |
Dodie Roberts held one of Disney's most colorful jobs. As former supervisor of the Studio paint lab, she made sure colors were consistent throughout an animated motion picture. Not an easy task for the average person, but Dodie had a good eye for matching color—a very good eye.
As she recalled, "We had to mix the paints so they were exactly the same color as what was being used in an animated scene. One time, just before I retired, a computer was brought into the lab to check the colors that I had approved. To my great relief, the computer confirmed that every color matched perfectly."
Born in Plainview, Nebraska, on August 12, 1919, Dodie moved to Southern California in 1939 after attending a Wilmington, Delaware business college. A former schoolmate, who was working at Disney at the time, invited Dodie to visit the Studio and, on October 24 of that year, she joined the Company as a runner delivering freshly mixed paint to inkers and painters.
Before long, however, she was promoted to the task of creating colors and mixing paints. "I love puzzles, and mixing paint was like putting together a puzzle," she said. "It was fascinating to create colors and to get them exact."
The ultimate payoff, however, was when she saw her work come to life in such films as Fantasia, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. She later said, "It was wonderful to see those colors, bigger than life, and to know that I helped make them."
Among the more unusual aspects of her work, as she recalled, was creating a proprietary color used for shadows in Disney animated motion pictures. Three lab employees, including Dodie, were responsible for adding a single color to the mix, without knowing what the others were putting in.
"It was a secret," she said. "They didn't want other Studios to know the formula, so only the supervisor of our department knew all of its ingredients."
By 1972, however, Dodie became privy to that exclusive recipe when she was named supervisor of the paint lab. She oversaw eight staff members and more than 500 hues, including gradations of single colors that matched a film's changing mood and lighting. For instance, as she recalled, "In Fantasia, the Sorcerer's coat wouldn't be the same color if he walked into a dark room."
In 1984, Dodie retired 45 years to the day after she joined Disney. A lustrous purple shade was developed in her honor named "Dodie 6." Later that year, Dodie, along with fellow Studio employee Al Jones, founded the Disney Golden 'Ears Retirement Club for former Studio employees.
Dodie Roberts passed away died on February 11, 2008.
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| Retta Scott (1916–1990) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2000 |
Though Retta Scott's career at Disney was brief, she left an indelible mark as the Studio's first woman animator, receiving screen credit on the 1942 classic Bambi. As Bambi former supervising animator Frank Thomas recalled, "Retta had an astounding ability to draw powerful animals. She seemed to have a keen understanding of their moods and attitudes."
Born in Omak, Washington, on February 23, 1916, Retta graduated from Seattle's Roosevelt High School in 1934. She moved to Los Angeles to attend Chouinard Art Institute on scholarship and spent much of her free time sketching wildlife at the nearby Griffith Park Zoo.
While her heart was originally set on a fine arts career, the school's director encouraged Retta to apply at Disney. In 1938, she joined the Story department working on Bambi. Her stunning story sketches and character development caught the attention of Walt Disney and director Dave Hand, so when the film went into production she was assigned to animate scenes featuring hunting dogs chasing Faline.
As she later recalled, "I developed the hunting dogs into vicious, snarling beasts… running and scrambling, trying to climb the cliff and sliding back."
After Bambi, Retta worked on Dumbo and then animated the weasels in the "Wind in the Willows" segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. In 1941, she appeared in Disney's feature film The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley.
Later that year, when the Studio hit a slump, she and other artists were laid off. Retta returned to Disney's Story department in 1942, when the Studio was producing military training films during World War II. Four years later, she resigned from Disney to move east with her husband, a United States Naval officer.
She continued to contribute to Disney as a freelance artist, illustrating the Big Golden Book of Cinderella and Cinderella Puppet Show, published in 1950. The cover of the Cinderella Golden Book was released by Disney Art Classics in 2000, as a color serigraph with gold enhancements, under the Art of Disney Storybooks line.
Creative Director of Disney Publishing Worldwide, Ken Shue, described Retta's work: "Her Cinderella storybook illustrations are very stylized," he observed. "I keep the Cinderella cover framed on an easel outside my office. It's a very detailed, complex composition that informs and inspires our art staff daily. It's show-stopping."
In 1980, Retta worked on The Plague Dogs, a non-Disney animated film directed by Martin Rosen. She also helped animate television commercials produced by Luckey Zamora for such products as Cookie Crisp Cereal.
Retta Scott passed away on August 26, 1990, at her home in Foster City, California.
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| Ruthie Tompson (1910–2021) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2000 |
Ruthie Tompson's technical mind led her to be named supervisor of the Scene Planning department at The Walt Disney Studios. There, she helped to establish the camera mechanics used to photograph animated scenes and background art onto film. As Bob Broughton, a Disney Legend and former Disney supervisor of special photographic effects, recalled, "Ruthie was mechanically inclined. She was excellent at figuring out the mathematical and mechanical logistics of camera moves."
Born in Portland, Maine, on July 22, 1910, Ruthie was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Her family moved to California in 1918, arriving first in Oakland on November 11, Armistice Day, which marked the end of World War I. As she later recalled, amidst the end-of-the-war celebrations she and others wore masks over their faces to guard against influenza, which was epidemic at the time.
Ruthie's association with Disney began long before she was a Studio employee. As a child growing up in Hollywood in the 1920s, she lived a short distance away from the fledgling Disney Bros. Studio on Kingswell Avenue.
"I used to walk by the Disney Bros. storefront," she once recalled. "I was curious and snooped around, and, finally, they invited me in for a look. After that, I'd visit quite often. I remember sitting on the bench and watching Roy shoot the animated cels onto film."
"Once Roy asked us neighborhood kids to play tag in the street, while he photographed us with a movie camera," she continued. "I suppose it was for the Alice Comedies; he paid each of us a quarter, which I was glad for because I could buy licorice."
Later, Ruthie attended Hollywood High School. At 18, she took a job at Dubrock's Riding Academy in the San Fernando Valley, where Walt and Roy Disney frequently played polo. Walt offered Ruthie a job as a painter in the Ink and Paint department, where she helped put finishing touches on the Studio's first full-length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which premiered in 1937.
She was soon promoted to final checker, reviewing the animation cels before they were photographed onto film. By 1948, Ruthie again transferred to animation checking and scene planning. As a result of her adept skill at guiding camera movement for animated films, in 1952 Ruthie was invited to join the International Photographers Union, Local 659 of the IATSE. She was one of the first three women to be admitted into the Hollywood camera union.
After dedicating nearly 40 years to The Walt Disney Company and working on virtually every Disney animated feature up through The Rescuers, Ruthie Tompson retired in 1975. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2010.
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| December 5, 2001 |
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| Howard Ashman (1950–1991) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
Producer and lyricist Howard Ashman made a huge splash in the world of Disney animation in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, which he co-produced with John Musker. His song "Under the Sea," co-written with composer Alan Menken, won an Oscar® that year for Best Song. In the infectious Calypso-flavored piece, Sebastian the Crab advises lovelorn mermaid Ariel to stay home because the seaweed isn't necessarily greener "in somebody else's lake."
"Howard's lyrics," as Menken later recalled, "would wink at the adults and say something to the kids at exactly the same time."
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 17, 1950, the successful lyricist, librettist, playwright, and director received his MFA from Indiana University. In 1974, he moved to New York and became an editor at Grosset & Dunlap, while writing plays including Dreamstuff, a musical version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, which marked the beginning of his association with the off-off-Broadway WPA Theatre in 1977. While at Grosset & Dunlap, he also compiled The New Mickey Mouse Club Book for Disney .
Two years later, Howard teamed with Menken for the first time, creating a musical version of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. They went on to write the musical version of Roger Corman's 1960 cult film Little Shop of Horrors and won critical raves and awards including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical of 1982-83. The offbeat show was transformed into a motion picture by Frank Oz in 1986, subsequently winning the musical duo their first Academy Award® nominations.
That same year, Howard penned the wistful ballad "Disneyland" for the Broadway production of Smile, written with Marvin Hamlisch, depicting utopia as a Disney theme park. He soon after signed a contract with The Walt Disney Company to write lyrics and dialogue for its animated features.
Whether Howard envisioned a hip genie performing the Oscar®-nominated "Friend Like Me" with Cab Calloway flamboyance in Aladdin, or an anthropomorphic candlestick oozing with Maurice Chevalier charm while singing the Oscar-nominated "Be Our Guest" in Beauty and the Beast, he imbued Disney characters with his own sense of emotional realism.
Howard Ashman passed away in New York City on March 14, 1991, prior to the release of Beauty and the Beast. That film, which he executive produced, was the first animated movie ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Its title song won the songwriters yet another Oscar. Upon its release, the film was dedicated to Howard, "who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul." Howard earned a posthumous Oscar nomination in 1993 for "Friend Like Me," which he had co-written for Aladdin prior to his death.
In 1994, Beauty and the Beast moved to the New York stage; when it closed in 2007 after 5,464 performances, it had become the 8th longest-running musical in Broadway history. The production featured "Human Again," a chorus number by Howard and Menken that was storyboarded for the animated motion picture but never completed. The nearly 10-minute sequence was later animated and added to Beauty and the Beast for an IMAX re-release on January 1, 2002.
The 2009 documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, which tells of the animation renaissance that Howard helped usher in at The Walt Disney Studios, is dedicated in part to his memory.
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| Bob Broughton (1917–2009) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2001 |
Bob Broughton devoted his skill as a camera effects artist to nearly every Disney motion picture from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 to The Black Hole in 1979. He also sprinkled his infectious enthusiasm like pixie dust over fellow cast members and, after retiring in 1982, remained Disney's greatest cheerleader while coordinating the Studio's Golden 'Ears Retirement Club for 15 years.
Bob fondly recalled, "I had one of the best jobs anyone could have, with a one-of-a-kind organization and incredibly talented people."
Born September 17, 1917, in Berkeley, California, Bob attended the University of California at Los Angeles, studying chemistry, physics, math, and optics. He joined Disney in 1937, delivering mail to Studio offices before stepping into the camera department. There, he shot test camera on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a step in production to check the continuous action of animated scenes before photographing the final product.
Bob quickly graduated to the more technically advanced multiplane camera, photographing artwork painted on glass up to six layers deep and giving depth to animated scenes in such features as Pinocchio.
In 1940, as one of two operators of an advanced camera and crane, Bob transferred to the newly formed special photographic effects department shooting effects for Fantasia. These included the transparent flying ghosts featured in the film's "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence. His technical mind, keen eye, and steady hand soon won him a promotion to camera department supervisor.
While in this new position, Bob branched out into scene planning, developing mechanics for multiplane camera scenes as well as overseeing optical printing on Disney's first movie to combine live action and animation, Saludos Amigos in 1942.
During World War II, Bob left Disney to serve in the United States Army as a cameraman in the field photographic branch of the Office of Strategic Services, headed by Hollywood director John Ford. Based in Washington, D.C., he photographed an Oscar®-winning film, directed by Ford, documenting the Battle of Midway.
After the War, Bob returned to the Studio as assistant to technical wizard and fellow Legend Ub Iwerks. By the 1950s, he began contributing effects to live-action motion pictures and worked with such celebrities as Julie Andrews, Maureen O'Hara, and Dean Jones. For a time, Bob Broughton even photographed Walt's lead-ins for the weekly television series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
As a talented camera effects artist on both animated and live-action motion pictures, Bob's job was to create spectacular effects in a subtle way. For instance, in Mary Poppins, he helped Dick Van Dyke dance with animated penguins by using color traveling matte composite cinematography, an award-winning technology that combined live-action and animated actors.
"If it looked like we doctored up a scene," Bob later recalled, "we were a failure. Our effects weren't supposed to be obvious."
Bob Broughton passed away on January 19, 2009, at the age of 91, in Rochester, Minnesota.
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| George Bruns (1914–1983) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
George Bruns burst onto Disney's musical scene in 1953 when he was personally hired by Walt Disney to score the animated feature Sleeping Beauty. At the same time, Walt asked the newly-hired composer and conductor to "make up a little something" for a three-part television series that was later edited into the hit feature Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier.
Soon, George's catchy "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" was on the lips of young and old alike. The down-home ditty soared to the top of the Hit Parade for six months and sold more than eight million records; meanwhile, the music he developed for Sleeping Beauty received an Academy Award® nomination. It was the first of three he received during his 22-year career with The Walt Disney Studios.
Born in Sandy, Oregon, on July 3, 1914, George began piano lessons at six. He mastered the tuba and trombone by high school, and later added another 12 instruments to his mind-boggling repertoire. In 1934, he cut short his engineering education at Oregon State to play with popular bands of the day, including Jack Teagarden's, and later worked as a musical director and conductor of live bands at radio stations in Portland, including KOIN and KEX.
George moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1950, where he began arranging and conducting for Capitol Records and UPA Studios. He also played with bands, including that of Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Three years later he landed at Disney, where he contributed to such hit films as The Absent-Minded Professor, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Robin Hood, The Love Bug, and more.
George received additional Oscar® nods for his work on Disney's first live-action musical Babes in Toyland, based on the Victor Herbert operetta, followed by the 1963 animated feature The Sword in the Stone.
Beginning in the 1950s, George also contributed to Disney's pioneering television series Disneyland, Mickey Mouse Club, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, while his theme song for the popular Zorro series sold another one million records. In all, he contributed to more than 200 motion pictures, television shows, and more.
As legendary animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston recalled in their book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, "George Bruns worked equally well in either medium, writing 'Davy Crockett' for the live TV show at the same time he was adapting Tchaikovsky's ballet score for Sleeping Beauty to our animated version of the classic fairy tale. George was big and easy-going, but he worked very hard and produced a seemingly endless string of fresh melodies and haunting scores."
In 1975, George retired from The Walt Disney Studios, returning to his Oregon hometown where he continued conducting and playing in bands, composing and arranging music, as well as teaching at nearby Lewis and Clark College.
George Bruns passed away on May 23, 1983, in Portland, Oregon.
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| Frank Churchill (1901–1942) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
Composer Frank Churchill's toe-tapping "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" featured in Disney's 1933 animated short Three Little Pigs, raised the spirits of countless Depression-weary audiences who adopted the song as a resilient national anthem of hope. Shortly after the release of the Academy Award®-winning cartoon, Frank spoke of the song's surprising success when more than 39,000 copies of sheet music sold within three days of publication in New York City alone.
Quoted in Photoplay magazine, Frank said, "It seems to be on every phonograph record … and practically every orchestra in the country is featuring this number."
Inspired by the film's success, Walt Disney entrusted Frank to compose music for his first feature-length animated motion picture Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with Disney Legend Leigh Harline. Ultimately, it was the composer's musical genius that helped bridge the Studio's daring transition from animated shorts to features in 1937.
Born October 20, 1901, in Rumford, Maine, Frank moved to Southern California with his family when he was four years old. An instinctive musician, inspired by classical music and composer Franz Schubert, Frank won his first professional job as a pianist at 15 accompanying silent movies at a local theater in Ventura, California.
At his parents' behest, he began pre-med studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, but soon dropped out of school to pursue a career in music. For a time he played piano for honky-tonks in Tijuana, Mexico, followed by an orchestra in Tucson, Arizona. He returned to Hollywood in 1924, and, despite his lack of formal musical education, Frank won a contract as an accompanist and soloist with radio station KNX. He later recorded for RKO Radio Pictures.
In December 1930, Frank joined The Walt Disney Studios where he scored nearly 65 animated shorts, including Mickey's Gala Premiere, Funny Little Bunnies, and Who Killed Cock Robin? He also wrote music for the famous sticky flypaper sequence featured in Playful Pluto.
Tall, slender, quiet, and reserved, Frank worked from a mere idea, story sequence, or character to develop such classic Disney songs as "Whistle While You Work," "Heigh-Ho," and "Someday My Prince Will Come" for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His work earned an Oscar® nomination for Best Music, Score in 1938.
He was subsequently elevated to supervisor of music and went on to contribute to The Reluctant Dragon, starring humorist Robert Benchley. Frank can even be seen in the film, during the Studio tour sequence. In 1942, he received two Academy Award nominations for his work on Dumbo, including Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Song for "Baby Mine," co-written with fellow Legend Ned Washington. A year later, his work on Bambi, including the ballad "Love Is a Song," co-written with Lyricist Larry Morey, received similar dual nominations.
Frank Churchill passed away on May 14, 1942, in Newhall, California.
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| Leigh Harline (1907–1969) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
Composer Leigh Harline graced Disney with a musical sophistication that was uniquely "Harline-esque," by weaving rich tapestries of mood-setting underscores and penning memorable melodies for animated shorts and features. Among his creations were the beloved "When You Wish Upon a Star," which debuted in 1940's Pinocchio; it remains the signature song for The Walt Disney Company today.
As Disney producer and director Wilfred Jackson told writer Ross Care, "[Leigh's songs] seemed like symphonic writing by a good classical composer." He added, Leigh's music "was melodic enough, but his counter melodies, his harmonic structure, all contributed so much more to the final effectiveness of his scores. Leigh could not have conveyed the full feeling of his scores with just two hands and a piano."
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 26, 1907, Leigh was one of 13 children. He majored in music at the University of Utah and studied piano and organ with former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir J. Spencer Cornwall.
In 1928, he moved to California, working at radio stations in both San Francisco and Los Angeles as a composer, conductor, arranger, instrumentalist, singer, and announcer.
In 1931, he caught the ear of Walt Disney and the rest of the nation when he provided music for the first transcontinental radio broadcast to originate from the West Coast.
Leigh joined Disney in 1932, writing tunes for more than 50 animated shorts, including Silly Symphonies The Old Mill, Music Land, and The Pied Piper; the last of these was described by Care as a "cartoon cantata." He added that Leigh's contributions to animated shorts between 1935 and 1938 rank among "some of the finest, most inventive music ever created in Hollywood."
Walt acknowledged Leigh's skill by entrusting him with scoring the Studio's first feature-length animated cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with Disney Legend Frank Churchill. Leigh effectively underscored such dramatic moments as the Queen's transformation into an apple-toting crone, as well as classic Disney songs including "Someday My Prince Will Come." For this, he received his first Oscar® nomination for Best Music and Score.
In 1940, Pinocchio earned Leigh two Academy Awards® for Best Music and Original Score and for Best Song ("When You Wish Upon a Star").
Leigh left Disney the next year to freelance at studios including Columbia, Paramount, and Goldwyn-RKO. During his career, which spanned nearly three decades and garnered eight Oscar nominations in all, Leigh composed and supervised music for motion pictures including The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper, Johnny Come Lately starring James Cagney, and George Pal's The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, all of which earned the composer additional Oscar nods.
By the early 1960s, Leigh expanded his craft into television, creating music for such popular series as Ben Casey starring Richard Chamberlain and Daniel Boone starring Disney Legend Fess Parker.
Leigh Harline passed away on December 10, 1969, in Long Beach, California.
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| Fred Joerger (1913–2005) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2001 |
Imagineer Fred Joerger helped realize Walt Disney's visions by crafting three-dimensional miniature models of Disney theme park attractions, as well as motion picture sets and props, before they were brought to full-scale life.
As Fred recalled, "I was given artists' drawings of an interior set or a building and interpreted them into models. It's very easy to make something like the Haunted Mansion look good on paper, but if you don't get it into three-dimensions first, you may have a disaster. Well, my job was to create the model to avert disaster, which was fun, but a challenge."
Born in Pekin, Illinois, on December 21, 1913, Fred graduated from the University of Illinois with a fine arts degree in 1937. He then moved to Los Angeles and joined the art department at Warner Brothers building models of movie sets.
In 1953, as Walt began planning Disneyland, Fred joined the Company crafting decorative backgrounds for "Project Little Man." This experiment featured a nine-inch tall mechanical man dancing on a vaudeville stage, and a miniature singing barbershop quartet. The animated figures were the first step toward creating the robotic Audio-Animatronics® figures later featured in Disney theme park attractions, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
Fred also built miniature sets and props for Disney motion pictures, including Mary Poppins, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, for which he created intricate models of the submarine Nautilus.
Fred and Disney Legends Harriet Burns and Wathel Rogers comprised the original "model shop" when Walt began developing Disneyland. As Burns remembered: "Most anything at Disneyland, Fred created as a model first.
"He constructed several versions of Sleeping Beauty Castle, for instance, changing each design, moving the turrets around, changing colors. Walt liked the model with the blue roof because he thought it would blend in with the sky, making the castle look taller."
In addition to his skills with models, which helped define projects in concept development, Fred established the standards for field art direction. He was responsible for assuring that shows ranging from Pirates of the Caribbean to Submarine Voyage achieved "the look," as designed by Walt Disney Imagineering art directors.
Fred's unusual knack for creating gorgeous rockwork out of plaster led to his reputation as Imagineering's "resident rock expert." Among his rocky mountain highlights are the huge stones featured on the Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. In fact, he designed and constructed most all rockwork at the Florida theme park for its 1971 opening, including the breathtaking atrium waterfall featured in the Polynesian Village Resort.
In 1979, after 25 years with the Company, Fred retired. He soon returned, however, to serve as field art director for EPCOT Center prior to its 1982 opening.
Fred Joerger passed away on August 26, 2005, in Woodland Hills, California.
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| Alan Menken Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
Among Disney's most prolific composers, eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken writes from his soul. Whether it be "A Whole New World," co-written with Tim Rice for Aladdin, or "Colors of the Wind," co-written with Stephen Schwartz for Pocahontas, Alan's songs speak directly to the hearts of Disney fans and music lovers alike.
He once explained, "Songs are a very familiar vocabulary to people and I've always believed that you should be able to understand not only the feeling, but the content of the song, by just hearing the music and not even the lyrics. What you're trying to say should be that clear."
Born July 22, 1949, and raised in New Rochelle, New York, Alan was more interested in creating his own tunes as a child than practicing the songs assigned to him by his piano and violin teachers. He later enrolled at New York University as a pre-med student, but ultimately graduated with a degree in music in 1971.
Soon after, Alan joined a theater workshop run by Broadway conductor Lehman Engel, where he met fellow Legend Howard Ashman. In 1987, after the success of their second collaboration, a campy adaptation of Roger Corman's 1960 cult film Little Shop of Horrors, he and Ashman joined Disney to write songs for The Little Mermaid. The film won Alan his first two Oscars® for Best Song, "Under the Sea," and Best Music, Original Score. Three years later, his contributions to Beauty and the Beast earned him two more Academy Awards for the film's title song, as well as Best Music, Original Score.
The musical team was working on Aladdin at the time of Ashman's untimely death in 1991. Subsequently, Alan went on to collaborate with lyricist Tim Rice on the Oscar-winning "A Whole New World" and took home an additional Academy Award for the film's original score. In 1996, Alan won his seventh and eighth Oscars for Disney's Pocahontas in the categories of Best Music, Song ("Colors of the Wind") and Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score.
Alan went on to earn additional Oscar nominations for his work on Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Enchanted, and Tangled. Other works include scores for the 2004 animated feature Home on the Range and the 2006 live-action comedy The Shaggy Dog. He also scored the 1992 Disney live-action musical Newsies, followed by Hollywood Pictures' Life with Mikey, starring Michael J. Fox. His small screen contributions include direct-to-video films, including The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
In 1994, Alan helped translate Beauty and the Beast to the Broadway stage; by the time the show closed in 2007 it had become the eighth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. In 1997, he and Rice wrote music for Disney's stage production King David. Other Disney stage works include an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which premiered in Germany in 1999; the Tony®-nominated The Little Mermaid, which came to Broadway in 2008; and the Tony-winning film adaptation Newsies The Musical, which debuted on Broadway in 2012. He provided music for the Tony-nominated Sister Act, based on the 1992 Touchstone film. Alan has also developed a stage adaptation of the 1992 animated hit, Aladdin.
Several of the Disney theme parks feature shows and attractions based on animated classics which include Alan's songs. For Tokyo DisneySea he wrote an original song, "Compass of Your Heart," for Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, as well as an unproduced stage musical based on the story of The Snow Queen.
Outside Disney, Alan has contributed to a variety of esteemed projects including the original score for the 1992 television documentary Lincoln, as well as the Rocky V song titled "The Measure of a Man." Among Alan's non-Disney stage work are the original score for the off-Broadway Weird Romance in 1992 and A Christmas Carol in 1994.
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| Marty Sklar (1934–2017) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2001 |
As former vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Marty Sklar stood as a dedicated torchbearer of Walt Disney's philosophy since first joining the Company a month before Disneyland opened in 1955.
He helped express and preserve Walt's spirit of optimism, happiness, and hope for the future through attractions and special exhibitions in Disney theme parks around the world.
For more than 50 years, Walt's inspiration has burned in Marty. He once said, "Working with Walt Disney was the greatest 'training by fire' anyone could ever experience. Our training was by Walt, who was always there pitching in with new ideas and improving everyone else's input. The fire was that we were constantly breaking new ground to create deadline projects never attempted before in this business. That, I'm proud to say, has never stopped in my years at Disney."
Born Martin A. Sklar on February 6, 1934, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Marty attended the University of California at Los Angeles where he served as editor of the Daily Bruin campus newspaper. In July 1955, the student editor was recruited to create an 1890-themed tabloid newspaper, The Disneyland News, which sold on Main Street during the Park's debut year. After completing his education, Marty returned to Disneyland publicity and marketing. There, he established Vacationland magazine.
He joined WDI in 1961 as part of a team assigned by Walt to develop industry-sponsored shows and pavilions for General Electric, Ford, Pepsi-Cola and UNICEF, and the State of Illinois at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. Ever since, Marty served as a key representative working with American industry in developing and sponsoring attractions for Disney parks and resorts around the globe.
During his early years at Disney, Marty not only learned Walt's philosophy firsthand, but metabolized and translated it into materials he wrote for the master showman which were used in publications, television appearances, and special films. Among them was a 20-minute movie devoted to communicating Walt's vision of EPCOT, his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, originally intended to help resolve the urban challenges found in American cities.
Marty first became an Imagineering officer in 1974 when appointed vice president, concepts and planning, a role in which he guided creative development of Epcot Center at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. In 1979, he was named vice president of creative development, followed by executive vice president in 1982. He served as president and vice chairman from 1987 to 1996.
As vice chairman, Marty provided leadership for the Imagineering creative staff, delivering breakthrough entertainment concepts for Disney parks and resorts including Disneyland Paris, the Tokyo Disney Resort, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Imagineering is also responsible for all Disney resort hotels and the Disney Cruise Line ships, and has created concepts for restaurants, children's museums and hospitals, traveling shows, and exhibitions.
In 2001, the Company honored Marty with a special award for 45 years of service and leadership. After the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in 2005, he transitioned into a new role as Imagineering's international ambassador. He is the only person to have attended the grand openings of all Disney parks.
He retired from Disney on July 17, 2009, after 53 years with the Company.
Martin A. "Marty" Sklar passed away in his Hollywood Hills home on Thursday July 27, 2017.
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| Ned Washington (1901–1976) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2001 |
In 1939, Ned Washington first inspired dreamers with his evocative lyrics for the song "When You Wish Upon a Star," which he co-wrote with fellow Legend and composer Leigh Harline. The beloved ballad, first introduced by Jiminy Cricket in the animated feature Pinocchio, remains the signature song of The Walt Disney Company today.
Ned was passionate about putting words to music and, subsequently, garnered three Academy Awards®, two of which were for his work on Pinocchio, including Best Song ("When You Wish Upon a Star") and Best Music and Original Score.
As animator and Disney Legend Frank Thomas recalled, during the film's production "Ned would sit facing Walt, knee-to-knee, and while Leigh (Harline) played a song they'd developed on the piano, Ned would slap Walt's knee and say 'Oh, you're gonna' love this…' and 'Oh, listen to this, Walt…" He was very enthusiastic to the point Walt finally said, 'For crying out loud Ned, let me listen to the song!'"
Born August 15, 1901, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Ned was the only one of nine children who did not study music. Rather, he wrote poems, some of which was published in local newspapers and magazines.
At 21, he moved to New York to break into show business, booking acts in vaudeville theaters and emceeing shows.
He wrote songs in his spare time and, in 1928, famed Broadway producer Earl Carroll used one of Ned's creations in his popular stage revue Vanities. A year later, Warner Brothers hired him to write lyrics for talking pictures; these would include the popular song "Singing in the Bathtub," featured in the all-star flick Show of Shows.
In 1932, bandleader Tommy Dorsey adopted Ned's "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" as his signature tune and, in 1933, Ned collaborated with crooner Bing Crosby writing lyrics for the love song "A Ghost of a Chance."
Ned arrived at Disney in 1938 and received Oscar® nods for "Baby Mine," featured in Dumbo, and for the title song of Saludos Amigos. Ned also wrote lyrics for "I'm a Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow," featured in the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" sequence of Fun and Fancy Free.
During his 40-plus year career, he wrote music with famed composers including Victor Young ("Stella by Starlight" for The Uninvited in 1944) at studios ranging from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to Paramount. Other popular standards by Ned include "Nearness of You" with Hoagy Carmichael, and "Someday I'll Meet You Again" with Max Steiner.
His unique flair for penning motion picture title songs—he wrote 40 in all–led to High Noon, starring Gary Cooper; it earned Ned his third Academy Award. Another them, for The High and the Mighty starring John Wayne, won him another of 12 total Oscar nominations. In between motion pictures he wrote for radio and stage, and, crossing over into early television, created theme songs for such series as Rawhide.
Ned Washington passed away on December 20, 1976, in Beverly Hills, California.
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| Tyrus Wong (1910–2016) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2001 |
While inspirational artist Tyrus "Ty" Wong worked at The Walt Disney Studios only three years, between 1938 and 1941, his impact on the animated classic Bambi endures.
As legendary animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston point out in their book about the making of the motion picture, "He set the color schemes along with the appearance of the forest in painting after painting. Paintings that captured the poetic feeling that had eluded us [artists] for so long. Ty Wong not only inspired the other visual artists, but he created a standard that was met by musicians and special effects too."
Born in Taishan (then Xinning), China, on October 25, 1910, nine-year-old Ty moved to America with his father in 1919, eventually landing in Los Angeles, California. While an indifferent student, he loved sketching and won a scholarship to nearby Otis Art Institute. After graduating in 1935, Ty exhibited his watercolors and participated in a W.P.A. project, established by the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression, creating two paintings each month for exhibition in public libraries and government buildings.
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| Looking for steady employment, he joined The Walt Disney Studios to work on animated shorts, but quickly moved into feature films after submitting landscape paintings with deer as early concepts for Bambi, which was in pre-production. |
Among his paintings was a stunning image of a stag fight filled with dynamic action, strong compositions, and dramatic lightning.
When Walt Disney saw Ty's inspirational sketches, he was intrigued by their mysterious quality. The artist later told animation historian John Canemaker for his book Before the Animation Begins, "Walt wanted something different for Bambi." As Thomas and Johnston wrote, "In contrast to the paintings that showed every detail of tiny flowers, broken branches, and fallen logs, Ty had a different approach and certainly one that had never been seen in an animated film before. He [Ty] explained, 'Too much detail—I tried to keep the thing very, very simple and create the atmosphere, the feeling of the forest.'"
Ty left Disney before Bambi was released in 1942. He joined Warner Brothers and for more than 25 years developed story boards and concept sketches for motion pictures, including the 1949 World War II saga Sands of Iwo Jima, starring John Wayne.
He took an early retirement to pursue his own passions, including exhibiting and selling watercolors, designing Christmas cards for Hallmark and other companies, illustrating magazine covers for Reader's Digest and other publications, painting ceramics sold through Neiman-Marcus, and designing, constructing, and flying kites that are masterful expressions of his artistic sensibilities.
More than 50 years after leaving Disney, the Studio approached Ty about serving as inspirational sketch artist on The Legend of Mulan, set in ancient China. He declined, however, saying his work with animated films was no longer an important part of his artistic life.
Ty Wong passed away on December 30, 2016 at 106 years old.
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| Bob Thomas (1922–2014), Publishing |
Acclaimed throughout the industry as the dean of Hollywood reporters, Bob Thomas wrote about the movie business for the Associated Press since the days when Hollywood was run by the men who founded it: Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, Harry Cohn and Louis B. Mayer.
Thomas joined AP in 1944. He has witnessed the demise of the studio-contract system, the blacklists of the McCarthy years and the corporate takeover of the movie factories.
Along with miles of column inches for AP, he wrote many books. Many in the film industry credit his 1969 biography of producer Irving G. Thalberg as sparking their interest in pursuing a career behind the scenes. Other Thomas biographies include Joan Crawford and Marlon Brando, as well as a series of books on Walt Disney.
Thomas told The Times in 1999, "I began working at a time that has been called the 'era of wonderful nonsense.' One of my first stories was taking a tape measure out to the studio and measuring Bette Davis, who was supposed to have a perfect figure, after she returned to work from having a baby."
When he received his Walk of Fame star in 1988, he remarked with characteristic low-key humor, "This is 100% better than attending your own funeral."
The Publicists Guild presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2009.
Thomas who continued working until 2010, died March 14, 2014, at his home in Encino, Calif. He was 92.
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| March 15, 2002 (Note: In honor of the opening of the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris, all 2002 inductees are of European origin. The ceremony was held in the Animation building at the new park on opening day) |
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| Ken Annakin (1914–2009) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
Ken Annakin directed four motion pictures for Disney, including the live-action classic Swiss Family Robinson in 1960. A director of epic proportions, Ken lent his vision and precision to creating the $4 million film, which was considered one of Disney's most lavish movies at the time.
Shot on location on the Caribbean island of Tobago over a 22-week period, the film featured a menagerie of exotic animals including elephants, ostriches, tigers, and more. In his 2001 autobiography So You Wanna Be a Director? Ken recalled Walt Disney suggesting a scene with a tiger. Ken hesitated, however, based on a previous experience directing a tiger and suggested a lion instead.
"Oh-ho," Walt said. "At last we've found something Ken's afraid of. If you're scared to film the tiger, I'll come out with a 16 millimeter camera and shoot it myself!"
The tiger stayed in the picture.
Born in Beverley, England, on August 10, 1914, Ken was a restless young man. At 22, he took off for Australia and New Zealand for three years. His adventurous nature carried through his professional career as well; he directed movies on location in Africa, India, Scandinavia, and China.
Ken began his career in England during World War II, working on army training and documentary films as a camera assistant at the Ministry of Information. In 1947, he made his directorial debut with the comedy Holiday Camp, followed by the popular Miranda, starring Glynis Johns, and the Somerset Maugham films Quartet in 1948 and Trio in 1950.
While at Pinewood Studios in England, he was approached by Disney producer Perce Pearce to direct The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men in 1952, followed by The Sword and the Rose in 1953.
A year after the box office success of Swiss Family Robinson, Ken directed Disney's Third Man on the Mountain on location in the Swiss Alps; the film featured impressive vertigo-inducing mountain climbing footage.
Disney proved a fruitful training ground for the young filmmaker, who later recalled, "Working with Walt was a great experience in learning discipline because when you worked with him, you were making his picture under his conditions. He was very organized; every picture was storyboarded before filming."
Ken used storyboards, a production technique he learned from Disney, to visually develop subsequent big-scale pictures, including The Longest Day in 1962, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines in 1964, and The Battle of the Bulge in 1965.
In 1999, The Walt Disney Studios, in conjunction with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Los Angeles, hosted A Tribute to Ken Annakin, featuring excerpts from 12 of his 49 motion pictures.
Ken Annakin passed away on April 22, 2009, in Beverly Hills, California,—the same day as Jack Cardiff, who had been his cinematographer on the 1979 film The Fifth Musketeer.
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| Hugh Attwooll (1914–1997) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
It didn't take long for associate producer/producer Hugh Attwooll's name to become synonymous with Disney motion pictures shot on location in England and Europe. In 1978, after lending his expertise to more than 20 motion pictures, he recalled, "Because I've been with Disney for so long, one associates me with the company. In fact, I've never signed one piece of paper with Disney, except to state that I'm a British citizen."
Born in Scotland in 1914, Hugh was a mere 14 years old when he stepped into the motion picture industry, working as a "gopher" at Worton Hall Studios in Isleworth, England. What began as a temporary job during the school holidays led to his promotion to "runner," followed by camera assistant.
Hugh subsequently dropped school, later recalling, "So I was hauled before the headmaster, who said, 'You'll never be anything more than an errand boy all your life.' And he was quite right, of course. I've been a highly paid errand boy ever since."
Among Hugh's early motion pictures was Downstream, starring Harold Huth, which brought him to Ealing Studios. Then, in 1932, he joined Gainsborough Studios as a gaffer until 1938, when he left to make newsreel films.
World War II interrupted Hugh's career, during which he served in the London Scottish Regiment as a major. He eventually attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
After the War, he rejoined Gainsborough; there, he worked on such films as The Root of All Evil, My Brother's Keeper, and Good Time Girl. Hugh eventually made his way to Hollywood, where he worked at RKO as a technician for five months. While there, he visited most of the major movie studios except Disney.
Returning to England, Hugh worked at Pinewood Studios. He was concluding a contract with the Rank Organization when Disney production head Bill Anderson recruited him for the 1959 classic Kidnapped. By completion of that film, Hugh received a personal call from Walt Disney saying, "I want you to go down to Spain because we've got a thing going for us down there called Von Drake in Spain."
Over the years, Hugh contributed to myriad Disney motion pictures, including Greyfriars Bobby in 1961, In Search of the Castaways in 1962, The Moon-Spinners in 1964, Candleshoe in 1978, and Watcher in the Woods in 1980. Among his favorite Disney projects was The Littlest Horse Thieves in 1977, which he described as "beautifully mounted in every direction."
In between Disney projects, Hugh also contributed to such non-Disney fare as David Copperfield starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Persecution with Lana Turner, and Jane Eyre starring George C. Scott.
After more than 50 years in the motion picture industry, and more than 20 years with Disney, Hugh Attwooll retired in 1981. He passed away on April 29, 1997, in Harlow, Essex, in England.
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| Maurice Chevalier (1888–1972) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
Ambassador of French gaiety and charm, Maurice Chevalier lent his unique joi de vivre to Disney live-action motion pictures including In Search of the Castaways in 1962, in which he played jocular Professor Jacques Paganel, and Monkeys, Go Home! in 1967, portraying Father Sylvain.
Born in Paris on September 12, 1888, Maurice was the youngest of nine children. He broke into entertainment at the age of 12 to help support his family, performing first as an acrobat and then as a singer and hoofer. At the age of 21 in 1909, his zestful appeal won him a stage job with the Folies Bergère, as the revue partner of legendary musical star Mistinguett. Around the same time, he debuted in silent French films, but the stage always remained his first love.
Drafted into the French army in 1913, World War I interrupted his gait. Wounded and captured by the Germans, Maurice spent two years in a prisoner of war camp. The silver lining was that he had the chance to learn English from a fellow prisoner, as well as his ultimate decoration with a Croix de Guerre.
Returning to the French stage, Maurice became a top-billed star of music halls. His trademark straw hat and bow tie, suggestive swagger and twinkling eyes, ultimately led him to Hollywood, where he became a sophisticated star of early romantic screen classics, including Ernst Lubitsch's The Love Parade and The Merry Widow.
In 1935, he returned to France to continue his career in English and French motion pictures, including The Beloved Vagabond in 1936 and L'Homme du Jour in 1937.
By the late 1950s, Maurice returned to the United States to star in many popular motion pictures, including Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon and Gigi, in which he sang the unforgettable song "Thank Heaven for Little Girls." In 1958, he received a special Academy Award® "for his contributions to the world of entertainment for more than half a century."
When he first stepped onto the Disney Studio lot, the actor's career had already spanned more than 60 years, but his enthusiasm kept him young and he continued to light up the screen with his larger-than-life persona.
And Maurice, whose early career included stand-up comedy, never lost his sense of humor. As he told former Los Angeles Times film critic Charles Champlin during the filming of Monkeys, Go Home! "Since I've come back to Hollywood to play old men, the role of Father Sylvain is the most robust part I have. It will be the best—unless the monkeys steal the picture completely."
In 1970, Maurice came out of retirement for Disney to sing the title song of the animated motion picture The Aristocats. Maurice passed away two years later, on January 1, 1972, in Paris.
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| Phil Collins Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2002 |
With his distinctive percussive style and soulful songwriting, Phil Collins penned songs that added a unique emotional dimension to Disney's animated hit Tarzan, including "You'll Be In My Heart," which won him an Oscar®. And rather than the animated characters singing his music, Phil lent his own throaty, passionate voice to the film's songs, including "Two Worlds," "Son of Man," and "Strangers Like Me," creating a unique experience for Disney moviegoers.
As Phil told People magazine in 1999, "We've broken some molds. The fact that I'm singing and the characters don't burst into song makes it very different."
The youngest of three children, Phil was born in London on January 30, 1951, and grew up a child actor. At 13, he played the Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver!—the musical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale Oliver Twist. By his late teens Phil entered the music scene, selected from 400 hopefuls as replacement drummer for the British rock band Genesis in 1970. By 1978, the band's album And Then There Were Three had gone gold, and the followup, Duke, was even more successful.
Around that time, Phil began producing solo music. His first single, "In the Air Tonight," quickly rose to number two in the United Kingdom and the top 20 chart in the United States. He went on to release a string of 13 straight U.S. Top 10 hits between 1984 and 1990, including "Sussudio," "Don't Lose My Number," and "Another Day in Paradise."
Phil was first nominated for an Oscar in 1985, for his song "Take a Look at Me Now," which he wrote and performed for the motion picture Against All Odds. In 1991, he released the album Face Value, which became a bigger hit than any of the Genesis albums on which he performed. After 25 years, Phil left the band in 1996 to focus on his solo career. His other albums include Hello, I Must Be Going, No Jacket Required, Dance Into the Light, and more.
Along the way, Phil also continued acting, appearing in HBO's And The Band Played On, a film about AIDS, and Buster, which he both starred in and provided music for.
In 1999 he provided songs for Disney's Tarzan. Composer Mark Mancina, who worked with Phil on the film, observed:
"There's something very sincere about Phil's voice… His voice has a tendency to wrap itself around you and bring you into his world. As soon as he starts singing, it's just magic and provides a very welcoming feeling."
Phil translated that feeling into other languages, as well, when he recorded the Tarzan soundtrack in German, Italian, French, and two dialects of Spanish (Latin American and Castilian), an unprecedented feat by a musical artist for a motion picture. His single from the film, "You'll Be in My Heart," spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.
Phil went on to voice a character in 2003's The Jungle Book 2, and that same year he teamed once more with composer Mark Mancina on the soundtrack of a Disney animated feature–Brother Bear.
In 2006, Tarzan was adapted into a Broadway musical. Phil was heavily involved with the production, writing a number of new songs and instrumental pieces for the show.
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| Sir John Mills (1908–2005) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
Veteran actor Sir John Mills appeared in more than 100 motion pictures during his prolific career, among them the 1960 Disney live-action hit Swiss Family Robinson, in which he played the patriarch of the resourceful shipwrecked family.
As critic Leonard Maltin observed in his book The Disney Films, "John Mills strikes just the right note of adventurism, tempered with humor and a genuine feeling of enjoying the whole escapade."
Born in North Elmham, England, on February 22, 1908, to a school master and a one-time theater manager of the Haymarket Theater in London, John was convinced of his destiny from an early age. "I never considered anything else," he later recalled.
In 1929, he debuted as a song-and-dance man in a London revue, moving to the legitimate stage the following year. By 1932, he had branched out into film. He became one of Britain's leading screen stars, playing mild-mannered, but iron-willed fellows. His early films include The Midshipmaid in 1932, Those Were the Days in 1934, and Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939.
A medical discharge forced him out of the service during World War II, but he contributed to morale by fighting the war on-screen, playing commanding characters in such films as Noel Coward's In Which We Serve and We Die at Dawn.
One of his greatest parts was in David Lean's 1946 Great Expectations, a superb rendering of Charles Dickens' novel, in which he played Pip, the orphan who becomes a gentleman of means. The role led to a string of memorable performances in such motion pictures as The October Man in 1947, Hobson's Choice in 1954, The End of the Affair in 1955, War and Peace in 1956, Tunes of Glory in 1960, among others.
Married to playwright Mary Hayley Bell, John starred with their daughter Hayley Mills in Tiger Bay, the 1959 film in which Walt Disney first spotted his future Pollyanna star. Hayley was named a Disney Legend in 1998.
During the 1960s, John evolved from leading man to character actor appearing in such motion pictures as The Wrong Box in 1966, Oh! What a Lovely War, and Run Wild, Run Free, both in 1969. He won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor in the 1970 motion picture Ryan's Daughter, in which he portrayed the village idiot.
One of John's memorable latter-day appearances was in the 1982 feature film Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley. Other appearances included Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet in 1996, and the television production of The Gentleman Thief in 2001. Knighted in 1976, Sir John Mills published his photographic autobiography Still Memories in early 2000.
Sir John Mills passed away at the age of 97 in Denham, Buckinghamshire, on April 23, 2005.
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| Robert Newton (1905–1956) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2002 |
Among the many gifted actors who have graced Disney live-action motion pictures over the years, one in particular looms largely and menacingly in the collective memory of fans. He is Robert Newton, who starred as the charismatically wicked Long John Silver in Disney's first live-action film Treasure Island, based on the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Born June 1, 1905, in Shaftesbury, England, Robert was the son of respected painter and member of the Royal Academy, Algernon Newton. Robert began his career as a stagehand at the age of 15 with the Birmingham Repertory Company, quickly working his way up to a walk-on part in Henry VI. In 1923, he toured South Africa in Bulldog Drummond and, the following year, made his London stage debut in London Life at Drury Lane.
He caught the eye of Noel Coward in 1928, while performing in Her Cardboard Lover with Tallulah Bankhead and Leslie Howard. He made his way to New York, where he replaced Laurence Olivier in Coward's Private Lives in 1931.
Robert returned to London in 1932, where he ran the repertory Shilling Theatre while appearing in such West End hits as The Greeks Had a Word For It in 1934 and "Hamlet" at the Old Vic in 1937. Around the same time, he turned his focus to motion pictures and, by the late 1940s, became a leading box-office attraction in Britain, with such memorable roles as Bill Sykes in the 1948 film Oliver Twist.
He made his American motion picture debut that same year in Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, starring Burt Lancaster, and the Los Angeles Times reported that "Hollywood has finally got hold of Robert Newton, one of Britain's most versatile actors."
Other motion pictures included Androcles and the Lion, The High and the Mighty, Gaslight, Tom Brown's Schooldays, Around the World in 80 Days, and many more.
Adept at portraying cunning villains, Robert's thunderous voice and rolling, wild eyes, mesmerized audiences when Treasure Island, shot on location in Britain, premiered in 1950. The one and only role he ever played for Disney proved to be his most popular, leading the actor to numerous subsequent "shiver-me-timbers" performances.
"Treasure Island belongs to Robert Newton," critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his book The Disney Films. "Rereading Stevenson, one finds that Newton is Long John. "Indeed, Newton was so powerful as Silver that he found himself locked into the characterization, repeating it in an Australian-filmed feature, Long John Silver, a TV series of the same name, and similar roles such as the title role in Blackbeard the Pirate. Newton's trouping may have been ham, but his performance remains in the memory long after everything else has been forgotten."
Robert Newton passed away on March 25, 1956, in Beverly Hills, California.
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| Sir Tim Rice Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2002 |
Acclaimed lyricist Sir Tim Rice created a "whole new world" of witty, entertaining, and heartfelt songs for Disney animated features, including Aladdin in 1992 and The Lion King in 1994. In addition, he contributed to Disney theatrical productions, including the Tony® award-winning The Lion King in 1997 and Aida in 1998.
Born in Amersham, England, on November 10, 1944, Tim entered the music scene as the lead singer for a pop group called the Aardvarks in 1961.
His first published song, "That's My Story," appeared in 1964, the same year he met Andrew Lloyd Webber. The duo crafted pop songs as well as show tunes, including "It's Easy for You," which was recorded by Elvis Presley.
Tim was best known at the time for his resounding collaborations with Webber; these included such 1970s musical sensations as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita, which was transformed into the 1996 Touchstone feature by the same name, starring Madonna as the Argentine grand dame. The song "You Must Have Loved Me" from the motion picture Evita resulted in an Academy Award® for the duo in 1997.
In the early 1980s, Tim collaborated with ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson on Chess. The subsequent 1984 album featured the singles "One Night in Bangkok" and "I Know Him So Well," which topped charts in America, Europe and Asia, while the 1985 stage production became a smash hit in multiple countries. Other theatrical projects included Tycoon, Starmania, Blondel, and more.
Tim also collaborated with John Barry on the title song "All Time High" for the James Bond movie Octopussy, and with Freddie Mercury for his album with opera diva Montserrat Caballe. Tim's other distinguished writing mates include Paul McCartney, Cliff Richards, Marvin Hamlisch, and others.
The lyrical wordsmith arrived at Disney in 1991 to work with Alan Menken, writing lyrics for Beauty and the Beast, and later contributed five new songs to the Tony award-winning stage adaptation of that film. He went on to win Oscars® for "A Whole New World," written with Menken for Aladdin, and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," written with Elton John for The Lion King. Their collaboration continued with the subsequent stage production of that film, followed by Aida. In 1997, Tim reunited with Menken, writing the book and lyrics for the Broadway concert King David.
Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994, Sir Tim is also a cricket lover and an accomplished author of such books as The Treasures of Lords, about the famous museum at London's Lord's cricket ground.
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| Robert Stevenson (1905–1986) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
Whether it was flying Volkswagens, levitating nannies, leprechauns, or flubber he conjured, Director Robert "Bob" Stevenson's unusual knack for blending fantasy with credibility made anything seem possible in Disney live-action motion pictures. During the 1960s, the unpretentious craftsman directed nearly all of Disney's successful films, including the Academy Award®-winning Mary Poppins in 1964.
Born the youngest of 12, in Buxton, England, on March 31, 1905, Bob studied science at Cambridge University, excelling in aerodynamics. During his graduate studies in psychology, a research assignment involving filmgoers inspired him to pursue a motion picture career.
By 1934, he had directed and written the screenplay for his first motion picture, Nine Days a Queen. This was followed by Falling for You, King Solomon's Mines, and more. In 1939 he moved to Hollywood, where he directed, among others, Tom Brown's School Days featuring Cedric Hardwicke, Back Street starring Margaret Sullivan, and Jane Eyre with Orson Welles.
During World War II, Hollywood producer Frank Capra recruited Bob to co-produce documentaries for the United States War Department, including a film covering the liberation of Rome. After the War, he resumed his career, directing the Dick Powell thriller To The Ends of the Earth, followed by I Married a Communist, Walk Softly Stranger, and The Las Vegas Story. In 1952, he directed about 100 television productions and penned scripts for Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and General Electric Theater.
Walt Disney tapped Bob in 1957 to direct the historical tale Johnny Tremain. He would go on to direct Old Yeller, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Kidnapped, The Absent-Minded Professor, In Search of the Castaways, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, The Love Bug, and many more.
The believable fantasy elements found in many of his motion pictures have been a source of inspiration for other filmmakers, as well. Stanley Kubrick was said to have seen Mary Poppins three times while prepping 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Bob once explained the secret of his success: "When I'm directing a picture, what I have in mind is a happy audience, enjoying it in a movie house."
Former Disney producer and fellow Legend Bill Walsh credited the director's keen sense of vision and attention to detail. He once said, "With Bob, you were always sure when the film finished that you had everything you needed; he covered it from all angles, so it was a cinch to cut together."
By 1977, Variety called Bob "the most commercially successful director in the history of films," while 19 of his features made a list of all-time top grossing movies published by American Film Magazine in 1978.
Despite his successes, he often remarked that filmmaking is "a team-effort—no one man can make a film."
Robert Stevenson passed away on September 4, 1986 in Santa Barbara, California.
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| Richard Todd (1919–2009) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2002 |
Actor Richard Todd's innate power and dash proved a perfect fit for Disney's chivalrous, high-adventure films including 1952's The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, 1953's The Sword and the Rose, and 1954's Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue, which was selected that year as the command performance film in England. Film critic Bosley Crowther described Richard in the New York Times as "handsome as the kilted and bonneted Rob, simply a splendid idealization of the hero."
Born June 11, 1919, to a British army officer, Richard grew up in Ireland, India, and England. He attended a London drama school, where his natural acting ability upstaged his initial intent to playwright. He worked with various repertory companies, including the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park where he played opposite Vivien Leigh in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. He founded the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1939.
World War II interrupted his career soon after.
Richard, who served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the Parachute Regiment, was among the first wave of parachutists dropped onto the beaches of Normandy for the D-Day Invasion. He also participated in the Battle of the Bulge and Rhine crossing operations.
By 1946, Richard was a ready-made hero for post-war movies. His role with Ronald Reagan in 1949's The Hasty Heart won him critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, including an Academy Award® nomination and British National Film Award. The next year, Alfred Hitchcock cast him with Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich in Stage Fright. His other films include Lightning Strikes Twice, directed by King Vidor; The Virgin Queen with Bette Davis; and A Man Called Peter, directed by Henry Koster.
Richard was particularly well-suited for war-themed motion pictures. Among them were The Dam Busters with Michael Redgrave, D-Day the Sixth of June with Robert Taylor, and The Longest Day, directed by fellow Legend Ken Annakin.
Richard recalled his transition from mostly war films to Disney medieval fare with bemused affection, saying the "Robin Hood roles" were "where my image was all daring deeds, until my swash began to buckle a bit." All three of Richard's Disney films were produced in England with blocked funds that Disney had been unable to get out of the country since World War II. While some questioned Disney's presence overseas, the actor felt it perfectly appropriate. After all, he pointed out to a Los Angeles Times reporter in 1953, "They're British stories!"
By the late-1960s, he returned his focus to his first love, the stage, performing in productions which included Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Among his small screen roles, Richard Todd costarred as himself in the 1996 television movie Marlene Dietrich: Shadow and Light.
Richard Todd passed away on December 3, 2009 in Little Humby, England.
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| David Tomlinson (1917–2000) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2002 |
Noel Coward once described actor David Tomlinson as looking like a "very old baby." David himself said, "I may look like a disappointed spaniel, but by nature I am cheerful." "Cheer" is what David spread to many a Disney audience with his performances in such Disney movies as the Oscar®-winning Mary Poppins in 1964, The Love Bug in 1969, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971.
Of the more than 50 motion pictures he appeared in during his career, however, his most popular role was as the rigid and positively clueless father George Banks in Mary Poppins. As Ed Weiner wrote in TV Guide, "Of all the movie moments we hold dear from childhood and revisit most often with our children on video, Tomlinson as a changed and suddenly life-loving George Banks happily singing 'Let's Go Fly a Kite' is one of the sweetest."
Born David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson on May 7, 1917, in Henley-on-Thames, England, he left school to serve with the Grenadier Guards beginning in 1935. A year later, he took a job as a clerk in London and dabbled in amateur theater at night. While playing the bridegroom in a 1939 tour of Quiet Wedding, David was spotted by director Anthony Asquith and, subsequently, cast as best man in the play's 1940 film adaptation opposite Margaret Lockwood.
David put his fledgling motion picture career on hold during World War II to serve as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. After the War, he resumed acting with such films as The Little Hut with David Niven; Three Men in a Boat, directed by fellow Legend Ken Annakin; and Up the Creek with Peter Sellers.
David, bent toward the humorous, once said, "Personally, I wouldn't want to go near Hamlet. Far too serious."
He was cast in Mary Poppins after Walt Disney saw his stage performance in Ring of Truth at the Savoy Theatre. The role won him a Hollywood film editors' award for "best performance by an actor making his debut in American motion pictures."
David went on to play the evil Thorndyke in The Love Bug; it was an about-face for the actor, who usually played respectable, good-natured types. Later he served as the humbug professor of magical arts, Emelius Brown, in Bedknobs and Broomsticks with Angela Lansbury.
David Tomlinson passed away on June 24, 2000 in London, England.
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| October 16, 2003 (Following a dispute between Roy E. Disney and the company that resulted in Disney departing, Robert Iger, the company's then-president and COO co-presented with Michael Eisner) |
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| Neil Beckett (1923–1994) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 2003 |
Neil Beckett, Disney representative to New Zealand, was, as former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney recalled, "a big, affable, bearded bear of a guy who seemed to know—and love—everyone in the country."
He was also among the most colorful and bold of Disney's real-life characters.
As his cousin Noel Beckett described, "One year, when Neil and his wife Jenny were visiting the Brisbane Expo, Neil couldn't stand the length of the queues. So he went down the road and hired a wheelchair. When they returned to the Expo, Jenny wheeled him around and they jumped in front of all the queues."
Born Cornelius Kelleher Beckett on November 10, 1923, in the village of Linton, New Zealand, Neil was the son of a retailer and a homemaker. At 15, he attended Silver Stream Boarding School in nearby Wellington and upon graduation was commissioned into the nation's Naval forces. During World War II, he served as a sub-lieutenant aboard frigates that patrolled the northern coast of the country to guard against enemy invasion.
After the war, Neil moved to Auckland. There he started an advertising and public relations firm, Beckett Agencies Ltd., which also developed novelty and premium items for businesses and corporations. At the suggestion of an associate, Alfred Holdsworth, who happened to be a Disney licensee in New Zealand, Neil met Australian Disney representative Wal Granger. Soon after, on October 4th, 1964, Neil was named Disney's sole representative in New Zealand.
Neil's wife Jenny recalled, "When Neil first began, there was very little Disney merchandise to be found in New Zealand. He built up the market very much, however, from the moment he took on the task." As a result, Neil's name eventually became synonymous with the Company.
As Roy Disney said, "Neil was a great promoter in New Zealand and was thought of by everyone there as 'Disney.'"
His efforts soon spread to Australia as well, when Disney licensees in New Zealand and Australia began to share pre-production costs for producing dies, molds, film positives, and more. Neil worked with Granger to help develop promotions used by licensees on both sides of the Tasman Sea, including miniature Disney comic books used as premiums with the sale of gasoline at service stations. Similar promotions followed for Wheaties cereal foods and Chelsea Tea, which printed Disney comic strips on their packets.
After devoting 25 years to building Disney's presence in New Zealand, Neil retired in 1989. Neil passed away on February 6, 1994 in Auckland.
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| Tutti Camarata (1913–2005) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2003 |
After more than two decades licensing audio recording rights for Disney music to labels such as RCA/Victor, Walt Disney decided to create an in-house label in 1956. Enter music man Tutti Camarata, who helped co-found Disneyland Records, known today as Walt Disney Records. Tutti first began experimenting with the classic Disney animated films, including Bambi, Dumbo, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, and more, putting story, music, and dialogue to long-playing vinyl record albums.
He once explained, "This way, you could hear the motion picture rather than see it. It was probably one of the first times that soundtracks had been approached in this way. When starting a new record label, you want an identity and Disney's best identity was its animated classics."
Salvador Tutti Camarata was born on May 11, 1913, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He entered Juilliard School of Music in New York at 18, followed by nearby Columbia University.
After his classical music education, Tutti entered the popular music field, playing trumpet and arranging for bands, including the Charlie Barnet and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras. He also arranged for and performed with Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and other legends.
In 1946, he moved to England to serve as music supervisor, arranger, and conductor on Arthur Rank's London Town, Britain's first major Technicolor musical. While there, he also formed the Kingston Symphony and co-founded London Records, featuring such British artists as Gracie Fields and Anne Shelton.
In 1950, he returned to the United States to work as music supervisor for Decca Records in New York. Five years later, he conducted the television orchestra for the live broadcast of Together with Music, starring Mary Martin and Noel Coward, followed by The Vic Damone Show in 1956.
At Disney, Tutti supervised recordings of more than 300 Disneyland Records albums, including those featuring Disney stars such as Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, for whom he developed the distinctive "Annette" sound.
He recalled, "Annette felt she couldn't sing. People at Disney said, 'Why don't we dub a voice in.' I said, 'I'd like to try Annette singing.' So I developed a way of recording her voice, creating an echo. The first time she heard it, she was surprised and happy. She began to gain more confidence as a vocalist." During his 16 years with Disney, Tutti also supervised vocals on Disney's 1963 feature Summer Magic, starring Hayley Mills.
The Disneyland Records label soon expanded to include non-Disney artists, such as Louis Armstrong singing Disney Songs: The Satchmo Way. Tutti recalled, "When Louis finished recording, I got a letter from him, thanking me for letting him sing 'When You Wish Upon a Star, Makes No Difference Who You Are…' I almost cried when I saw that."
In 1962, Walt nudged Tutti to develop Sunset Sound in Hollywood, where many Disneyland titles were recorded. Tutti later added to his recording empire when he purchased The Sound Factory, also in Hollywood. The studios have since become legendary recording sites in the music industry.
Later in his career, Tutti developed an album of spiritual hymns, The Power and the Glory, featuring a 100-piece orchestra and a 180-voice adult choir, and wrote a music textbook, Fugue Simplified.
Tutti Camarata passed away on April 13, 2005, in Burbank, California.
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| Edna Francis Disney (1890–1984) Legends Award Category: Family Year Inducted: 2003 |
Edna Francis Disney lent her support to The Walt Disney Company even before its 1923 inception.
While dating Walt's older brother and her future husband, Company co-founder Roy O. Disney, Edna first met the "cute" 10-year-old boy Walter Elias Disney in Kansas City, Missouri, around 1911. As she recalled, "Roy and I were just going together… We stopped at a drugstore to get a soda, and Walt came to see Roy because he wanted a quarter or a half-dollar for paper to draw on. Even then, Roy provided the money for Walt's artistic ambitions."
A spirited woman, with an understanding heart and a ready opinion to share, Edna provided enthusiastic support and sound counsel to her business-genius husband as he helped grow his brother's creative venture from a humble storefront in Hollywood to an entertainment empire that spans the globe.
Edna was born to pioneer parents in Reece, Kansas, on January 16, 1890. The third of six children, she moved with her family to Kansas City at an early age. To help support the family, at 13 she found a job selling ribbons in a mercantile store… while standing on a box behind the counter.
Later, she worked at the Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Times. It was Edna's younger brother, who worked as a bank teller, who introduced her to another young bank employee.
She recalled, "My brother brought Roy home and they took my sister and me to a dance. Roy had only had two dance lessons; he wasn't very good." Thus began Roy and Edna's long, and sometimes long-distance romance.
After Roy served in the Navy in World War I, the couple planned to marry until he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent the next several years recuperating at military hospitals in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. During this time, Edna and her family served as a surrogate family for Walt, whose parents had moved to Portland, Oregon, while he struggled with his first animation studio, Laugh O-gram Films in Kansas City.
She recalled, "Walt used to come out to our house. He was having kind of a struggle financially and when he'd get hungry, he'd come over. We'd feed him a good meal and he'd talk until almost midnight, about cartoon pictures mostly, and things he wanted to do."
After Walt moved to Hollywood in 1923, Roy left the hospital to help his brother start his film studio. Roy wrote to "his girl" Edna and they were married at the home of Uncle Robert Disney on Kingswell Avenue. Edna frequently assisted with office work at the fledgling studio, and along with Walt's wife, Lillian Bounds Disney, helped ink and paint animation cels.
As Roy E. Disney, former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company and the only child of Roy and Edna, recalled, "Mother was a true partner with my father. She traveled with him around the world to visit colleagues. When they came to Burbank, she'd cook them chicken dinner at our home. After serving in her kitchen, she usually encouraged them to help wash the dishes after eating. She was good friends with many Disney employees; she had a unique gift for understanding people."
Edna Disney passed away on December 18, 1984, at age 94.
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| Lillian Disney (1899–1997) Legends Award Category: Family Year Inducted: 2003 |
While Lillian Disney, wife of Company founder Walt Disney, worked behind the scenes in many ways to support the Company's growth, her most celebrated contribution is the naming of a certain animated character.
In 1928, as he rode a train from New York bound for Los Angeles, Walt devised a new character, "Mortimer Mouse," to save his Studio after a serious business setback. "Not Mortimer," Lillian replied when he told her his idea. "It's too formal. How about Mickey?" The rest, as they say, is history.
Born in Spalding, Idaho, on February 15, 1899, Lillian grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. There, her father worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal. She moved to Los Angeles in 1923, and won a job at the fledgling Walt Disney Studio as a secretary and inker of animated cels. Lillian met the boss, who sometimes asked her not to cash her $15-a-week paycheck. The boss soon met her family and on July 13, 1925, they married in Lewiston, Idaho.
"I think my dad fell in love with her almost immediately… she was an independent little lady," recalled daughter Diane Disney Miller.
Lillian traveled with her husband on many of his business trips, including the government-sponsored goodwill tour of South America in 1941, which resulted in the production of such animated features as Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.
While raising their two daughters, Lillian served as a sounding board for her husband as he created films and the theme park that made him and his company known internationally. Lillian was a conservative balance to Walt's daring, and yet was indulgent, too, allowing him to dig a tunnel under her prized flower garden for his backyard railroad at their Holmby Hills estate.
As her nephew, former vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney recalled, Lillian was "always prepared to speak the truth, tough and warm and loving at the same time. She was a very special person. You couldn't help loving her and you'd never forget her… or her hearty laugh."
The publicity-shy Lillian ventured into the public arena after Walt's death in 1966 to lend support to the fulfillment of his dreams. In October 1971, she attended the dedication of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, along with Company co-founder and Walt's loyal brother Roy O. Disney.
"I think Walt would have approved," she said to Roy and those who helped realize her husband's dream. Eleven years later, she returned to Florida to attend the 1982 dedication of EPCOT Center.
Lillian also lent support to Walt's venture into education, the multi-disciplinary California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), which opened in 1971 in Valencia. Among her gifts to the school were funds to remodel a campus theater and rename it the Walt Disney Modular Theater in 1993.
On May 12, 1987, Lillian announced a gift of $50 million to build a new symphony hall designed by architect Frank Gehry in Los Angeles. A long-time patron of the arts, this was her ultimate gift to the community and to the love of her life. The Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, debuted in October 2003.
Lillian suffered a stroke on December 15, 1997, 31 years to the day after the death of her husband, and passed away the following day. She was 98.
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| Orlando Ferrante Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2003 |
During his 40 years at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), former vice president of engineering, design, and production Orlando Ferrante helped create magical Disney lands around the world. From Walt Disney World to Disneyland Paris, Orlando's keen administrative and planning skills, his "can do" attitude, and his humble and fun-loving heart served him well when orchestrating the combined efforts of inspirational artists, engineers, production, and installation teams creating Disney theme parks.
Former Imagineer Dave Schweninger recalled, "There was a saying around WDI that if you want to get something done, give Ferrante his football helmet, his football shoes… and get the hell out of the way."
Born on September 24, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, Orlando won a full football scholarship to attend the University of Southern California (USC), where he received his bachelor's degree in business administration. After serving two years in the United States Navy, he played professional football as an offensive guard for the Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers in 1960-61.
Having played football at USC with Dick Nunis, former chair of Walt Disney Attractions, and Ron Miller, former Disney company president, Orlando chose to join Walt Disney Imagineering (formerly known as WED Enterprises) in 1962.
Former vice chairman and principle creative executive at WDI Marty Sklar once said, "I think his years playing football gave Orlando a strong sense of teamwork. He didn't mind getting dirty to get the job done. And as result, he was well loved and remains well loved by those who worked with him."
Upon arriving at Disney, Orlando's premier charge was to serve as an expeditor on the first Audio-Animatronics® attraction at Disneyland, the Enchanted Tiki Room, overseeing its installation. In 1966, Orlando helped coordinate the relocation and installation of the attractions developed by Disney for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, including it's a small world, presented by Pepsi-Cola/UNICEF, General Electric's Carousel of Progress, and the State of Illinois' Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
That same year, he established a new department called Project Installation Coordinating Office, which coordinated the creation and installation of Disneyland attractions, including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as shows and attractions for Walt Disney World. He later recalled, "Creating Walt Disney World was a big effort. We needed a well-organized group coordinating the efforts for both Parks and for future Disney Parks, as well."
In 1972, Orlando was named general manager of administration, followed by vice president of administration and production, overseeing all of Imagineering. He moved on to serve as vice president of manufacturing and production in 1979, followed by an appointment to vice president of engineering and production. "My main love," he said, "has been the production and installation of the shows and rides. I love seeing the ideas and being able to help make them a reality."
In 1990, he moved to France where he served as vice president of show and ride engineering, production, and installation at Disneyland Paris. Before retiring in 2002, Orlando moved to Venice, Italy, to help launch the second Disney Cruise Line ship; he also headed show and ride engineering, design, and production of Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2001.
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| Richard Fleischer (1916–2006) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2003 |
Every Disney fan remembers the dramatic squid attack in Walt Disney's classic motion picture 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It certainly proved memorable for the film's director Richard Fleischer, who once recalled its dramatic staging challenges: "The squid that had been constructed was totally inadequate," he said. "It looked completely phony; pieces were falling off it.
"After we spent a lot of money and time shooting it, Walt and I finally decided to stop and go on to something else, while giving his geniuses a chance to revamp the creature.
"I was talking to the writer and we realized the concept was wrong. When we first did the sequence, it was done on a flat, calm sea at sunset, and everything was very clear; you could see the mechanics of the thing. We decided to stage the attack at night, during a storm at sea, so we had spray and wave and great excitement, while obscuring the action."
The son of animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who brought Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman, and other popular characters to the screen, Richard was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 8, 1916. He studied drama at Yale School of Drama and joined New York's RKO-Pathé News in 1942, where he wrote newsreel commentaries and directed two-reel wartime documentaries for the This Is America series. He also wrote and produced Flicker Flashbacks, shorts compiled from silent film.
His successes won him a ticket to the RKO studio in Hollywood, where Richard directed a series of suspenseful B-film noirs, including 1948's Bodyguard, based on a story co-written by Robert Altman, followed by The Clay Pigeon in 1949, and Armored Car Robbery in 1950. The Narrow Margin, his 1952 thriller set aboard a train, is considered a classic in moviemaking today; in 1947, he co-produced the Oscar®-winning documentary feature Design for Death.
After directing The Happy Time, a 1952 charmer starring Bobby Driscoll, who had earlier starred in such Disney films as Song of the South and Treasure Island, Richard received a call to meet his father's arch rival Walt Disney at his Studio.
Richard recalls, "I was completely taken aback. I couldn't understand why he'd selected me to direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I said, 'I'd love to do this picture, but I'd like to talk with my father, first, knowing the competitive relationship you've both had."
"Walt agreed. I called my father in New York that night and told him the story. He said, 'Of course you must take that job without any question. Just do one thing. Give a message to Walt for me, tell him that he's got great taste in directors.'"
Even today, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remains one of Disney's most ambitious live-action films. After its 1954 release, Richard went on to direct many other big movies, including The Vikings (1958), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Soylent Green (1973), and more.
In 1993, Richard published his autobiography Just Tell Me When to Cry; in 2001, he appeared in the documentary Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth.
Richard Fleischer passed away on March 25, 2006, in Woodland Hills, California.
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| Floyd Gottfredson (1905–1986) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2003 |
If Mickey Mouse ever had a guardian artist, it would be Floyd Gottfredson, who penciled Mickey's daily comic strip beginning in 1930. His unflaggingly good cheer made Floyd the perfect keeper of Disney's ambassador of good will.
"Floyd played a major role in getting Disney's new character, Mickey Mouse, known throughout the world by producing Mickey's daily comic strip," said former Walt Disney Company archivist Dave Smith. "Of the early Disney employees I met, Floyd was probably the greatest gentleman of them all."
Floyd was born on May 5, 1905, in a railroad station in Kaysville, Utah, where his parents lived. He took correspondence cartooning courses as a boy after a hunting accident left him with a disabled arm and hand, limiting his participation in typical children's activities. By 1926, he supplied cartoons to Utah journals and newspapers, while working as a film projectionist and advertising artist for a small movie theater chain.
After winning second place in a national cartoon contest, Floyd moved to California in 1928, hoping to break into the newspaper business. Instead, he worked as a theater projectionist until 1929, when on a tip he "bundled up" his art samples and headed to Disney. Floyd later recalled, "When Walt asked me what sort of work I was interested in, I replied, 'I'm actually more interested in comic strip work than I am in animation.'"
So, Walt hired Floyd as an in-between artist working on the Silly Symphony animated shorts. Four months later, Walt asked Floyd to take over the new Mickey Mouse comic strip for a few weeks after artists Ub Iwerks and Win Smith, who developed the strip with Walt, left the Studio. Forty-five years later, Floyd was still creating the strip.
His first Mickey Mouse comic strip premiered May 5, 1930, only a few months after its January launch via King Features Syndicate. Floyd achieved his dream and happily continued drawing Mickey's daily strip until he retired from the Studio in 1975.
His contributions included writing the daily comic strip from 1930-32; drawing the Sunday Mickey Mouse comic strip from 1932 to 1938; and serving as head of the Comic Strip Department from 1930 to 1946. Under Floyd, the department grew to cover five features: "Mickey Mouse" daily and Sunday; "Donald Duck" daily and Sunday; and "Silly Symphony" Sunday, which later became "Uncle Remus."
Over the years, the comic styles changed from a gag-a-day to continuous story lines, which were plotted by Floyd. Mickey's animated shorts inspired his daily comics, a precedent originally set by Walt, who scripted the first 18 Mickey Mouse comic strips by often borrowing gags from the shorts.
Floyd, whose work has influenced such popular artists as Romano Scarpa, recalled, "I've always felt that it was our job to try to capture the spirit of animation… I tried to design the characters as if they were moving in animation."
The artist also introduced new comic characters to Mickey's universe, which are legion and legendary, including the Phantom Blot, Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, Eli Squinch, Eega Beeva, Sylvester Shyster, Joe Pipper, and Captain Doberman, and Gloomy.
Floyd Gottfredson passed away on July 22, 1986, in Montrose, California.
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| Buddy Hackett (1924–2003) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2003 |
Actor and comedian Buddy Hackett has been called one of America's funniest and most inventive comics. He certainly left his comedic mark at Disney, on such smash hit feature films as The Love Bug, in which he played the wacky, mystic sculptor Tennessee Steinmetz, and The Little Mermaid, in which he provided the voice of Scuttle, the daft seagull who's always showing off his false knowledge about humans.
Buddy's wide range of facial expressions and his distinctive voice served as inspiration to animator Dave Stephan. who headed the Scuttle animation unit. "We tried to put Buddy's sort of cross-eyed look and side-of-the-mouth delivery into the character," said Stephan. "His readings were just so funny it gave us a real handle on the character and something great to work with."
Born Leonard Hacker on August 31, 1924, Buddy was a gentle man with a huge heart off-camera.
He learned to make people laugh while growing up in Brooklyn, New York. As he explained, "I was a poor kid; we didn't have the material things. I wanted attention and I got it by being funny."
Entering the work force as an apprentice upholsterer to his father, Buddy quickly made a break for show business, working as a waiter-entertainer in the "borscht circuit" of the Catskill Mountains. He went on to become a popular headliner in comedy clubs across the country, which led to a starring role in the hit road production of Call Me Mister and, later, his Hollywood debut in the 1953 motion picture Walking My Baby Back Home, starring Donald O'Connor.
Buddy went on to star in a number of motion pictures, including the drama God's Little Acre starring Robert Ryan in 1958, The Music Man starring Robert Preston in 1962, and the all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963, among others. In 1988, he joined funny man Bill Murray in the comedy Scrooged, a modern take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
During the 1950s, he entered television, starring in a number of series including his own sitcom, Stanley, with Carol Burnett. In 1958, he replaced Art Carney for two years as a regular cast member on The Jackie Gleason Show. Later, he played Hollywood comedian Lou Costello in the 1978 television film Bud and Lou.
Buddy first arrived at Disney to star in The Love Bug with Dean Jones and Michele Lee; the film became the highest-grossing motion picture in the United States in 1969. Two years later, he starred in the Disney television special The Grand Opening of Walt Disney World and, in 1992, lent his voice to the character Louie in Disney's Dinosaurs series, which aired on ABC.
Following the splashing success of The Little Mermaid in 1989, Buddy returned as the voice of Scuttle in the 2000 direct-to-video feature The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea."
In later years, Buddy and his wife, Sherry, were dedicated to the rescue of unwanted dogs and cats, creating a nonprofit animal refuge called "Buddy Hackett's Singita." Its annual fundraiser, the Singita Comedy Spectacular, premiered at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in 2002.
Buddy Hackett passed away on June 30, 2003, in Malibu, California.
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| Harrison "Buzz" Price (1921–2010) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2003 |
Research economist Harrison "Buzz" Price helped Walt Disney hand pick the optimum locations for Disneyland in 1953 and Walt Disney World in 1963, among other projects. And over time, he became one of Walt's most trusted advisors.
A month prior to his death in 1966, Walt personally appointed Buzz to care for one of his most prized projects, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia. CalArts was to be a unique educational concept that would "cross fertilize" disciplines in art, design, music, dance, film, video, and theater.
More than 30 years after its 1971 opening, Buzz remained a dedicated trustee of CalArts. He said at the time, "I have never thought of leaving the school."
Born in Oregon City, Oregon, on May 17, 1921, Buzz moved with his family to San Diego, California, in 1930. He graduated as an engineer from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1942. He took a job as a sales engineer in South America and returned to the United States three years later to attend Stanford University, where he received his Masters in Business Administration in 1951.
Buzz went on to join the Stanford Research Institute, where he was contracted by Walt and Roy O. Disney to determine the economic feasibility of and the best location for a new project, Disneyland. As Buzz recalled, "I asked Walt if he had a bias about its location. Did he have any thoughts about where he thought it ought to be. He said, 'Absolutely not. You tell me where the best location is.'"
After concentrating on Orange County, Buzz analyzed ten potential sites in that metropolitan area. Considerations included population, accessibility, climate factors, and more. Ultimately, Buzz, Walt, and Roy selected 160 acres of orange grove in Anaheim, near the new Santa Ana Freeway, as the ideal location for Disneyland.
This land purchase marked the Company's first exercise in sophisticated location analysis and acquisition. Disneyland launched as the best-attended park in the world with about four million in attendance during its first year. Its attendance grew steadily over the next 37 years, at a compound rate of four percent, according to Buzz.
Walt respected Buzz's talent and encouraged him to form his own firm, offering a three-year contract for research time. So, in 1958, he founded Economics Research Associates (ERA) and conducted studies for Walt Disney World and Epcot Center near Orlando, Florida. He also conducted evaluating studies for CalArts and for Walt's proposed Mineral King project, a unique Swiss-themed ski resort that would be located near Sequoia National Park in California. Walt's premature death, however, marked the end of the project.
In all, Buzz conducted over 150 project studies for The Walt Disney Company, including site selection and feasibility for Tokyo Disneyland. His numerous non-Disney projects include master planning eight world's fairs, including Seattle and San Antonio; site and economic feasibility studies for Six Flags theme parks and Sea World parks; and planning studies for winter resorts, including Vail in Colorado.
Buzz received a lifetime achievement award from the Themed Entertainment Association in 1994; the award was subsequently re-named "The Buzz Price Thea Award" in his honor. In 2003, Buzz authored his autobiography, Walt's Revolution by the Numbers, published by Ripley's Entertainment, which tells how Walt and Roy approached strategic planning issues and the impact of their innovation in the attraction field.
Buzz Price passed away on August 15, 2010, in Pomona, California.
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| Al Taliaferro (1905–1969) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 2003 |
When Donald Duck was a show biz fledgling, artist Al Taliaferro saw his potential to become a really big star—in the comic strips. As Disney Legend Floyd Gottfredson once recalled about his colleague, "Al was dying for his own comic strip. He was a pretty ambitious guy, hard working, and a fast worker, too. Donald Duck had been introduced in the animated pictures, and Al thought he would be a great character for him to develop for the comics."
Charles Alfred Taliaferro was born on August 29, 1905, in Montrose, Colorado, and from a young age felt the cartoonist's tug. He moved with his family to Southern California and graduated from Glendale High School in 1924, where he immersed himself in art history.
Al went on to take art correspondence courses, while honing his drawing skills at the California Art Institute. In 1931, he joined the Disney flock as an assistant to artist Floyd Gottfredson, inking the "Mickey Mouse" daily and Sunday comic strips.
Donald Duck made his grand debut in the 1934 animated short, The Wise Little Hen and, a year later, migrated to newspapers, appearing in the Silly Symphony Sunday comic strip series drawn and inked by Al. After Donald's introduction to the comic strip world, Al began lobbying Company co-founder Roy O. Disney for a "Donald Duck" daily. The only other Disney character to have a daily comic strip at the time was Mickey Mouse.
Initially, Al's idea didn't fly with Roy. Donald, after all, was different from Mickey. He didn't fix trouble, he made trouble. He wasn't a hero, but more often was his own worst enemy. He was ornery and feisty, cantankerous, and audacious.
Al persisted, however, and on February 7, 1938, Donald Duck debuted in his very own daily comic strip, drawn and inked by Al, written by his comic colleague Bob Karp, and syndicated by King Features. True to Al's prediction, Donald's daily comic strip proved a "quacking" success.
The artist, however, had yet another fine feathered idea—actually, three of them—tucked up his sleeve, Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Soon after the trio debuted in the comic pages, they broke onto the big screen in their first animated short, Donald's Nephews, released April 15, 1938.
A memo to Al from the animation story department, dated February 5, 1937, reads, "Inasmuch as we have decided to actually put a story crew to work on 'Donald's Nephews,' we would like to recognize the source from which the original idea of these new characters sprang… Thanks."
Not only was Al inspired, but he found inspiration for his characters everywhere. As Lucy Taliaferro Yarick, Al's wife and a former Disney inker and painter recalled, once when Al disliked a new hat she had bought, it appeared in the comic strip to her surprise… worn by a "very large woman."
Alfred Taliaferro passed away on February 3, 1969, in Los Angeles.
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| Ilene Woods (1929–2010) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2003 |
In 1948, as a favor for songwriter friends Mack David and Jerry Livingston, Ilene Woods recorded "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and "So This Is Love." She didn't know that Walt Disney would hear the demo recordings and hire her as the title voice of his upcoming animated feature Cinderella "I learned a very good lesson," she later recalled. "Never pass up doing a good deed for friends!"
Born May 5, 1929, Ilene had wanted to become a schoolteacher. Her mother, however, guided her toward a singing and radio career and by 11, she starred in her own show which aired in her hometown of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. By 1944, she had her own weekly radio show on the ABC Network in New York City.
During World War II, she toured with the United States Army Air Forces Orchestra and many Hollywood stars, promoting war bonds. Because of her appearances for the USO, as well as at army and navy hospitals, she was invited to sing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his Hyde Park home Christmas party and for President Harry S. Truman at the White House the following year.
By the time she was 18, Ilene had worked with Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, and Paul Whiteman. She was a featured performer on Jack Carson's Sealtest Village Store, when selected from a field of nearly 400 hopefuls to voice Cinderella. During recording sessions, Walt would drop by to offer suggestions, including asking Ilene if she could harmonize with herself on "Oh Sing Sweet Nightingale."
She recalled, "It was such a beautiful sequence—Cinderella scrubbing the floor and each time a soap bubble would rise with another image of Cinderella, so would another voice. When we heard the finished product, Walt kidded, 'How about that? All of these years I've been paying three salaries for the Andrews Sisters, when I could have only paid one for you!'"
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| Walt once admitted to Ilene she was his favorite of the Disney heroines. She recalled, "Once I went into his office and he said to me, 'You're my favorite heroine, you know.' I said, 'You mean Cinderella?' 'Yes,' he said, 'there's something about that story I associate with.' |
"I think it was the rags-to-riches tale," she says. "Of course, then I didn't know how many times Walt had risked it all to realize his dreams."
After Cinderella, Ilene moved into television, appearing on The Steve Allen Show, The Gary Moore Show, and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. During The Gary Moore Show, Ilene met her husband-to-be, Ed Shaughnessy, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show drummer, and raised two sons with him.
"Those were the happiest years of my life," she would later say.
In 1985, Ilene launched a new career as a portrait artist; she especially loved painting children's portraits.
On February 12, 2001, she appeared at a Cinderella Ball celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the motion picture, held at Disneyland. On her birthday the following May, Ilene Woods united with the voice of Sleeping Beauty, fellow Legend Mary Costa, for a Cinderella Birthday Ball held in Knoxville, Tennessee, benefiting Childhelp U.S.A.
Ilene Woods passed away on July 1, 2010, in Canoga Park, California.
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| September 17, 2004 |
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| Bill Anderson (1911–1997) Legends Award Category: Animation, Film & Television Year Inducted: 2004 |
Bill Anderson was one of The Walt Disney Company's most prolific and trusted film and television producers; he also dedicated 24 years of service to its board of directors from 1960 to 1984. During his 44-year association with the Studio, Bill brought immense skill and personal philosophy to Disney family entertainment, once saying, "Tell a good story in a lighthearted manner. Family entertainment should be fun; life is melodramatic enough."
A native of Smithfield, Utah, born October 12, 1911, Bill followed his boyhood dream to become an actor, arriving in Los Angeles in 1929. During the Depression, he obtained minor roles on local radio stations and went to work for an auto financing subsidiary of Ford, where he rose to regional sales manager.
Casting calls weren't steady, though, so he landed a job at Firestone Rubber Company and used his small salary to enroll in pre-law, at Compton Junior College and later the University of Southern California.
In 1943, in the midst of World War II, Bill was hired by Disney when the Studio's artistic community was dedicated to producing training films for the United States Armed Forces.
He started in the Studio's production control department before being tapped to oversee the reorganization and expansion of feature animation's ink and paint department. This subsequently led Bill to a position as assistant to the Studio's production manager.
By 1951, Bill was named production manager for the Studio and, five years later, vice president in charge of studio operations. After the death of Walt Disney in 1966, Bill was selected to be part of a small group of producers who would guide Studio motion picture production over the next decade.
Among film and television contributions, Bill served as associate producer of the beloved Disney live-action classic "Old Yeller" in 1957, and went on to produce other memorable motion pictures including Third Man on the Mountain, Swiss Family Robinson, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Barefoot Executive, The $1,000,000 Duck, The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Shaggy D.A., The Treasure of Matecumbe, and more.
For the small screen, Bill produced 58 episodes of Zorro during the late 1950s, as well as popular programs for The Wonderful World of Disney including "The Swamp Fox" series, "Texas John Slaughter," and "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." His feature film co-producing credits include Moon Pilot, Savage Sam, The Fighting Prince of Donegal, and The Happiest Millionaire.
Bill Anderson passed away on December 28, 1997, in San Francisco, California.
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| Tim Conway (1933–2019) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2004 |
Over the years, comedian Tim Conway has delighted Disney audiences with his antics in such memorable live-action motion pictures as The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Shaggy D.A., and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. Often paired with funnyman Don Knotts, the duo inspired the kind of belly laughs reminiscent of Hollywood's legendary comedy teams, such as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
As Tim once observed with typical befuddlement, "The casting is ingenious, like putting Stan Laurel and Stan Laurel in the same film."
Born Tom Conway on December 15, 1933, in Willoughby, Ohio, he grew up in the curiously named community Chagrin Falls, which later inspired his unique comedy routines. After majoring in speech and radio at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he enlisted in the United States Army, serving two years with the Eighth Army Assignment Team. Upon discharge, he took a job answering mail for a Cleveland radio deejay. His clever letter-writing skills motivated a transfer to the promotional department.
Tim then went on to direct a local television show called Ernie's Place and often appeared as the paradoxical character Dag Hereford, a self-proclaimed authority on an array of subjects who, in actuality, revealed himself a blithering simpleton.
Comedienne Rose Marie happened to catch the young comic's performance and recommended him to Steve Allen. In 1956, he tweaked the Hereford character for Allen's ABC variety series; audiences quickly took to television's newest prankster.
As a full-fledged comic, his name had to change since a well-known British actor had already claimed that moniker. Allen advised "dot the O," and Tim Conway was born.
In 1962, Tim was snagged to play Ensign Charles Parker on the popular wartime sitcom McHale's Navy, which lasted six seasons and sailed Tim to television stardom. Other series included Rango, The Tim Conway Show, and The Tim Conway Comedy Hour.
Probably best remembered as a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, Tim received five Emmys® during his 1970s tenure, often playing opposite comedian Harvey Korman—and always delivering hilarious performances.
In 1973, Tim first shuffled onto the Disney lot to star in The World's Greatest Athlete, followed by The Apple Dumpling Gang. He and Knotts portrayed the bumbling Hash Knife Outfit, a pair of desperadoes destined to be caught. He went on to play opposite a football-kicking mule in Disney's Gus and, later, a football-playing pooch in the Studio's Air Bud: Golden Receiver.
On the small screen, Tim's Disney credits include Walt Disney World Celebrity Circus, Carol & Company, The Proud Family, and more.
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| Rolly Crump (1930–2023) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2004 |
Words may not fully describe designer and Imagineer Rolly Crump. So to get a handle on this spirited, multi-talented Disney designer, think: Leonardo DiVinci's Universal Man.
A true "original," even among Imagineers, Rolly drew forth genius in others. Disney Concept Designer John Horny observed, "Rolly has a knack for bringing out the best in others. Trusting their talent, he encourages artists to push their creativity to the limits. It's a rare creative person who can let others run with the ball." Show writer Jim Steinmeyer added, "The idea is king with Rolly. It doesn't have to be his vision, as long as it works."
Born Roland Fargo Crump on February 27, 1930, in Alhambra, California, Rolly took a pay cut as a "dipper" in a ceramic factory to join The Walt Disney Studios in 1952.
To help pay bills, he built sewer manholes on weekends. He served as an in-between artist and, later, assistant animator, contributing to Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and others.
In 1959, he joined show design at WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. There, he became one of Walt's key designers for some of Disneyland's groundbreaking new attractions and shops, including the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, and Adventureland Bazaar.
Rolly served as a key designer on the Disney attractions featured at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, including it's a small world, for which he designed the Tower of the Four Winds marquee. When the attraction moved to Disneyland in 1966, Rolly designed the larger-than-life animated clock at its entrance, which sends puppet children on parade with each quarter-hour gong.
After contributing to the initial design of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, and developing story and set designs for NBC's Disney on Parade in 1970, Rolly left the Company to consult on projects including Busch Gardens in Florida and California, the ABC Wildlife Preserve in Maryland, and Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus World in Florida, among others.
He returned in 1976 to contribute to EPCOT Center, serving as project designer for The Land and the Wonders of Life pavilions. He also participated in master planning for an expansion of Disneyland until 1981, when he again departed to lead design on a proposed Cousteau Ocean Center in Norfolk, Virginia, and to launch his own firm, the Mariposa Design Group, developing an array of themed projects around the world, including an international celebration for the country of Oman.
In 1992, Rolly returned to Imagineering as executive designer, redesigning and refurbishing The Land and Innoventions at Epcot Center. Rolly "retired" from The Walt Disney Company in 1996, but continued to work on a number of creative projects. He released his autobiography, It's Kind of a Cute Story, in 2012.
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| Alice Davis (1929–2022) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2004 |
At Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Alice Estes Davis was the original "designing woman." Married to Disney Legend Marc Davis, she enjoyed a fashionable Disney career of her own, designing and dressing animated figures for such beloved Disneyland attractions as it's a small world and Pirates of the Caribbean. As Alice recalled with a gleam in her eye, "I went from sweet little children to dirty old men over night."
Born in Escalon, California, in 1929, she received a scholarship to attend Chouinard Art Institute, the renowned training ground for Disney artists, from the Long Beach Art Association in 1947. There, she met future husband, Marc, who served as an instructor at Chouinard for more than 17 years.
Alice launched her career designing women's lingerie and undergarments for the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles and was quickly promoted to head designer. As her career progressed, she designed two lines of fashion lingerie and earned a reputation as an expert pattern maker and authority on uses of fabrics.
One day, she received a call from her former art instructor and future husband, Marc. He needed a costume designed and created for Helene Stanley to wear for some live-action reference footage being filmed to inspire his animation of the lead character Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty.
Alice recalled, "Marc wanted to see how the skirt worked in live dance steps, and that was my first job at Disney." That job led Alice to design costumes for Disney's live-action motion picture Toby Tyler.
In 1963, Walt Disney recruited Alice to contribute her skill to the attraction it's a small world for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. Collaborating with art designer and Disney Legend Mary Blair, Alice researched, designed, and supervised the creation of more than 150 highly detailed costumes for the Audio-Animatronics® children of the world.
During this time, Alice also formulated costuming procedures, set up a manufacturing base, and developed quality control refurbishing techniques, which established the standards for three-dimensional characters in rides and shows created by WDI.
In 1965, she translated the pirates' attire from Marc's original drawings of the shiver-me-timbers cast and crew into clothing designs and patterns for all of the costumes featured in Pirates of the Caribbean. Two years later, when the attraction opened at Disneyland, guests were dazzled by the animated figures and their colorful, textured pirate-wear. Later, Alice contributed to General Electric's Carousel of Progress and the Flight to the Moon attractions.
Married in June 1956, Alice and Marc enjoyed a Disney fairy-tale-romance-come-true for 44 years until Marc's death in 2000. Alice has continued to consult for the Company, and remains a frequent face at Disneyland events. She was honored with a window on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland—next to her husband's window—on May 10, 2012.
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| Karen Dotrice Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2004 |
With her blonde hair and blue eyes, Karen Dotrice lit up the screen in such Disney motion pictures as The Three Lives of Thomasina in 1963, Mary Poppins in 1964, and The Gnome-Mobile in 1967. And Walt Disney, or "Uncle Walt" as Karen knew him, appreciated her English roots.
She recalled, "I think Walt really liked English kids. He was tickled pink by the accent and the etiquette. And when I was being very English and polite, he would look proudly at this little charge who had such good manners."
Born in Guernsey, The Channel Islands, on November 9, 1955, to a family of prominent stage actors, Karen grew up knowing people of repute, including her godfather, multi-award-winning actor Charles Laughton. Laughton and Karen's father, Roy Dotrice, first brought the four-year-old to the stage to perform in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
While performing in that production, Karen was spotted by a Disney scout and, soon after, arrived at the Disney Studio in Burbank with her family in tow, minus her father who was portraying King Lear on the London stage at the time.
She recalled, "My dad was in England the whole time I was over here with my mother and sisters. I didn't have my Daddy figure around, so I called Walt, 'Uncle Walt.' He took me and my family under his wing, every weekend, flying us in his plane to Santa Barbara or to his home in Palm Springs."
Karen first appeared in The Three Lives of Thomasina; in his book The Disney Films, critic Leonard Maltin observed her performance as Mary MacDhui. He wrote, "Young Karen Dotrice won over everyone… " So much so, that she was cast as the juvenile lead Jane Banks in the Oscar®-winning Mary Poppins, followed by the role of Elizabeth in The Gnome-Mobile with Walter Brennan.
By 1968, she had returned to England and went on to appear in such features as Joseph Andrews in 1976 and The Thirty-Nine Steps in 1978, for which she received accolades for her lead performance as the English aristocratic love interest opposite Robert Powell. The performance won a nod from the Evening News British Film Awards as well, which named her best female newcomer.
She also played Lily in the popular English television series Upstairs, Downstairs in 1971. Other television appearances include the miniseries Napoleon and Love in 1974 and "She Fell Among Thieves" in 1978, which appeared on PBS's Mystery!
Karen returned to the United States in 1980, and four years later, after playing Desdemona in Othello on Broadway, she retired from acting to focus on motherhood. Karen appeared in the documentary Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth, which debuted September 16, 2001.
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| Matthew Garber (1956–1977) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2004 |
Actor Matthew Garber lives forever in Disney's classic live-action motion pictures The Three Lives of Thomasina, Mary Poppins, and The Gnome-Mobile. Teamed with co-star, childhood friend, and Disney Legend Karen Dotrice in all three features, Matthew won the hearts of Disney audiences with his fresh, uninhibited, and infectious personality.
Matthew's unusual lack of inhibition in front of the camera quickly inspired Disney's publicity department at the time to coin him "the youngest method actor in movies." In fact, his unique quality as a non-performer is precisely what won the seven-year-old his first Disney starring role as Geordie in The Three Lives of Thomasina.
Matthew's premier screen test for The Gnome-Mobile revealed the "aha" moment for Disney Casting, which subsequently cinched their choice in talent.
An incident published in articles read, "He interrupted the scene by saying, 'Excuse me, I think one of my front teeth is falling out.' Trying to stifle a laugh, the director replied: 'Well, go ahead and pull it out.' Matthew did just that, while the camera continued to roll."
Born in England on March 25, 1956, to parents who had both performed on stage, Matthew attended St. Paul's Primary School and Highgate School, north of London. A Disney press release composed in 1967 painted a portrait of Matthew as a spirited and bright boy, who enjoyed pulling practical jokes on friends, competing in sports, and reading books rich with adventure, mythology, and even poetry.
As a friend of the Dotrice family, Karen's father, Shakespearian actor Roy Dotrice, called Matthew to the attention of Disney Casting, where his use of "artful dodges, like squinting, screwing up his nose, and brushing his hair back with one hand" opened the gate to the Studio lot.
Karen recalled working with Michael, "He was how he looked—an imp, and I loved being his shadow. I can't imagine making movies would have been half as much fun without him. He loved being naughty, finding and jumping off of small buildings on the back lot. While I was Victorian proper and wouldn't let myself get dirty or muddy, Matthew had a great sense of fun and danger. He was a daredevil and could have been a race car driver. And he did live a full life over his 21 years."
After Matthew's treasured contributions to Disney motion pictures, he returned to England, but little is known about him from that time forward.
Matthew passed away on June 13, 1977, at Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, England, although his death was not commonly known until long after.
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| Leonard H. Goldenson (1905–1999) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2004 |
Leonard H. Goldenson, founder and former chairman of the board of the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., is one of television's unsung heroes. In contrast to his more flamboyant network rivals William Paley of CBS and David Sarnoff of NBC, Leonard quietly worked behind the scenes to influence the industry with his vision, innovation and daring. Always considered a gentleman by those who worked for him, Ted Koppel of ABC's Nightline recalled, "Leonard was hugely successful on the one hand; painfully modest on the other. He was the kind of guy who drove a car several years out-of-date."
Born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, on December 7, 1905, Leonard discovered his love for motion pictures working summers at the local theater. In 1933, Paramount hired Leonard to reorganize its bankrupt movie theaters in New England and soon charged the 28-year-old Harvard Law School graduate with managing the entire chain of 1,700 theaters.
After witnessing an experimental television system at the New York World's Fair of 1939, Leonard saw television as the future of entertainment. In 1953, as head of United Paramount Theaters, he negotiated its merger with American Broadcasting, a failing collection of five television stations.
In 1954, Leonard defied skeptics who believed movie studios could not be lured into television. Walt Disney, seeking capital to finance his dream to build Disneyland, had been turned down by every network, studio, and bank. Fortunately, Leonard shared Walt's dream, and they struck a deal: in exchange for a share of the financing, the Studio provided ABC with a weekly series, first called Disneyland, and access to its animated film library. Leonard's alliance with Disney opened doors to subsequent television deals with other studios, including Warner Brothers, and Hollywood soon embraced the upstart medium.
In addition, Leonard transformed sports into primetime fare with Monday Night Football and international, live coverage of the Olympics. In the late 1970s, he led networks into the "made-for-TV" movies era. The Thorn Birds, The Winds of War, and miniseries such as Alex Haley's Roots, a 12-hour drama, set record ratings.
Leonard was responsible for numerous other "firsts;" ABC was the first network to close caption; to air serials, animation, and soap operas during primetime; and to franchise westerns, doctor, detective, and action series. ABC was the only network to carry the McCarthy hearings gavel-to-gavel.
Always looking toward the future, Leonard guided ABC to invest in the cable business, including Lifetime, A&E, and the acquisition of most of ESPN.
In 1985, Leonard orchestrated the biggest, unprecedented corporate media merger in American history when he sold ABC to Capital Cities. Ten years later, Disney acquired ABC, reuniting the two pioneers-turned-giants.
Leonard Goldenson passed away on December 27, 1999, at his home near Sarasota, Florida.
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| Bob Gurr Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2004 |
Imagineer Bob Gurr has always been a man on the move. And, for nearly 40 years, he helped move many a happy Disney theme park guest aboard vehicles and ride conveyances of his own design. As he's often quipped, "If it moves on wheels at Disneyland, I probably designed it."
And he certainly has. Bob has developed more than 100 designs for attractions ranging from Autopia and Matterhorn Bobsleds to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Monorails, and more.
Born in Los Angeles on October 25, 1931, young Bob was fascinated with tools, mechanical devices, and cars. He often crawled through a hole in the fence of nearby Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale to sneak into the cockpits of idle transport airplanes, while at school he decorated his test papers with sketches of automobiles.
Later, he attended Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles on a General Motors scholarship, where he studied industrial design. Upon graduation in 1952, he was hired by Ford Motor Company, but soon purchased a rubber stamp marked "R.H. Gurr Industrial Design" and went into business for himself.
Soon after, WED Enterprises, today known as Walt Disney Imagineering, hired Bob to consult on the design of miniature cars for Autopia. Walt Disney was so impressed with Bob's knowledge and skill that he invited him to join the Imagineering family, which then was solely dedicated to the design and construction of Disneyland.
Over the next nearly four decades, Bob worked transportation magic developing the memorable Flying Saucers attraction in Tomorrowland, the antique cars and double-decker buses of Main Street, U.S.A., Ford Motor Company's Magic Skyway, which premiered at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and more. Bob also helped design the mechanical workings of Disney's first Audio-Animatronics® human figure, Abraham Lincoln, featured in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
In 1981, Bob retired early from Imagineering to launch GurrDesign, Inc., and, three years later, joined creative forces with two former Imagineers to form Sequoia Creative, Inc. The firm, which specialized in "leisure-time spectaculars" and "fantastical beasts" developed King Kong and Conan's Serpent for Universal Studios, Hollywood.
Among his other mechanical feats, Bob was instrumental in creating the mysterious UFO that soared over the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. He also consulted on the animated T-Rex figure featured in Steven Spielberg's motion picture Jurassic Park.
Bob continues to consult on Disney projects, including the giant Ursula creature featured at Tokyo DisneySea. In 1999, he was honored with the Themed Entertainment Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. He released his memoir, Design: Just for Fun, in 2012.
Bob continues to make mechanical magic while living his favorite philosophy, in the words of Malcolm Forbes: "While alive, live!"
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| Ralph Kent (1939–2007) Legends Award Category: Attractions & Imagineering Year Inducted: 2004 |
While growing up in New York, Imagineer Ralph Kent fell "hopefully" under the spell of Disney animated motion pictures, particularly Pinocchio. He identified with the puppet's sense of awe, wonder, and magic, he would later say.
Born on January 28, 1939, by age 10, Ralph had transformed the basement walls of his home into a giant mural of Disney characters ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Cinderella. Fixated on working for Disney, young Ralph decided to send a letter to Walt Disney, receiving a courteous reply. He went on to attend the University of Buffalo Albright Art School and, in 1960, he joined the U.S. Army, illustrating military training aids and films.
Upon discharge, in 1963, Ralph's dream came true when he arrived at Disneyland as a marketing production artist. One day, Ralph gained the courage to personally ask Walt if he remembered receiving a letter from a kid in Buffalo.
"I had changed my name legally because nobody could pronounce it—Kwiatkowski," Ralph recalled. "Walt said, 'That was a Polish kid with a long last name.' I said, 'I know; I changed it.' The eyebrow went up and he said, 'Well, why didn't you tell me [sooner]?' I said, 'I was just in awe of you, and still am.'"
At Disney, Ralph developed marketing materials for the Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, and more. He worked with fellow Legends Van Arsdale France and Dick Nunis, creators of Disney University, developing training materials for the Company's four attractions featured at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, including it's a small world. He also served as art director for the Celebrity Sports Center in Denver, which Walt co-owned with celebrities including Art Linkletter and Jack Benny.
In 1965, Ralph designed the first limited-edition Mickey Mouse watch for adults, which Walt presented to 25 of his top executives. A timely invention, word quickly spread about the unique Mickey Mouse time piece and today, more than 100 adult watch designs are manufactured each year.
Ralph arrived in Florida in 1971, to design souvenirs such as license plates and bumper stickers for Walt Disney World. Eight years later, he became director of Walt Disney Imagineering East, overseeing Florida staff support for EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland.
In 1990, he joined the Disney Design Group as a corporate trainer, mentoring new artists and creating an extensive reference collection of character model sheets. After 41 years dedicated to The Walt Disney Company, he retired in May 2004, and continued to consult on special projects.
He also enjoying woodworking; "I always wanted to be Geppetto," he said. And so, Ralph continued to make his Disney-inspired dreams come true.
Ralph Kent passed away on September 10, 2007, at his home in Kissimmee, Florida.
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| Irwin Kostal (1911–1994) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2004 |
Award-winning conductor and orchestrator Irwin Kostal brought his innate musical genius to such Disney classic motion pictures as Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Pete's Dragon. He received Oscar® nominations in the category of Best Music, Original Song Score and Adaptation for all three films.
Quick to speak his mind, often layered within a joke, Irwin demonstrated a high standard in preserving the artistry and integrity of music. In 1982, while conducting the re-recording of music for Fantasia, originally conducted by Leopold Stokowski, Irwin quipped, "I'm not just wearing Stokowski's straitjacket, I'm also wearing Mickey Mouse's."
Further surveying this musical charge, Irwin revealed his fine ear for high standard when he added, "Believe it or not, we do have the liberty of changing details, even orchestration, here and there. We also can play a little with the beat, making stresses coincide even more accurately with what we see on the screen."
Born October 1, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois, Irwin discovered music as a boy, learning to play the piano.
He passed on college, saying, "I found out early what I wanted to do wasn't being taught in most schools," and he subsequently learned musical arranging at his local library, where he studied the symphonic scores of composers such as Beethoven and Debussy.
After landing his first professional gig as a staff arranger for Design for Listening, a Chicago-based NBC radio show, he moved to New York where he was tapped to arrange for Sid Caesar's television series Your Show of Shows and went on to conduct for The Gary Moore Show. Later he received Emmy® Award nominations for his work on The Julie Andrews Show" and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Kirk Douglas.
During the 1960s, he emerged as one of Broadway's preeminent musical orchestrators. His work for the original stage versions of West Side Story and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum eventually led him to Hollywood and Mary Poppins.
His motion picture peers soon honored Irwin with two Academy Awards for orchestrating and supervising the Leonard Bernstein score for West Side Story, followed by orchestrating and conducting Richard Rodgers' The Sound of Music.
Among Irwin's other notable film contributions are Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Charlotte's Web, both of which reunited him with fellow Disney Legends and songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman. In 1983, Irwin returned to Walt Disney Studios to compose and conduct for the beloved holiday short Mickey's Christmas Carol.
Irwin Kostal passed away on November 23, 1994, in Studio City, California, while serving as president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers.
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| Mel Shaw (1914–2012) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2004 |
Animator and story man Mel Shaw has been called one of Disney's "elder statesmen" of animation. Walt Disney, who personally recruited Mel to join his team, observed another side. During his early polo playing days, Mel first met Walt at the field, where Walt announced, "You ride like a wild Indian!" And thus, the door opened for Mel to infuse his passion into Disney animation.
Born Melvin Schwartzman in Brooklyn on December 19, 1914, Mel discovered his artistic bent at age 10, when selected as one of only 30 children from the state of New York to participate in the Student Art League Society. Two years later, his soap sculpture of a Latino with a pack mule won second prize in a Procter & Gamble soap carving contest, earning the young artist national notoriety.
In 1928, his family moved to Los Angeles, where Mel attended high school and entered a scholarship class at Otis Art Institute. But the teen had an itch to become a cowboy and ran away from home to work on a Utah ranch.
After four months of backbreaking work, he returned home and took a job creating title cards for silent movies at Pacific Titles, owned by Leon Schlesinger. With help from Schlesinger, two former Disney animators, Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising, had made a deal with Warner Bros. and soon Mel joined Harman-Ising Studios as animator, character designer, story man, and director. While there, he worked with Orson Welles storyboarding a live-action/animated version of The Little Prince.
In 1937, Mel arrived at Disney, contributing to Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942), and The Wind in the Willows, which later became a segment in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).
His Disney career was interrupted by World War II, when Mel served the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a filmmaker under Lord Lewis Mountbatten, helping produce films including a live action/animated documentary of the Burma campaign. He also served as art editor and cartoonist for the Stars and Stripes newspaper in Shanghai.
After the War, he ventured into business with Bob Allen, former MGM Studios animator. As Allen-Shaw Productions, Mel designed and created the original Howdy Doody marionette puppet for NBC; illustrated the first Bambi children's book for Disney; and designed children's toys, architecture, and even master plans for cities, including Century City, California.
In 1974, The Walt Disney Studios called upon Mel to help in the transition between retiring animators and the next generation of Disney artists. Mel offered skill and knowledge to such Disney motion pictures as The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and more.
Mel completed his autobiography Animator on Horseback at his home in Acampo, California. He passed away on November 22, 2012, in Reseda, California.
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| September 20, 2005 (In honor of Disneyland's 50th anniversary in 2005, all recipients are related to either Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and/or Walt Disney Imagineering, and nearly all have had some connection with Disneyland. Roy E. Disney again co-presented the awards, after a two-year hiatus and a return to the company) |
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| Chuck Abbott Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
There aren't many people whose careers include roadside service on a superhighway, bobsledding on the mighty Matterhorn, piloting a launch down mysterious jungle rivers, setting sail with bloodthirsty pirates, and preparing astronauts for their space adventures. Chuck Abbott did all those things and more, though, during his 36 years as one of Disneyland's foremost Attractions Hosts.
Chuck entered the Disneyland on-ramp on August 10, 1955, as a ride operator on Autopia. "In the days when there was no track, and cast members had to be quick on their feet to avoid a collision with oncoming guests," he once recalled.
Chuck made his way around the attractions of the young Park, "working wherever I was put," he said.
Although Chuck worked directly with Walt Disney Imagineering on the Pirates of the Caribbean during its planning and construction, and was made opening foreman for the attraction in 1967, Chuck maintained that his most memorable moment at Disney was meeting his future wife, Norma, who also worked at the Park.
In 1969, Chuck was named "Foreman of the Year" at the Matterhorn. In 1977, he was foreman for the opening of Space Mountain, and returned to the Matterhorn for the big rehab and reopening of the attraction in 1978. During the course of his career, Chuck also served as foreman of the Submarine Voyage, Jungle Cruise, the now-defunct Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, and many other attractions.
In 1987, Chuck conceived and initiated the cast member seeing-eye dog fund, which became a highly successful volunteer group.
Chuck's outside interests included travel, camping, and fishing. Those who worked with Chuck recall how much they enjoyed his sense of humor, and how deeply they respected his dedication and work ethic, and his comprehensive working knowledge of the attractions.
He was a member of Club 55, a group of original Disneyland Cast Members, named for Disneyland's inaugural year. In 1991, Chuck retired after 36 years with the Park, and moved to Utah, where he passed away on July 7, 2003.
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| Milt Albright (1916–2014) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
"Shoot! If another guy from Missouri can do it, I need to get with this outfit!" As a 21-year-old Missouri native, Milt Albright saw a Time magazine cover story on his hero from their home state in December 1937. He knew then and there that he wanted to join the organization of fellow Missourian Walt Disney, and he achieved his goal 10 years later when he was hired at the Walt Disney Studios as a junior accountant.
Working in the Payroll Department, Milt was entrusted with the job of preparing and delivering the paychecks for top Disney executives—something that brought him into direct contact with Walt. "I would write Walt's check and take it up there once a week," Milt reminisced. "Walt was a country boy, he really was, and we'd get to talking a little bit about Missouri. Even when he was busy, he would take a few minutes to talk to a young fellow."
In 1953, in an attempt to gain some attention from Walt and transfer to his new "amusement park" in Anaheim, Milt, an automobile buff, designed a miniature car for the Autopia, then in the planning stages as an attraction for Disneyland.
When he saw that Milt had created a car as a calling card, Walt said, "Well, anybody that crazy belongs at Disneyland!" Walt drove the car, and although he was not impressed with the design, he was impressed with its designer. So, he hired Milt in the spring of 1954 as manager of accounting for Disneyland. "I got to come down here because they wanted somebody they could trust," Milt chuckles, "Didn't have to be very smart—just honest."
In 1957, Milt became the manager of Holidayland, a private party and picnic area designed for group events. After the demise of Holidayland in 1961, Milt transferred to Group Sales, where he was a founder of the Magic Kingdom Club. In 1961, Milt also developed the concept for Grad Nite, which remained successful for decades after. In the late 1970s, Milt became manager of special projects, marketing. He was later promoted to manager of guest communications, a position he held at his retirement in 1992.
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| Hideo Amemiya (1944–2001) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
"Life is a journey, not a destination," said Hideo Amemiya, a 30-year cast member and one of Disneyland's most distinguished senior leaders.
Born in Tokyo on September 4, 1944, Hideo graduated from Rikkyo University in Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in social science, and the University of Massachusetts, with a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management.
He joined The Walt Disney Company in 1971 at the Polynesian Hotel at Walt Disney World. "When Walt Disney World opened, the Magic Kingdom and its operational standards were modeled after the original Disneyland in California," Hideo recalled. "However, Disney had never operated a hotel, so it took some time for true Disney philosophy to become integrated into a hotel operation."
He was director of resort operations at Walt Disney World in Florida when he joined the first Tokyo Disneyland team.
"I assisted both Disney and the Oriental Land Company [owner and operator of Tokyo Disneyland] during the negotiations to ensure that there was a clear understanding on both sides. I also assisted WDI in discussions with our artists and designers for a clearer understanding of the Japanese culture so that the portrayals of the culture could be properly produced."
He went on to executive positions at Disney resorts in his native Japan and then in Anaheim. Prior to his promotion in 2000 to senior vice president of Disneyland Resort hotels, he was vice president and general manager of the Disneyland Hotel. In his final role, he was in charge of operations and of the 7,000 employees at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel, and Disney's Grand Californian Hotel.
Hideo was known as a man of wit, energy, and vision whose enthusiasm for Disney projects never flagged. His zeal was contagious; he never had trouble getting people on board his projects. An active community member, Hideo was involved with many business and civic organizations, serving on the board of directors of the Anaheim Visitor and Convention Bureau and the Anaheim Hotel-Motel Association.
Hideo Amemiya passed away on February 17, 2001.
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| Hideo Aramaki (1915–2005) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In 1964, Hideo "Indian" Aramaki was offered the job as chef of the Disneyland Tahitian Terrace. "I took a cut in pay," Indian recalled, "but when I saw the cleanliness of the kitchen, the equipment and the way things were run, I was happy." Two years later he was promoted to executive chef over all the food establishments in Disneyland, a post he held until his retirement in 1985.
Hideo, who was born September 2, 1915, played semi-pro baseball in 1935 with the Cleveland Indians. They dubbed him "Indian"—the same nickname he had been given by boyhood pals in his town of Puunene, Hawaii. Many years later, Walt Disney asked Hideo if he was actually Indian, and he replied that he was Japanese. Walt liked the nickname, though, and ordered a new name tag for Indian.
To this day, he is one of the only Disneyland employees who has been allowed to wear a tag with a nickname.
Considering the awards and honors that Indian gathered over the years, it's hard to believe this culinary expert had no formal training. In fact, the long road to his career as a chef began humbly enough soon after his graduation from high school, in the sugar cane fields of Maui, where he went to work to help support his family.
Though Indian was considered twice for the major leagues, he never made it because of racial barriers of the time. When World War II broke out, Indian and his wife, Keiko, were interned in Poston, Arizona. Finally, because Indian's brother was in the Army infantry, they were released from the camp.
After a brief stay in New York, Indian moved to Chicago, where he began his career in the kitchen. "Imagine a Japanese named Indian starting a Jewish-Chinese restaurant on Chicago's south side," he chuckled. "I didn't know much about cooking, but my wife did." Indian proved to be a quick study. The family soon moved back to California when Indian was appointed executive chef of the Kono Hawaii Restaurant in Santa Ana.
Then he came to Disneyland, where he cooked for numerous celebrities and visiting dignitaries such as Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako of Japan.
Though Indian had no formal training of his own, he helped to train many other chefs, including several at Tokyo Disneyland and Epcot Center. Even though the food is produced in quantity, he emphasized the need to maintain uniformity and high standards. "Simple, good food cooked and served right," he said. "That's the main thing."
"Never stop learning," he was quick to add. "Always try to do better."
Hideo Aramaki passed away on September 7, 2005.
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| Charles Boyer (1935–2021) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In 1960, Charles Boyer accepted a "temporary" job at Disneyland—and stayed for 39 years. Charles has the unique distinction of having been Disneyland's first full-time artist, and in the 45 years since his hiring has become Disneyland's master illustrator. He has captured in his work the unique and fanciful spirit of Disney characters and theme park environments.
Charles's art training began with art classes in high school, where he nurtured a love for the beautiful desert landscape. As a teenager, he won first place at the Imperial Valley County Fair and developed a passion for the work of Vincent Van Gogh.
Soon after, he enrolled in courses at Chouinard Art Institute. He received a "working scholarship," performing double duty as the janitor while attending classes as an art student. Classes in design and cartooning convinced Charles to consider a commercial art career as an alternative to fine arts.
Charles thought of furthering his art studies abroad, however, his wife did not want to leave the United States. Instead, he found a job at Disneyland as a pastel artist creating guest portraits.
"I thought it would be fun," he later recalled, "and a good fill-in between jobs." It proved to be only the beginning of his long career with Disney.
Six months later, he joined the marketing and advertising art department as an illustrator. "We did everything—design, production, illustration," Charles said.
During his 39 years with Disneyland, Charles produced nearly 50 collectible lithographs, as well as a diverse range of artwork for magazine covers, brochures, and flyers—even Company-commissioned oil portraits for retiring employees. He worked in all media including pastels, oils, watercolors, gouache, acrylics, pencil, and ink. Prolific in his work, Charles's works are sought after by collectors around the world.
On his retirement in 1999, the artist reflected, "I've worked with such great people. My wife used to ask if I was actually getting any work done, because I was having so much fun."
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| Randy Bright (1938–1990) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2005 |
"The summer of 1959 was a very special one for me," Randy Bright recalled in 1987. "As a college undergraduate, I had enlisted in the Navy—the Disneyland Navy—and was scheduled for active duty aboard the sailing ship Columbia, the newest vessel to ply Frontierland's Rivers of America." Randy subsequently worked on nearly every attraction in the Park, even roaming Tomorrowland as Disneyland's costumed spaceman.
Born in Long Beach, California in 1938, Randy attended California State University, Fullerton, earning a B.A. in political science. It was at this time that Randy met his wife, Pat, then a Disneyland tour guide, while both were working in the Park. In 1965, Randy moved into a full-time position with Disneyland's Disney University, where he specialized in publications and audio-visual presentations.
In 1968, Marty Sklar brought Randy to Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) as a staff writer, working on shows for Disneyland and the then-in-development Walt Disney World. From 1973 to 1976, he was manager of Employee Communications at the Florida Disney University, after which he returned to California to lead the WDI Communications department.
As manager of concepts and communications, he also produced marketing films for the EPCOT project, then in the conceptual stage. Beginning in 1979, Randy served as director of scripts and show development, where he functioned as executive producer of film projects for Epcot Center, Tokyo Disneyland, and other Disney Theme Park projects.
In addition, he served as writer and show producer for The American Adventure in World Showcase at Epcot.
In 1983, he was promoted to vice president, concept development, responsible for overseeing the development of all major shows and attractions for Disney Parks. In 1987, Randy was again promoted, to executive producer, Disneyland and Walt Disney World Theme Parks.
For nearly two years, Randy researched, developed, and wrote the 1987 book, Disneyland: The Inside Story, an Imagineer's-eye view of the first Disney Park. Randy also served as coordinating producer on The Disneyland Story, an hour-long special for the Disney Channel.
On May 29, 1990, Randy Bright was tragically struck and killed in a bicycling accident near his Yorba Linda, California, home.
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| James Cora (1937–2021) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
James Cora started as a part-time Disneyland attraction host in 1957, but he credits his push from the Matterhorn Bobsleds to the Disneyland Administration Building to a fellow named Walt Disney. "He asked me if I had an interest in training," Jim recalls. "Van France was just starting the University, and he was looking for five guys."
A few years later, while working for Retlaw Enterprises (the Disney family-owned company), Jim was part of the opening team for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.
Jim graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He also attended a two-year executive management program at the University of Southern California.
For 10 years, Jim held positions of increasing responsibility in management at Disneyland. In 1971, he assisted in the opening of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, implementing the "Disney Way of Leadership" program. In 1974, as staff assistant to Dick Nunis, president of Walt Disney Attractions, Jim redesigned the Disneyland Park operating organization to the "area concept," becoming one of three production directors for the Park, responsible for Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
In 1979, Jim assumed the responsibilities of managing director of Operations for the Tokyo Disneyland Project. In this capacity, he was responsible for all operational planning and management training for Tokyo Disneyland.
In preparation for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland, Jim was promoted to vice president, Walt Disney Productions Japan, Ltd. He relocated to Japan and was instrumental in providing ongoing support and advice to Oriental Land Company (owner and operator of Tokyo Disneyland), as well as overseeing Disney's operational and design standards. In 1983, Jim returned to California and assumed the position of vice president, Disneyland International.
In 1985, Jim was responsible for negotiating the agreements, master planning, and site research for the Disneyland Paris project. In 1987, he was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer for Euro Disneyland Corporation.
In 1995, Jim was promoted to president, Disneyland International, responsible for the development and creative direction of Tokyo Disneyland, in addition to directing the strategic and creative development of Tokyo DisneySea. In 1999, Jim was promoted to chairman, Disneyland International, where his primary focus was to develop and maintain the strategies that ensured the continued growth and success of the Tokyo Disney Resort. He retired from that position in 2001, after 43 years with Disney.
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| Robert Jani (1934–1989) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
Bob Jani had a spectacular career producing spectaculars. In addition to some of The Walt Disney Company's most storied entertainment events, Bob produced such festivities as the United States Bicentennial Celebration in New York Harbor in 1976, a revitalizing stage show for Radio City Music Hall, and half time entertainment at the Super Bowl.
Born in Los Angeles in 1934, Bob earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications and stage production and design at University of Southern California (USC). He first joined the Disney organization in 1955, as head of the newly created Guest Relations Department at Disneyland.
After a two-year stint in the United States Army as Entertainment Director, Bob became director of special events for USC before forming his own private enterprise, Pacific Pageants, in 1961.
Bob rejoined the Disney organization in 1967, as director of Entertainment, and rose swiftly to vice president, and then to creative director of Walt Disney Productions, simultaneously forming his own production company, Robert F. Jani Productions, Inc. in 1978.
Both on his own and with Disney, Bob put on much of the live entertainment that has become standard fare at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Among his many achievements were America on Parade and, perhaps his greatest Disney legacy, The Main Street Electrical Parade.
Bob left Disney in 1978, to head the revival of Radio City Music Hall's Magnificent Christmas Spectacular. From 1979 to 1982, he was in charge of all live stage productions at the venerable New York City landmark after a decade of decline, reestablishing its status as "The Showplace of the Nation."
In 1981, Bob produced The Glory of Christmas, with a cast of 400 and a small menagerie of animals at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. Bob drafted the master plan but did not provide the staging for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Functioning worldwide as producer as well as production consultant, Bob was also artistic director for the Hollywood Bowl, producer of several television specials, and master plan consultant for Disneyland Paris and the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World.
Robert Jani passed away on August 6, 1989, at his Palos Verdes Estates home.
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| Mary Jones (1915–2008) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In the late 1940s, Mary Jones, who was born in 1915, began a job that eventually led her to work at Disneyland. "I worked for the Anaheim Truck and Transfer Company, which was owned by the Mayor of Anaheim, Charles A. Pearson," Mary explained. "During those years I met Ed Ettinger, who was Disneyland's director of the Public Relations division. I resigned from the trucking company in 1956, so I could be at home with our three daughters."
Mary promised to let Ed know if she ever planned to work again, so she called his office in 1962 and left word that she would return to work in September. Ed offered her a job, and on Disneyland's seventh anniversary, Mary accepted a job at the Park as a Secretary.
In September, Ettinger asked Mary to assume responsibility for Disneyland Community Relations. That included administering the Community Service Awards, which had been initiated in 1957. Mary accepted the challenge, but explained that she "also enrolled in public relations courses at USC and UCLA in order to do the best job possible."
Mary once said, "My philosophy on our responsibility has always been that good community relations is making sure that Disneyland is a good neighbor and citizen, and if we can do that, it benefits the community, our cast members, and Disneyland."
In addition to such programs as the Community Service Awards, Mary initiated and supervised the Operation Christmas program and the Community Action Team.
International relations was also an important part of Mary's work. "Because we are such an international institution, dignitaries and visitors who come to our country want to see Disneyland," Mary recalled. Working with the State Department and as liaison to the Los Angeles Consular Corps and the San Francisco consulates, which have jurisdiction over Orange County, Mary coordinated visits to the Park by heads of state, royalty, and other important foreign dignitaries. Because of this knowledge, Mary was "on loan" during her final year at Disneyland to the County of Orange, to establish an official protocol for the County.
After nearly a quarter of a century of distinguished service to the Park, Mary retired in February of 1986. Her year-long "loan" to the County continued for almost another decade, during which Mary established the Orange County Office of Protocol and served as its chief.
On her retirement from the Park, Mary reflected not on her own achievements, but her appreciation of Disneyland teamwork. "Because of our department's unique responsibilities, we've had to rely on the help and cooperation of all the divisions—and they've always come through. It has truly been a joy."
Mary Jones passed away on May 23, 2008.
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| Art Linkletter (1912–2010) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
"I went out to the Disneyland site with Walt one time," Art Linkletter once recalled. "I didn't want to spoil his enthusiasm. But after we had driven for about an hour south of Los Angeles, into the country and the orange groves, I thought 'Geez! Who's gonna come down here?'"
Luckily, Art's initial doubts proved unfounded, and on July 17, 1955, he announced to an eager television audience, "Well, this job in the next hour and a half's gonna be a delight." "And then the show opened, and history was made," Art recalled years later.
Walt Disney scored something of a coup in getting Art Linkletter as the primary host for his gala live broadcast of the opening of Disneyland. Art was a familiar and welcome visitor in American households, so much so that his best-known programs established records for longevity: People Are Funny aired on NBC (on radio and television) for 19 years, and was in the Top 10 for more than a decade. Art Linkletter's House Party ran on CBS Radio and then on television for 25 years, and was one of the top daytime shows from the day of its first broadcast in 1945.
Art is the only person in TV history to have five shows run concurrently on network TV. In addition, Art starred in and co-produced many spectaculars and specials, and acted in half a dozen dramatic shows and several motion pictures.
The one problem on opening day was that the Park had stretched Walt so thin financially, he could only afford to pay Art union scale for the job. A savvy businessman, in lieu of his fee, Art asked for (and received) the exclusive rights to the camera and film concessions at Disneyland for the next 10 years.
Born Gordon Arthur Kelly in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, on July 17, 1912, Art was a star in show business for more than 60 years. In the process, he became one of the most respected and beloved media personalities in America. In addition to extraordinary success in entertainment and business, Art was a dedicated humanitarian, recognized for his work for numerous national foundations and his extensive involvement and experience in the health fields.
He received numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
But Art humbly gave Walt a lot of credit in informing the fulfillment of his life and career. "He really gave me my idea of what success is in life, for myself, watching him. And that is, doing what you love to do, with people you enjoy being with. That's more important than anything else, 'cause life's not a rehearsal."
Art Linkletter passed away on May 26, 2010 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.
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| Mary Anne Mang Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In 1960, Mary Anne Mang wrote a letter to Walt Disney asking for a job. Walt received many such letters, but just as with Mary Anne herself, there was something special about that letter, and she was offered a position.
Mary Anne began her long and distinguished career in the newly established sales promotion department at the Disneyland Hotel. A year later she moved to Disneyland, and worked in the Convention & Tour Sales department. In 1972, she became the first woman to be promoted to the position of manager.
For eight years, Mary Anne served as Public Relations manager, hosting royalty, celebrities, and other special guests as they visited the Magic Kingdom. She also became a strong advocate for Disneyland Park as a community supporter. "Walt Disney was clear in his wishes that his Park and its cast members should always strive to give something back to the surrounding community," Mary Anne once recalled. This made community relations an integral part of her role in Public Relations.
One of her notable and personally fulfilling accomplishments was the Disneyland Creativity Challenge Program, which she helped found. This program recognizes junior and senior high school students who are interested in the creative and fine arts disciplines.
Mary Anne was an important participant in the consolidation of all of the employee public service efforts into the company-wide VoluntEARS program, and its mission to develop opportunities for Disney employees to contribute their time, expertise, and effort to make a positive impact on the community, while furthering the traditions and ideals of The Walt Disney Company.
In addition to her responsibilities at Disneyland, Mary Anne was dedicated to serving her community in other capacities. She served on the board of directors of several Orange County civic organizations, including the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim, and the Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County. She has also been a member of a number of local councils and committees, including the Anaheim Arts Council, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce Women's Division, Anaheim Memorial Hospital Medical Center Governing Board, and Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Mary Anne retired from the company in 1994. On that occasion, California Congressman Robert K. Dornan said, "Throughout her entire career, Mary Anne Mang has exhibited extraordinary leadership, skill, and professionalism. She has been a wonderful role model for her coworkers and an exemplary inspiration and role model to us all. I sincerely hope that her influence will linger at Disney and in her community and that her future holds as many joyful and fulfilling days as her past."
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| Steve Martin Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In the late 1970s, as the nation watched the skyrocketing success of a "wild and crazy" young comic named Steve Martin, few were aware that many elements of his unforgettable, inspired, and iconic comic repertoire had their beginnings inside the berm of Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom.
"The arrow-through-the-head was a thing we used to sell at Disneyland," Martin recalled. "It was just so silly. It was like anti-comedy."
Steve was born on August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas. When he was 5, his family moved to Inglewood, California. Five years later, they moved again. "We moved into a tract house two miles from Disneyland," Steve once said.
From the age of 10 to 18, Steve worked at the Park after school, on weekends, and during the summer. First he sold guidebooks at the gate, then souvenir spinning lassos in Frontierland.
"The ropes were hard to sell," he recalled. "I had to wear a Western costume, cowboy shirt, hat. I did a little bit of that in Three Amigos!"
Then Steve spent three years at the old Merlin's Magic Shop in Fantasyland. There, he sold and demonstrated the packaged magic tricks and practical joke items on sale. He learned all the tricks, and collected all the jokes, writing down every gag. "I knew every nook and cranny of the shop," he recalls.
He learned to juggle from the Park's court jester, Christopher Fair; Wally Boag, the Golden Horseshoe headliner, was another Steve Martin influence. "I watched Wally's show many, many times," he once said. "He was the first live performer I ever saw. I mostly remember Wally's performing style," Steve said. "It was fresh, sassy, and very clean. Watching his comic timing was a very big influence on my own career."
Steve also worked with a woman from the South whose favorite phrase of exasperation was "Well, excuse me for living." "I abbreviated it to, 'Well, excuuuuuuse me.' The phrase caught on with people and became independent of the bit that went before."
Steve's career since his cast member experience—in live performance, recordings, film, television, stage, and as an author and playwright—are well known. He has returned to Disney for several film projects, including Father of the Bride and Fantasia 2000, and Bringing Down the House. Steve co-starred with Donald Duck in the special film made for golden anniversary of the Park, Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years. In 2005, Touchstone released Shopgirl, starring Steve, and based on his novella. And once in a while he still goes to Disneyland.
"Recently I went back in a disguise. I dyed my hair brown and wore a brown mustache. It's not that people mob me on the streets; but Disneyland can be very tough, and I don't like being stared at or yelled at."
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| Tom Nabbe Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
The last time Tom Nabbe paid to get into a Disney Park, it was July 18, 1955—the first day Walt Disney opened his new Park to the public. Tom was a rusty-haired 12-year-old, enjoying his day at Disneyland. The very next day he landed a job as a "newsie," hawking The Disneyland News to Main Street guests.
In 1956, Walt Disney recognized the Tom Sawyer in a young Nabbe, and he became the "Luckiest Boy in the World." That's what the cover of the April 7, 1957 issue of Parade magazine said, beneath a full-color photo of Tom dressed as Mark Twain's paragon of American boyhood.
"I used to approach Walt every time I saw him around the Park," Tom said of his yearlong pursuit of the "man behind the mouse" and the starring role on Tom Sawyer Island.
Walt's first response to Tom was "Why should I put you on the island when I can put a mannequin there? Especially considering the dummy won't be running off for hot dogs every half-hour."
Walt, quoted in the Parade article, had a somewhat more gracious recollection: " He was friendly and bright—and he sure looked the part."
One job requirement was that Tom had to keep a C average in school. So, every quarter, the boy brought his report card directly to Walt for inspection. It was perhaps the hardest part of playing the character.
After outgrowing the role of Tom Sawyer, Tom went on to manage other attractions. In 1965, he met his wife, Janice, who was working at a concession stand in the Park. In 1971, Tom was transferred to the newly opened Walt Disney World in Orlando, where he started as manager of the Monorail. He also helped in the opening of Disneyland Paris.
Forty-eight years later, in June 2003, 60-year-old Tom retired from his job as manager of distribution services at Walt Disney World. He was the last working member of Club 55, a group of original Disneyland cast members named for Disneyland's inaugural year and for their chief qualification of membership—a paycheck from Walt Disney dated 1955.
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| Jack Olsen (1923–1980) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
The window on Main Street in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom reads, "Olsen's Imported Novelties & Souvenirs, 'World's Largest Collection of Keychains,' Jack Olsen 'The Merchant Prince.'" The window is a playful tribute to the 22-year Disney career of the man who stocked the shelves at Disneyland and the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom with T-shirts, plush toys, ceramics, books, toys, and yes, key chains, for two decades.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1923, Jack moved to California in 1926. Following graduation from Grossmont High School, Jack attended Penn State College, where he majored in mathematics.
He served four years in the Armed Forces during World War II, for which he received two Purple Hearts and two Presidential citations while a tech sergeant with the 78th Infantry Division in Europe.
After the War, he managed artists' supply stores and art galleries in the Los Angeles area, and had his own ceramics manufacturing and importing firm. He was, throughout his life, an artist, painting in oils and watercolors, and creating in ceramics and other art media.
Employed in early 1955 as a background artist at the Walt Disney Studios, Jack soon became manager of stores then operated by the Studio at Disneyland. He was transferred to Disneyland's Merchandising Division in 1960 as manager of Product and Project Design and Development. In 1964, he became director of the Merchandising Division, and held that position until 1970 when, as vice president of merchandising, he contributed his many talents to the successful opening and operation of Walt Disney World.
Jack Olsen retired from Walt Disney World in 1977. He passed away in April 1980.
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| Cicely Rigdon (1923–2013) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
It was a quality that Walt Disney had, and obviously Cicely Rigdon had it, too—persistence. "When they first opened the Park,"
Cicely once recalled, "I made five attempts to get a job. The fifth time, I was finally hired, and I was so excited I came home and drove my car through the garage!"
Cicely began at Disneyland in 1957 as a ticket seller. In 1959, she joined the Tour Guide Department and was responsible for initiating its growth and development. "Walt really liked the Tour Guides," Cicely said. "Every time he would come to the Park he would always stop by and see us and talk to us."
She eventually became the supervisor of Guest Relations, and in 1967 took on additional responsibility for the ticket sellers, ticket receptionists, and Guest Relations. While in Guest Relations, she was responsible for Walt's apartment above the Main Street Fire Station, and was therefore known as the "Keeper of the Keys."
Among the other highlights of her career, Cicely most fondly remembered her trip with Walt Disney to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and the many conversations she had with him while he was in the Park. She also counted being able to train all the ticket sellers and ticket receptionists for the opening of Walt Disney World as one of her treasured opportunities.
Beginning in 1982, Cicely led and developed the Disneyland Ambassador Program, working with thirteen Disneyland Ambassadors during her tenure, and representing Disneyland around the world. She retired as manager of the Ambassador Program in 1994, with a 37-year Disneyland career to her credit. Despite her long career of traveling, the first thing Cicely did after her retirement was to travel to England to visit her family.
She remembered her years at Disneyland and her unique boss with great fondness. "Walt was just a very decent, very nice man," Cicely once said. "And I believe that is reflected in all of us here at Disneyland, and that this place for family and fun and decency is what it's all about."
Cicely Rigdon passed away on December 31, 2013.
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| William Sullivan (1936–2024) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
On Sunday, July 17, 1955, William "Sully" Sullivan was tuned in to ABC-TV. "I watched the opening ceremonies for Disneyland. The following Saturday I went down and applied for a job. Monday I quit Northrop Aircraft, and Tuesday I reported to work as a ticket-taker at the Jungle Cruise." Sully was 19 years old.
He progressed from ticket-taker to ride operator to operations supervisor at Disneyland, learning all aspects of the operation on the way. "I took a summer job, and I've been here ever since," Sully said in an interview shortly before his retirement.
He was subsequently sent to Squaw Valley as a member of the operations team that assisted in the opening and operating of the Winter Olympics in 1960, where Disney was in charge of Pageantry. Sully then served as assistant manager for the Disney-designed attractions at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.
"Walt was a really warm individual," Sully remembered fondly. "He had a great sense of humor, and he loved people. He was an executive, but not what you perceive as an 'executive.' He was a real team guy."
Sully participated in the operations management of a number of lavish Disney film premieres, including Mary Poppins at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and The Happiest Millionaire at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. He relocated to Florida for the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971.
While in Florida, Sully served a stint as director of PICO (Project Installation and Coordination Office), coordinating operational design input and installation of owner-furnished equipment at Epcot Center, after which he was the director of Epcot Center operations. In 1987, he was named vice president of the Magic Kingdom, and was responsible for operation of the Park including attractions, merchandising, transportation, entertainment, ticket sales, guest relations, costuming, foods, custodial, maintenance, planned work, and horticulture.
Sully retired in 1993 after 38 years with Disney, and without a single regret. "If I had to do it all over," he said, "I'd do it all again tomorrow."
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| Jack Wagner (1925–1995) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
For more than two decades, Jack Wagner's cheerful, friendly tone vocally captured the Disney spirit, making announcements at the Disney Parks, in touring ice and arena shows, and doing voice-over for television programs, commercials, and audio-visual presentations.
Born December 17, 1925, Jack's French-born parents were both musicians; his late older brother, Roger, was director of the world famous Roger Wagner Chorale. Jack began his own performing career at age four, dubbing American-made movies into French for foreign release. As a teenager, he was an MGM contract player, and in the 1950s he made appearances on the classic TV program The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He was also featured on The Ann Sothern Show, Sea Hunt, Dragnet, and other popular series of the decade. Los Angeles' top-ranked radio personality, Jack also had an interview show, Hollywood on a Silver Platter, that was syndicated to more than 1,200 radio stations worldwide.
Jack's association with Disneyland began in 1955 when he was invited to attend opening day. In the ensuing years, he did guest announcing and narration for Christmas parades and other special programs, coming on board full time as production consultant in 1970, and shortly thereafter being named park announcer as well. "From there, it just kind of snowballed," he recalled.
It has been said that no other man's voice has been heard over so many loudspeakers by so many people. Jack also produced music and sound for many of the parades and live shows at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, provided background music for the themed lands in those Parks and Tokyo Disneyland, and produced record albums featuring Park talent.
Jack's recording for Disney was done at his own studio, two miles from Disneyland, in rooms filled with sophisticated audio and video equipment and walls lined with memorabilia: Theme Park opening day tickets, a golden spike commemorating the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opening, posters, badges, clocks, and plaques of appreciation for his years of service.
Although vocal cord surgery forced his retirement in 1991, he continued to make short announcements for Disneyland.
Jack Wagner passed away on June 16, 1995.
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| Vesey Walker (1893–1977) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2005 |
In more than a half-century as one of the world's great bandmasters, Vesey Walker's proudest achievement was his Disneyland Band. "Here I have the finest musicians in the United States, most of whom have been with me for more than 10 years," he said proudly.
He organized and directed more than 50 college, military, school, and youth bands, but at Disneyland, the master "music man" finally found the one place in the world to organize a thoroughly professional band, performing daily throughout the year—not just for Saturday football games or annual parades.
Born in Sheffield, England, on June 7, 1893, Vesey decided to come to the United States in 1912 because "all the famous bands were here." Within 10 years he organized bands in 30 schools surrounding the Milwaukee area, and established and became head bandmaster of the Marquette University Band in 1930.
In the mid-'30s, Vesey moved to Hollywood where he conducted musical scores for films. A year after his arrival on the West Coast, he organized the Los Angeles Elks Club "Toppers" marching band of Tournament of Roses Parade fame, and personally led them for 20 years. Vesey's Disneyland engagement started as a two-week run for the Park's opening in 1955, but he was "held over" by popular demand for 15 years. Reminiscing about his achievements, Vesey considered coming to Disneyland the high point in his career.
This love of his band helped Vesey defeat an attack of a rare spinal virus that nearly took his life and left him paralyzed for months. Doctors told him he would never walk again, but he would not accept it. "I wouldn't give up," he recalled. "I had to get back to my band."
Gradually, after months of painful effort, he regained control of everything except his legs. The great bandsman spurned crutches "because I was afraid I would begin to rely on them too much."
Just a year after he was stricken, and reluctantly using a cane, Vesey proudly led his band down Main Street, U.S.A., once again. A few weeks later he threw away the cane.
Vesey Walker retired in 1970, and passed away in November 1977.
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| October 9, 2006 |
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| Tim Considine (1940–2022) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
Tim Considine was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1940 into a theatrical lineage; he is the son of British-born film producer John W. Considine and theater-chain heiress Carmen Pantages. Tim's brother John is also an actor and writer, and his uncle was King Features newspaper columnist Bob Considine.
Tim began his acting career at age 11, playing Red Skelton's son in 1953's The Clown (a remake of the 1933 Wallace Beery/Jackie Cooper film The Champ, a performance Leonard Maltin called "so good he overcomes some of the hokiness of the script." This was followed by a role in Executive Suite with William Holden and June Allyson, and the Greer Garson boarding school story Her Twelve Men, where he met future co-star, friend, and Disney Legend and friend David Stollery.
Tim played Spin Evans in "The Adventures of Spin and Marty," a popular serial from 1955's Mickey Mouse Club. Alongside Stollery, Tim followed the original series with two "Spin and Marty" sequel serials. He once described those days on the "Triple-R Ranch" as especially carefree: "We shot on a ranch about forty miles away from the Burbank studio. But it might as well have been a thousand. In truth, the work and play were often indistinguishable."
He went on to play Frank Hardy, opposite Tommy Kirk as Joe Hardy, in two "Hardy Boys" serials, and guest starred in the "Annette" serial, all for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show.
Tim had a starring role opposite Fred MacMurray in The Shaggy Dog (1959). "I've always thought that was one of the worst performances I ever gave," Tim once said. "It was a very critical time as a teenager, and I was more interested in being a cool guy than being an actor." Tim also played James Roosevelt opposite Ralph Bellamy in Sunrise at Campobello, and guest starred in the TV series Cheyenne, Johnny Ringo, and The Untouchables.
In 1960 he began working a five-year stint on the classic TV comedy My Three Sons starring Disney Legend Fred MacMurray and co-starring Disney contemporary Don Grady, a former Mouseketeer. He played the role of "Mike Douglas," and eventually wrote and directed several episodes of the series.
In 1970 Tim played his most famous—but perhaps most brief—screen role, as the bedridden soldier slapped by George C. Scott in Patton.
Tim made some televised guest appearances and a few films afterwards, but for the most part has spent the ensuing decades combining his loves of writing, photography, sports, and cars.
Tim authored The Photographic Dictionary of Soccer, The Language of Sport, and American Grand Prix Racing: A Century of Drivers and Cars, which was serialized in Sports Car International magazine. He occasionally substituted for William Safire in the "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine.
Of a childhood in the public eye, Considine once said, "It was generally a pretty good experience for me. What I missed, I'm sure I missed, but I'm not too unhappy about what I did. I've had the opportunity to screw up all kinds of things, and not just in that one career!"
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| Kevin Corcoran (1949–2015) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
One of eight children of MGM studio policeman Bill Corcoran, Kevin Corcoran was born on June 10, 1949 in Santa Monica, California, and began acting when he was two. During his onscreen career, he would come to embody an "American Everykid."
"The Mouseketeers were entertainers and role models, and Tommy Kirk and Kurt Russell were teen faves," film writer Donald Liebenson once said. "But kids in the audience related more to Corcoran, who created a character who was part All-American boy and part hellion."
Corcoran first appeared on screen in the film The Glen Miller Story at the age of 2. His first credited film appearance was as the kid version of Tyrone Power's character in Henry King's 1955 adventure film Untamed, after which he and sisters Noreen and Donna played Quaker farmer Ernest Borgnine's children in Violent Saturday.
In 1956, Kevin auditioned for a serialized segment of the Mickey Mouse Club called "Adventure in Dairyland." He won the role of a character named "Moochie," a nickname that seemed to suit his rambunctious personality.
Walt Disney was so impressed with Kevin's Disney debut that he had a special role written for "Moochie" in another Mickey Mouse Club serial, The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty.
Kevin went on to co-star in the Disney theatrical features Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson, and played the title role in Toby Tyler. He also appeared in Babes in Toyland, Bon Voyage!, The Mooncussers, Savage Sam, and A Tiger Walks. Kevin was top-billed in the Disney television projects Moochie of the Little League, Moochie of Pop Warner Football, and Johnny Shiloh.
Kevin quit acting after a minor role in Blue. "When the film industry got very strange," he said, "I decided to retire from acting because I felt I knew more about the business than the people who were interviewing me for the parts."
After graduating from California State University, Northridge with a degree in theatre arts, Kevin returned to Disney, working behind the camera on such films as Superdad, Island at the Top of the World, and Pete's Dragon. He also contributed to such television programs as The New Mickey Mouse Club and The Kids Who New Too Much. Kevin was associate producer of Return from Witch Mountain and The North Avenue Irregulars, co-produced Herbie Goes Bananas, and was the producer of Disney's 1983 comedy series Zorro and Son.
He has been first assistant director on many television series, including Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Baywatch, Quantum Leap, Profiler, and Karen Sisco. For the beloved Angela Lansbury series Murder, She Wrote, Kevin variously served as first assistant director, assistant producer, and director.
Kevin avoided the disappointment and scandal of many child stars—he maintained a successful and stable career, and has been married to the same woman for more than 40 years. He credits his family's down-to-earth sensibility about the business for his ability to avoid its pitfalls. "Some people's families are in the delicatessen business," Kevin says simply; "My family was in the picture business."
He also credits Walt Disney for being a caring father figure. Kevin remembers going to Walt's office after one contract negotiation: "He called me up there and said, 'This is between you and me. I want to know if you feel you're being treated fairly.' I know darn well if I had said I was unhappy, he would have done something about it."
Kevin passed away Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at the age of 66.
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| Al Dempster (1911–2001) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2006 |
It is only in more recent years, with the increased study of the animation art form, that the skill of the background artist has been celebrated. Far more than a simple backdrop for character action, a good background involves the combination of several talents—staging, color styling, and lighting—while maintaining a visual "anonymity" with the viewing audience. Disney has had several superstar background artists: Sam Armstrong, Maurice Noble, Claude Coats, Walt Peregoy, Ralph Hulett, Thelma Witmer, Eyvind Earle, Frank Armitage… and Al Dempster.
Albert Taylor Dempster was born on July 23, 1911, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He studied for four and a half years at the Art Center School in downtown Los Angeles, shortly after that institution's founding. Al joined the staff of the Walt Disney Studios on Hyperion Avenue as a layout trainee in March 1939, and within a few months transferred to the Background Department.
It was here, over the next several years, that Al contributed his art to the creation of the Disney animated features Fantasia, Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, Victory Through Air Power, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, and Song of the South.
Al left the Studio in 1945, but by 1952 had returned to work on Peter Pan. He continued to bring his artistry to the features Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Robin Hood, and The Rescuers, as well as all the Winnie the Pooh featurettes.
Al left perhaps an even more intimate and enduring legacy in his work on the design and illustration of more than a dozen Disney Golden Books.
Always concerned with controlling the quality of Disney art, Walt would often assign the illustration of books to Studio staff between their other projects. Illustration work by the likes of Disney Legends Mary Blair, Bill Justice, and John Hench is immortalized in many perennially published Disney storybooks.
Walt insisted that some of the studio artists get involved in these book illustrations and he particularly enjoyed seeing the various interpretive approaches that these artists would take, commented Ken Shue, vice president art & design for Disney Publishing Worldwide. In the spirit of every new assignment that Walt gave, he told them to approach storybook illustration in a way that only The Walt Disney Studios would approach it. In other words, given that they were already the world's greatest storytellers on screen, what would they bring to books that would be innovative, defining, but especially quality in terms of artwork and storytelling?
Al's illustrations for Santa's Toy Shop, Walt Disney's Mother Goose, and Walt Disney's Uncle Remus Stories are especially fondly remembered, as are his pictures for the Golden Book editions of Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland.
His painting for the cover of the Alice in Wonderland Little Golden Book is considered by many to be the Mona Lisa of Disney storybook illustration, Shue once said. Al loved illustrating books, and that these were done at a time when the studio atmosphere was much like a school, where invention and new ways of tackling any visual storytelling format was exciting and fun. And, boy, it sure shows in the work!
In 1966, at Walt's personal request, Al donated his time and talent to the creation of the Queen of the World shrine at the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Red Bluff, California. Working from Al's detailed drawings, Italian sculptor Pasquini Enzo sculpted the central figure of Mary, Mother of God.
Al was the father of five and grandfather of 14. He retired to Los Osos, California in July of 1973, where he passed away on June 28, 2001 at the age of 89.
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| Don Edgren (1923–2006) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2006 |
Walt Disney once said, "At WED, we call it imagineering—the blending of creative imagination with technical know-how." The "imagine" part of the process is often celebrated; less so is the solid engineering skill that makes dreams real.
Don Edgren, a professional engineer licensed in the states of California, Florida, and Hawaii, worked for Wheeler & Gray, Structural Engineers, at The Walt Disney Studios on the structural design and detail of Disneyland from late 1954 until the Park opened on July 17, 1955. "He was the original chief engineer 'in the field'—on the construction sites," recalled Marty Sklar, former international ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering and a Disney Legend.
Don then coordinated structural design and detail from the Wheeler & Gray office on Disneyland expansion until June of 1961.
"After his 'engineering baptism' at Disneyland in the early days," Marty said, "he was invited to join the staff of WED Enterprises in Glendale."
Don worked as a project engineer on the Ford Motor Company exhibit for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and lived in New York during the construction of the Ford facility and the installation of the Magic Skyway show and ride from March 1963 to April 1964.
Don led the Imagineering engineering team for New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, while also participating in the initial master planning for Walt Disney World in Florida. Don was promoted to vice president, engineering in Florida in 1969, and relocated there in August of that year as head of field engineering efforts.
Don returned to WED in Glendale in April of 1972 as vice president of engineering. He led the Imagineering engineers on the first Space Mountain, built for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in December 1974, after which he left Disney briefly.
Returning to WED in May 1979 as director of engineering for Tokyo Disneyland, Don coordinated all engineering design activities, relocating to Japan in September of 1979. He returned stateside to WED in May 1983, where he was responsible for the direction and supervision of all project engineers.
Don retired from The Walt Disney Company in 1987.
"Through the years, Imagineering had what I would respect as two 'quintessential engineering captains'—Don Edgren and a protege of his, John Zovich," Marty once said. "They were constantly challenged by Walt, and the creative teams that followed (including me!), to do things that sometimes defied 'engineering logic' —and, of course, tried and true methods. Because, as Walt said, 'It's kind of fun to do the impossible!'"
Don Edgren passed away on December 28, 2006, in Eugene, Oregon.
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| Paul Frees (1920–1986) Legends Award Category: Film, Parks & Resorts & Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
During his lengthy career, the voice of actor Paul Frees was not so much ubiquitous as inescapable, said film historian Hal Erickson. It was literally impossible during the 1960s and most of the 1970s to turn on the TV on any given night and not hear the ineluctable Mr. Frees.
Born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago on June 22, 1920, he began his acting career in 1942, and remained active for over forty years. During this time, he was involved in more than 250 films, cartoons, and television appearances; like many voice actors, his appearances were often uncredited.
Gifted with an amazing ear and versatile voice from an early age, Paul's early radio career was cut short when he was drafted during World War II. He was wounded in action at Normandy on D-Day and returned to the United States for a year of recuperation. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute under the G.I. Bill, but his first wife's failing health forced him to drop out and return to radio work.
He was the star of The Player, a syndicated anthology series in which he played all the roles. He appeared frequently on such Hollywood radio series as Escape, Suspense, Gunsmoke, Crime Classics, and The Green Lama. Paul began working in films in 1948, sometimes as an on-screen actor, but most often utilizing his chameleonic voice acting ability. In 1956, when Chill Wills was unavailable to provide the talking mule's voice for Francis in Haunted House, Paul replaced him, recreating Wills' drawl; when Tony Curtis' Josephine in Some Like It Hot required a more melodious falsetto, Paul supplied it.
Paul was often called upon in the 1950s and 1960s to loop the dialogue of other actors, often to correct for foreign accents, lack of English proficiency, or poor line readings by non-professionals. These dubs extended from a few lines to entire roles.
Whenever Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune appeared in an English-language film like Grand Prix or Midway, he would insist that his heavily accented voice be looped by Frees; Mifune claimed that, "Paul sounds more like me than I do."
He was a regular presence in Jay Ward cartoons, providing the voices of Boris Badenov and Inspector Fenwick in Dudley Do-Right, among many others. He spent major parts of his career working with at least nine of the major animation production companies of the 20th century: The Walt Disney Studios, Walter Lantz Studio, UPA, Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, MGM, DePatie-Freleng, Jay Ward, and Rankin-Bass Productions. Paul began working for Disney dubbing voices for television and features, including narration for the Man in Space series, From Aesop to Hans Christian Andersen, the Boys of the Western Sea serial, The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca, Tonka, Tales of Texas John Slaughter, The Absent-Minded Professor, Moochie of Pop Warner Football, The Ballad of Hector, the Stowaway Dog, and The Monkey's Uncle. For The Ugly Dachshund , he looped the voice of Eddie entirely, since actor Richard Wessel had passed away after the completion of principal photography.
Most famously, Paul's comedic Germanic accent and free-wheeling improvisational ability brought personality and popularity to Donald Duck's nutty Uncle, Professor Ludwig Von Drake, who was introduced on An Adventure in Color and subsequently became a frequent host of Disney's Sunday night television institution, as well as a star of Disneyland Records.
For the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, Paul was the sonorous narrator of the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln pre-show at the Illinois Pavilion. For Disneyland, he provided the dramatic you are there narration for Adventure Thru Inner Space. Some of his most memorable voice performances are still playing today at Disney Parks: Paul is the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion, and many of the various Pirates of the Caribbean.
Paul Frees passed away on November 2, 1986, in Tiburon, California. When asked if he ever had reason to resent the relative anonymity of his art form, he replied, "Sometimes, yes. But it's nothing I can't overcome when I look at the bank balance."
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| Peter Jennings (1938–2005) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
As one of America's most distinguished journalists, Peter Jennings reported many of the pivotal events that have shaped our world. He was in Berlin in the 1960s when the Berlin Wall was going up, and in the 1990s when it came down. He was there when the Voting Rights Act was signed in the United States in 1965, and on the other side of the world when black South Africans voted for the first time. He was there when the independent political movement Solidarity was born in a Polish shipyard, and again when Poland's communist leaders were forced from power. And he was in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, and throughout the Soviet Union to record first the repression of communism and then its demise.
Born on July 29, 1938 in Toronto, Canada, Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was the son of Charles Jennings, the first news anchor and head of the news department at the CBC. Although he attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute and Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, he never graduated from high school or college. He got his start in broadcasting at the age of nine, hosting a weekly half-hour CBC Radio kids' show called Peter's People, and, by age 23, Canada's first private television network, CTV, hired Peter to co-anchor its late-night national news.
Peter joined ABC News on August 3, 1964. He served as the anchor of Peter Jennings with the News from 1965 to 1967. He established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world in 1968 when he served as ABC News' bureau chief for Beirut, Lebanon. He held the position for seven years.
He helped put ABC News on the map in 1972 with his coverage of the Summer Olympics in Munich, when Arab terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage.
In 1975, Peter moved to Washington to become the news anchor of ABC's morning program A.M. America. After a short stint in the mornings, Jennings returned overseas to Rome; he later moved to London to become ABC's chief foreign correspondent. In 1978 he was named the foreign desk anchor for World News Tonight. He co-anchored the program with Frank Reynolds in Washington, D.C., and Max Robinson in Chicago until 1983.
Peter was named anchor and senior editor of World News Tonight in 1983, a position he would hold for more than 20 years. Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather recalled, "Peter took his work very seriously. But he did not take himself seriously. And he was a little uncomfortable—very uncomfortable—with the word 'star,' and a little uncomfortable with the word 'anchor' because he really did think about himself as a 'reporter.'"
He reported from all 50 states and locations around the globe. His extensive domestic and overseas reporting experience was evident in the World News Tonight coverage of major crises. The series also tackled important domestic issues such as gun control policy, the politics of abortion, the crisis in funding for the arts, and a highly praised chronicle of the accused bombers of Oklahoma City.
Peter also led ABC's coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and America's subsequent wars. He anchored more than 60 hours that week during the network's longest continuous period of news coverage, and was widely praised. TV Guide called him "the center of gravity," while The Washington Post wrote, "Jennings, in his shirt sleeves, did a Herculean job of coverage." That coverage earned ABC News Peabody and duPont awards.
In fact, he was honored with almost every major award given to television journalists, including 16 Emmys®, two George Foster Peabody Awards, several Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, several Overseas Press Club Awards, and two consecutive Edward R. Murrow awards for best newscast.
Peter Jennings passed away on August 7, 2005, in New York City.
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| Sir Elton John Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2006 |
The monumental career of singer, songwriter, and performer Sir Elton John has made him one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, with more than 200 million records sold worldwide. Elton has won a wide array of industry awards including Grammys®, Tonys, and an Oscar®, and continues to add to his personal repertoire of 35 gold and 25 platinum albums.
Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947 in England, Elton's career as a prolific songwriter and flamboyant performer netted him 30 different hits on the top 40 charts between 1970 and 1982. His theatrical stage appearances, featuring a succession of elaborate costumes and outlandish spectacles, made him a pop megastar. His hit tunes included "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road," "Your Song," "Bennie and the Jets," and "Rocket Man." All were written with his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin.
In the early 1990s, Elton embarked on songwriting collaborations with lyricist Tim Rice, resulting in the soundtrack to the Walt Disney Pictures 1994 animated feature The Lion King. At first, though, Elton wasn't too sure of success: "I sat there with a line of lyrics that began, 'When I was a young warthog,'" John said in 1995, "and I thought, 'Has it come to this?'"
His uneasiness proved unfounded, as the resulting work earned three Academy Award® nominations ("Circle of Life," "Hakuna Matata," and the winner, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"), and the film's soundtrack album produced two top-selling, award-winning singles for John: "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life."
It also introduced Elton to a whole new generation of fans—the children who approach him in public and tell him that they love The Lion King. The lad who grew up loving the score to Disney's The Jungle Book once said, "That's exactly what I wrote it for. I wanted to write melodies that kids would like."
In 1997, The Lion King debuted on Broadway, receiving six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and, in 1998, a Grammy® for Best Musical Show Album. In March 2000, the Tony Award-winning Aida opened on Broadway and John was honored with another Grammy for the Best Musical Show Album.
Subsequent projects included the smash-hit stage production of Billy Elliot, for which Elton composed the music; it was nominated for a record 9 Olivier Awards, winning Best Musical, among others. Elton's fourth musical, Lestat opened on Broadway on April 25, 2006.
A great humanitarian, Elton's commitment to the fight against AIDS led to the inception of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. It has raised more than $200 million, making the Elton John AIDS Foundation one of the largest public non-profit organizations in the AIDS arena.
In December of 2004, Elton received the Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime contributions to American culture and excellence through the performing arts. In 1998, he was knighted by the Queen of England, who honored him with the title Sir Elton John, CBE.
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| Jimmy Johnson Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2006 |
Jimmy Johnson devoted his entire career to the Disney organization and profoundly influenced the Disney approach to both publishing and consumer audio recordings. It is an influence felt by generations of kids who know "it's time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rings her little bells, like this," on vinyl discs where you "SEE the pictures, HEAR the record, READ the book."
"It was Jimmy's dedication and drive that really created the Walt Disney Records we know today," songwriter and Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman once said. "Tutti Camarata's creative vision combined with Jimmy's ingenious ideas about marketing and how to utilize the Disney catalog really made the Disney record label a one-of-a-kind success story."
James Alexander Johnson, Jr. joined The Walt Disney Studios fresh out of journalism school as an assistant in the Publicity Department in September of 1938. He was excited by the creative environment at Disney and thrilled by its bright future.
"Publicity had a management change, and Johnson faced termination," it is reported in the book, Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, "but he had been bitten by the Disney bug and searched for any job that would enable him to stay with the Company."
Johnson wound up in Traffic, delivering mail on the Studio lot to destinations including the Animation Story Department, where he had hoped to end up. Instead, he was inexplicably transferred to Accounting, and shortly after was drafted into the Army. Upon his return from service, Jimmy returned to the Studio as assistant to the corporate secretary, a position to which he was elected in December 1950.
Roy O. Disney split Disney publications and merchandising that year, and asked Johnson to head the new publishing unit, as well as business affairs for the new Walt Disney Music Company, which Fred Raphael had established late in 1949. Jimmy handled the Disney Publications division worldwide until 1962, and was the editor of the Walt Disney magazine from 1956 through 1958.
Realizing that competing with the established Hollywood music concerns was both foolish and unnecessary, Johnson had a vision for the Music Company that focused on its core business—Disney stories, characters, and properties. He also shared Walt and Roy's growing desire for ownership and control of the creative and business assets of the division, realizing that strict supervision of those areas was vital to both the maintenance and growth of the Disney name and reputation. Jimmy helped turn the Music Company profitable in 1954. Also in 1954, Jimmy was impressed by a composer and performer who submitted 'The Pencil Song" for a proposed Disneyland TV episode. He was so pleased with the tune and its writer, Johnson brought future Disney Legend Jimmie Dodd on staff.
Jimmy became general manager of the Walt Disney Music Company in December 1958, and played a key role in the evolution of all Walt Disney music and record activities. He was vital in the establishment of the Buena Vista and Disneyland record labels, the Wonderland Music Company (BMI), and all related music publishing activities. He served as president of the Walt Disney Music Company from September 1970 until his retirement in March of 1975.
Jimmy Johnson passed away in January 1976.
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| Tommy Kirk (1941–2021) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
Tommy Kirk was a juvenile hero as well as the ideal mischief-maker in many Walt Disney film and television projects, but was also undoubtedly the finest child actor to emerge from Disney. "I always had the greatest respect for him as an actor," says Tom's "Hardy Boys" brother Tim Considine. "I always thought he was a monster talent."
Thomas Lee Kirk was born on December 10, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Los Angeles. He was just 13 years old when discovered in Will Rogers, Jr.'s production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse. The all-American boy was brought to the attention of Walt Disney, who cast the teenager as half of "The Hardy Boys" in the popular serial seen on the Mickey Mouse Club.
Tommy appeared in more television programs, including Frontier, Gunsmoke, and The Loretta Young Show, before returning to Disney to film a serial sequel to the first "Hardy Boys" adventure. Larger, varied, and more significant Disney roles followed, among them a brilliant performance as Arliss Coates in Old Yeller, a comic turn in The Shaggy Dog, romance and adventure in Swiss Family Robinson, more comedy in The Absent-Minded Professor, and musical comedy in Babes in Toyland. He guest-starred in Moon Pilot and the sequels Son of Flubber and Savage Sam, and the telefilms The Horsemasters and Escapade in Florence.
Personal problems caused Tom some difficulties during the early 1960s.
On the set of Disney's Bon Voyage (1962), star Fred MacMurray gave Tom "the biggest dressing-down of my life" for his behavior, and Tom later confessed that he fully deserved the scolding.
Tom's last two films for the Studio featured him as the teenage genius, Merlin Jones, in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and The Monkey's Uncle.
Tom experienced many of the same troubles other former child and teen stars did when they matured, and he was left to take less and less challenging roles in 1960s "Beach Party" films and teen movies such as Pajama Party, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, and Village of the Giants.
But, fortunately, Tommy Kirk discovered that there was life after movies: "Finally, I said to hell with the whole thing, to hell with show business. I'm gonna make a new life for myself, and I got off drugs, completely kicked all that stuff. I went out and started my own business. I've done it for years and I live well. I have a nice business, a nice pension, and friends." Though his filmmaking days are behind him, Tom has continued to act occasionally, and has more than 30 feature films roles to his credit. And, most importantly, he has made peace with his past.
"I want to be remembered for my Disney work, like Swiss Family Robinson and Old Yeller," Tom recently said. He fondly remembers Walt Disney, and recalls once bumping into him at a Beverly Hills hotel. "He was with Hedda Hopper, the legendary columnist. He put his arm around me, and he said, 'This is my good-luck piece here,' to Hedda Hopper. I never forgot that. That's the nicest compliment he ever gave me."
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| Joe Ranft (1960–2005) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2006 |
Joe Ranft was widely respected as one of the top story artists in the animation industry. He was one of seven writers nominated for an Academy Award® for best original screenplay for Toy Story, but Joe spent most of his time drawing storyboards for animated films.
"I don't know if people really understand what I do," he said in a 1998 interview. "When I say that I do story for animation, they say, 'Oh, you're a writer!' If I tell them I'm kind of a writer, but I draw, they get this puzzled look. But when I say, 'I'm the voice of Heimlich,' the light bulb goes on and they say, 'Oh, great!'"
Telling stories in one form or another was Joe's lifelong passion. Born on March 13, 1960, in Pasadena, California, he grew up in Whittier, where his early interests included movies, drawing, performing in school plays, and doing sleight-of-hand magic.
Joe entered the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts in the fall of 1978. As a student, he was inspired by Bill Peet's storyboards from the 1946 Disney feature Song of the South.
Joe left CalArts for The Walt Disney Studios in 1980, where he quickly established a reputation as an exceptional story artist, contributing to Oliver & Company, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Fantasia 2000 and overseeing story on The Rescuers Down Under. While at Disney he had become friends with John Lasseter, who later became the top creative executive at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.
Joe moved to Pixar to serve as story supervisor on Lasseter's Toy Story, the first computer-animated feature film. His understanding of story structure and his talent for creating emotionally complex characters that audiences cared about won him a place in the core group of artists at Pixar.
"Joe was really a major part of Pixar's soul," Pete Docter, director of Monsters, Inc. and Up, once said. "He was one of the key players who made all the films what they are."
Joe got the role as Heimlich in A Bug's Life after John Lasseter noticed that his wife, Nancy, laughed harder at Joe's temporary dialogue during production than she did at the actor hired to voice the caterpillar.
Joe served as story supervisor on Toy Story 2 and provided the voice for Wheezy the asthmatic penguin. He was credited with additional story material for Monsters, Inc. and oversaw the story on Lasseter's Cars.
Joe was killed in an automobile accident on August 16, 2005. He leaves behind a legendary storytelling legacy.
"Joe had a great passion for telling stories, and he told them better than anyone," John Lasseter once said. "He was funny, poignant, original, and he had an infallible sense for how to structure a story." "He created stories and lived his life by two philosophies, one of which hung on his office door: THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD. The other was: TRUST THE PROCESS," recalled fellow story artist Brenda Chapman. "He was so passionate, so in love with storytelling." Ranft himself once humbly reflected, "I have this notion that there's a story there that wants to be told, and you're just trying to find out what it is. And you go from trying to lead it to listening and letting it lead you."
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| David Stollery Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
David Stollery was born in Los Angeles on January 18, 1941, into a theatrical family. His mother, the former Mitzi Lamarr, had been a radio star for many years in Portland, Oregon. David's father, after whom he was named, was a radio announcer. At the age of seven, David had done Medea on Broadway with Judith Anderson, and was voted Child Actor of the Year for the Broadway production of On Borrowed Time starring Victor Moore.
He began appearing in juvenile roles Hollywood features, beginning with the 1949 Bing Crosby classic A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. He followed this with several feature appearances including Where Danger Lives with Robert Mitchum, and Her Twelve Men with Greer Garson; he also appeared in television episodes of I Love Lucy, Dragnet, My Friend Irma, and The Red Skelton Show.
However, it was at the Disney Studio that he really made his mark. Walt Disney happened to see David playing a young genius in an episode of The Ray Milland Show titled "The Prodigy."
Based on this performance, Walt was convinced that he had found Marty Markham, the spoiled rich boy, for "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" serial being developed for the Mickey Mouse Club. David was quickly signed to a contract to star in the serial, followed by two "Spin and Marty" sequel serials and the "Annette" serial, all for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show.
"I liked David right away," co-star Tim Considine remembered, "because, although very conscientious about his work, he wasn't loud or at all show-offy."
David also appeared in the Disney feature films Ten Who Dared and Westward Ho the Wagons!
"Security and success are the main things for me," David said at the time. "You don't gamble with your life. Acting is a hard business and an easy business. It's easy when the money rolls in, but what happens when the money only rolls in twice a year?" So, while many of his acting contemporaries uneasily made their move into adult roles—or rock, teen, or exploitation pictures—after five years at Disney, David decided to leave Hollywood to pursue his education in industrial design. "I need something steady that I can depend on," David once said, "and there's nothing steadier than work in a technical field."
He already knew he wasn't going to act much longer, Tim once recalled. "I used to ramble on about driving and racing cars." But what David wanted even then was design his own.
After completing his education at Art Center College of Design, David spent seven years in Detroit as a designer for General Motors. He was hired by Toyota Motors in 1973 to establish and manage California's first automotive design group, Calty Design Research. There, he was responsible for the design of the 1978 Toyota Celica. I wonder how many Celica-driving Mickey Mouse Club fans ever knew that 'Marty' designed their car? Tim Considine once said. In all, David directed the design of more than 22 models for the Japanese firm.
David later established his own manufacturing company, making a patented fiberglass lifeguard tower—the only of its type made in the United States. As for the glamour and romance of his acting career, apart from an occasional appearance at a Disneyana convention or Park reunion event, David has steered clear of the nostalgia notoriety limelight of his Disney days—and claims not to miss Hollywood or the fame one bit.
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| Ginny Tyler (1925–2012) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2006 |
For some, their chosen profession is a family legacy. Such is the case with the original Disneyland Records "Disneyland Storyteller," Ginny Tyler.
Born Merrie Virginia Erlandson in Berkeley, California, on August 8, 1925, Ginny grew up in a Native-American family near Seattle, Washington. There, her family passed along the storytelling craft, as well as the imitation of animal sounds and birdcalls. Ginny's flair with these talents first put her before the radio microphone in the 1940s, and by 1951 she was hosting her own daily children's show on KOMO-TV, Magic Island. She was also getting more and more work off-screen for her vocal talents, and in 1957 Mother Goose flew south to Hollywood.
One of her first jobs after landing was playing Olive Oyl on a Spike Jones recording of "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man," and work on more novelty records quickly followed. By the early 1960s, she had joined the Disneyland Records stock company, narrating beloved vinyl recordings of Bambi, Babes in Toyland, Hans Brinker, and More Mother Goose.
When the original Mickey Mouse Club was re-edited and repackaged for syndication in 1962, Tyler was appointed Head Mouseketeer, live from Disneyland. A Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters was constructed inside the Main Street Opera House, later home to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, where Ginny hosted a live 15-minute daily segment of the program. Children could also register as "Official Mouseketeers," complete with membership card, and Ginny, often in the company of Roy Williams or Jimmie Dodd, was on hand for greetings and autographs.
Ginny's vocal work gradually moved from just narration to character voices for Disney.
She played two amorous female squirrels in The Sword in the Stone and sang for several of the barnyard animals in the "Jolly Holiday" sequence of Mary Poppins.
For other studios, Ginny was "Casper, the Friendly Ghost" in his 1963 TV series, space-damsel Jan and the Black Widow in Space Ghost, Sue Richards in The Fantastic Four, Flirtacia the Lilliputian in The Adventures of Gulliver, and all the female characters in the first 13 episodes of Davey and Goliath.
Ginny provided the voice of Polynesia the parrot, who taught the good doctor how to talk to the animals in Doctor Dolittle. Along with frequent Disneyland Records co-star Dallas McKennon, she provided most of the other animal voices for that musical spectacular. Her parrot patois was also heard on The Jack Benny Show and The Lucy Show.
Her Disney days remain "the most awesome part of my life, and truly a 'dream come true'!" Ginny once said. She remembered a day at Disneyland where she was waxing effusive about the many beautiful aspects of the Park with Walt. "And I was raving away to Walt how wonderful Disneyland was, he said, 'And that goes for my Disneyland Storyteller, too.' I have never felt prouder in my entire life."
Ginny Tyler passed away on July 13, 2012.
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| October 10, 2007 |
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| Roone Arledge (1931–2002) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2007 |
Roone Arledge, president of ABC News, had a more profound impact on the development of television news and sports programming and presentation than any other individual. A 1994 Sports Illustrated ranking placed him third behind Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan in a list of 40 individuals who have had the greatest impact on the world of sports in the last four decades. In addition, a 1990 Life magazine poll listed Roone as among the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century."
Born in Forest Hills, New York on July 8, 1931, Roone received his B.A. at Columbia College in 1952, and began his broadcasting career as a production assistant at the DuMont Television Network. After serving in the Army, where he made radio public relations spots from 1953–1955, he returned to DuMont as a producer-director in 1955; he then moved to NBC as a stage manager, director, and producer.
In 1960, Roone moved from NBC to ABC, where as vice president of ABC Sports, he created what would become the longest-running and most successful sports program ever, ABC's Wide World of Sports, where he introduced such techniques as slow motion and instant replays. He was one of the first users of the Atlantic satellite, enabling him to produce live sporting events from around the world. Roone's "up close and personal" approach to sports features changed the way the world viewed competing athletes.
This success resulted in a promotion to president of the sports division in 1968, where Roone again elevated ABC's sports prominence with NFL Monday Night Football. This primetime sports blockbuster gave ABC the lock on ratings during its time slot, and helped elevate ABC Sports to the unchallenged leader of network sports programming. Roone's innovations were also successful for the 10 Olympic Games broadcasts he produced.
Despite his successful transformation of ABC Sports, his 1977 promotion to president of ABC News came as a surprise to many individuals, as Roone had no formal journalistic training.
"Peter Jennings and I were convinced hiring Roone was a big disaster," Ted Koppel recalled. "We went to see Fred Pierce [in 1977], who was then president of ABC. He listened to us explain why Roone should never become president of ABC News. Then he very politely ushered us out and ignored us."
Roone functioned as president of both ABC Sports and ABC News for nearly 10 years, and ABC was soon on the top of the network news business.
"Roone created the forum for each of us," Koppel later said. "Barbara Walters got 20/20, Peter Jennings got World News Tonight, I got Nightline, Sam Donaldson got PrimeTime Live, and ultimately Roone created This Week With David Brinkley."
His shows received virtually every broadcasting honor possible. In 1995, ABC News was the first-ever news organization to receive the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, given for the network's overall commitment to excellence.
Don Hewitt, the producer of 60 Minutes at CBS, and the only executive in network news whose longevity and influence rivaled Roone's, said, "Just about everything that's good in television has a Roone Arledge trademark on it."
Roone Arledge passed away on December 5, 2002, in New York City.
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| Art Babbitt (1907–1992) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2007 |
As early as the 1942 publication of the first scholarly study of animation, The Art of Walt Disney by Dr. Robert Feild, Art Babbitt had gained a reputation as "The Greatest Animator Ever." Art was not only a stellar "performer with a pencil," but he was also a director, an activist, a tireless teacher, and—to this day—a remarkable influence in the field of animation.
Arthur Harold Babitsky was born on October 8, 1907, in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1912, his family relocated to Sioux City, Iowa, where, soon after high school, Art fell into drawing and crude animation to make ends meet. Soon he found he had a knack for the medium.
He went to New York to put himself through pre-med at Columbia College, but instead was inspired to become an animator when he saw Disney's The Skeleton Dance. He got a job at the Van Beuren Studio, and then became an animator for Paul Terry. In 1932 he joined Disney, and by 1941 he was a top artist. He took the minor character Dippy Dawg and developed him into Goofy, and animated the Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Geppetto in Pinocchio, the Chinese Dance in Fantasia, and Mr. Stork in Dumbo.
"He studied the acting theories of internalization of Stanislavsky and Boleslavsky, as any actor of his time would," animator Tom Sito later said. "Flinty, confrontational, indefatigable, and honest; straightforward to some, abrasive to others, Art was a warm friend and a tough opponent. He did things not because they were politic, but because they affected his sense of right and wrong," Sito continued.
Walt felt betrayed when Art resigned as head of the Disney company union in 1941 to join the Screen Cartoonist's Guild. Art led a bitter strike that forever changed the culture of the Studio, and Art and Disney were permanently estranged.
Art was a master sergeant in the Marines in World War II, after which he returned to Disney; he soon quit and wound up at UPA, where he was a principal animator on the acclaimed cartoon Rooty Toot Toot and several Mr. Magoo shorts. He later ran the advertising commercial department of Hanna-Barbera. In the 1970s, he worked with Richard Williams Studio in London. He retired in 1983.
"Art Babbitt was one of the great animation teachers," Sito said.
"He had the ability to put into words the processes most animators only knew by instinct."
Art lectured on animation throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1973 Richard Williams suspended production so his artists could re-train under Art and his Warner Bros. colleague Ken Harris. Sito recalled, "Anybody who attended those lectures never forgot them. The notes from Art's London lectures were copied and recopied until they became the most widely read—if unpublished—animation manual of all time."
Stephen Worth posted a fond memory on the Animation Nation web site: "When Fantasia came out on home video," Worth said, "Roy [E.] Disney sent Art a copy with a short note that said, 'I want to give you long overdue thanks for your contribution to making Fantasia the classic film that it is.' Art was very proud of that note. He told me that any animosity that he had harbored all those years against the Disneys was cleared up by that simple act of kindness on Roy's part."
Art Babbitt passed away on March 4, 1992, in Los Angeles, California.
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| Carl Bongirno (1937–2024) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2007 |
For a decade, between 1979 and his retirement in 1989, Carl Bongirno led the Disney Imagineers to unimagined heights of creative achievement, worldwide expansion, and unprecedented growth and change, both within the organization and within the themed entertainment industry.
During that decade, Walt Disney's boutique creative enclave met the challenge of The Walt Disney Company's directive for growth, adding Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland, the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park and Disneyland Paris. In addition, new attractions for existing parks and ambitious ideas for new business directions were being aggressively pursued.
"We have more than 40 projects in various stages of design and construction," Bongirno told Disney News in 1987. "In all, it's approximately $2 billion worth of work."
Born in Pueblo, Colorado in 1937, Carl holds an associate degree in business from Pueblo College, and B.A. and B.S. degrees in accounting and finance from Denver University. Before joining Disney, he was a member of the Denver office of Arthur Anderson & Co.
Before his involvement in resort finance, Carl spent four years as treasurer for WED Enterprises. He first joined the Disney Company in 1963 as chief accountant and controller for the then-Disney-owned Celebrity Sports Center in Denver, Colorado.
Between 1972 and 1979, Carl served as vice president of finance and treasurer of Walt Disney World in Florida. He had begun his association with Walt Disney World at the very beginning of that resort as director of the Finance Division, a position he had also held at Disneyland a year earlier. He not only was responsible for all financial matters for Walt Disney World but had overall responsibility for all service activities: wardrobe, warehousing, transportation, laundry, even the Disney telephone company. This was no small feat in the essentially barren "outback" of Central Florida at the time.
Carl served for many years on the board of directors of SunTrust Banks, one of the nation's largest commercial banking organizations, and was a member of the Florida Governor's Tax Reform Commission and the Business Advisory Council of the College of Business Administration at the University of Florida.
Carl curtailed his business activities for health reasons in September 1987. He remained as a special adviser to Walt Disney Imagineering, assisting with the development of special projects until his retirement in June of 1989. After his retirement, Carl and his family returned to Pueblo, where he remained active in local civic affairs. Although far away from his Disney roots, Carl's thoughts on Imagineering in 1987 remain true today:
"Epcot and all of Disney's attractions will always be in a state of becoming," Carl told Disney News. "The challenge to us is enormous, but we are ready to meet it. We seek ideas that spark the interests of our guests. We're looking for ways to engage the imagination, through story and technology. Our Imagineers will always be discovering new frontiers. It's a process that I believe makes Imagineering the most unique design organization in the world."
Carl Bongirno passed away on March 5, 2024. He was 86.
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| Marge Champion (1919–2020) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2007 |
Marge Champion is something of a golden girl. Not only is she a veteran of the golden age of MGM musicals, but also the golden age of television—and the golden age of Disney Animation, including several of the greatest animated features of all time.
Marjorie Celeste Belcher was born on September 2, 1919, in Los Angeles. She began dancing as a child under the instruction of her father, Ernest Belcher, a noted Hollywood ballet coach who trained Shirley Temple, Cyd Charisse, and Gwen Verdon. Marge was a ballet teacher at her father's studio by the time she was 12.
A short time later, she was approached with the seemingly preposterous notion of auditioning for a cartoon. "A talent scout came to my father's studio sometime in 1933," Marge said, "and chose three of us out of the class to audition for this."
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| She was the live-action reference model for the heroine of Disney's feature-length cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, performing dances, scenes, and special movements so the animators could caricature her actions and make their princess as human as possible. |
She later modeled for the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio and Hyacinth Hippo in the "Dance of the Hours" segment of Fantasia, a ballet parody that she also helped choreograph. Marge even recalls doing some modeling for Mr. Stork in Dumbo.
She appeared in Honor of the West and All Women Have Secrets under the name "Marjorie Bell," and became a legend in Hollywood with Gower Champion, whom she married in 1947.
They went on to appear together in hit musical films including Show Boat, Lovely to Look At, Give a Girl a Break, and Jupiter's Darling, becoming the screen's most popular dance team since Astaire and Rogers.
The Champions also fixed their stardom through frequent television appearances including The Red Skelton Show, General Electric Theater, The United States Steel Hour The Dinah Shore Chevy Show and Toast of the Town. The couple even starred in their own situation comedy, The Marge and Gower Champion Show, which ran briefly in 1957.
Among their collaborations, Marge and Gower Champion also staged the dances for the Broadway musical revues Lend an Ear and Make a Wish.
After the couple's divorce in 1973, Marge co-authored two books with Marilee Zdenek, Catch the New Wind and God Is a Verb. She choreographed Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Day of the Locust, and Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, for which she received an Emmy Award®.
Marge is a Trustee Emeritus of the Williamstown (MA) Theatre Festival, has taught master classes at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In 1997, Massachusetts honored Marge with its Commonwealth Award, citing her "leadership as a true patron of the arts."
She remembers her Disney days with fondness. "The atmosphere was like a giant high school or college, as far as I was concerned. Mr. Disney, for me, was like a very friendly head principal. Now, that's a 14-year-old's point of view. I later on learned that he was probably one of the most important men, certainly in animation, and probably in the movie industry."
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| Dick Huemer (1898–1979) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2007 |
Dick Huemer was a jack of all trades," Disney Legend Ward Kimball recalled. "He was an animator, and I loved his animation. It was always funny—remember the Duck in The Band Concert with those goddamn whistles? He was a director. He was a story man. And he was a very important sequence story man on Fantasia."
Richard Martin Huemer was born on January 2, 1898, in New York. He attended P.S. 158 in Brooklyn, and Alexander Hamilton and Morris High Schools. After high school he was a student at the National Academy of Design, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League. Dick's first industry job was as an animator at the Raoul Barre Cartoon Studio in 1916. In 1923, he became an animation director at the Max Fleischer Studio, and seven years later assumed a similar position at the Charles Mintz Studio.
Moving to Disney in 1933, Dick contributed to classic Silly Symphonies such as The Tortoise and the Hare, Funny Little Bunnies, and The Grasshopper and the Ants; Mickey Mouse shorts such as Alpine Climbers, Mickey's Rival, and Lonesome Ghosts; and he directed the animated shorts The Whalers and Goofy and Wilbur.
"He was a dapper little guy, who had kind of a ruddy complexion, wore a pork-pie hat dipped at a rakish angle with a little shaving brush up here, had a very New York cosmopolitan mustache, and he wore very tweedy suits," Kimball said.
Among the Disney features on which Dick worked as story director were Dumbo, Saludos Amigos, Make Mine Music, and Alice in Wonderland. His work as a story director on Fantasia was especially admired. "In fact, we owe it most to Dick Huemer that Walt Disney was weaned away from John Phillip Sousa and introduced to the classics!" Ward Kimball asserted. "Walt learned all about Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky through Dick Huemer's tutelage."
Dick left Disney to free-lance the comic strip Buck O'Rue from 1948–1951, but returned to work in story and television. Among his TV works he wrote a series of outstanding programs on the art and technique of Disney animation for the Disneyland TV series: The Story of the Animated Drawing, The Plausible Impossible, Tricks of Our Trade, and An Adventure in Art. He also contributed to Disney Publishing adaptations of Baby Weems, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures. He wrote the True-Life Adventures newspaper comic strip from 1955 until his retirement in 1973.
In 1978, he received an "Annie" award from the animators' group ASIFA for his career achievements.
Animation great Grim Natwick said of Dick Huemer, "He was one of the artists who helped build the early framework of animation. He was a wise and witty man, a droll man who, in a quiet way, pulled rugs from under pompous and false heroes, transformed giants into pygmies and inauspiciously extracted the teeth from snarling paper lions. He was with animation through all its growing pains. Whatever animation became, he helped to shape it, drawing by drawing, idea by idea."
Dick Huemer passed away on November 30, 1979.
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| Ron Logan (1938–2022) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2007 |
"Main Street Music Co.," reads the Magic Kingdom window: "Ron Logan Leading the Band into a New Century." Ron Logan's 23-year Disney career did, indeed, lead the concept of Disney and live entertainment from humble origins into the 21st Century.
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| From a starting point of simple marching bands and costumed characters, Logan delighted Disney Guests with spectacles, fireworks, music spectaculars, and Broadway-style stage musicals, all within the gates of Disney. |
Ron was born in 1938, and grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he studied trumpet, violin, piano, and dance. He began performing professionally when he was in the ninth grade, and has played in bands and orchestras nationwide. He has also performed as a trumpet player and singer on recordings, television, motion pictures, and with name bands and lounge acts throughout the United States.
He graduated from UCLA, holding both his B.A. and M.A. degrees in music and music education. It was during this time that he began his career at Disneyland as a trumpet player, and also played with the fanfare trumpets as part of the Disney-produced pageantry for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.
From 1965 to 1978, he was director of bands and jazz studies at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. In 1978, Ron moved to Florida as Walt Disney World music director. He returned to Disneyland in 1980 as the Park's director of entertainment, and, in 1982, went back to Walt Disney World as vice president of entertainment. In 1987, he was promoted to vice president of creative show development for all of Walt Disney Attractions.
In his last role at Disney, Ron was executive vice president, executive producer, for Walt Disney Entertainment. He was responsible for creating, casting, and producing all live entertainment products for The Walt Disney Company, including Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Resort Paris, The Disney Institute, Disney Business Productions, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Entertainment Productions, and Walt Disney Entertainment Worldwide. He was also executive vice president of the Walt Disney Special Events Group, and Executive Vice President of Disney Special Programs, Incorporated. He produced all live entertainment shows for the Disney Parks worldwide as well as five Super Bowl halftime shows.
Ron was a founding member of the International Foundation for Jazz, a corporate advisory council established in support of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). He is a board member of the Orlando Repertory Theatre (UCF), and serves on the Board of Directors (USA) for the Famous People Players (Canada) and the International Theatre in Long Beach, California. He is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida, Rosen College of Hospitality Management in Orlando, Florida.
Although he retired in 2001, Ron continues to pursue activities in music and theater around the world.
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| Lucille Martin (1922–2012) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2007 |
"I had a hard time not calling him 'sir,'" Lucille Martin recalled of her days in Walt Disney's office. "I'd say, 'Yes, sir,' and he'd say, smiling, 'Yes, Walt.' After about a week he gave me a drawing of a girl carrying a sign that read 'DOWN WITH SIR.' I kept it on my intercom the whole time I worked for him. I still have it."
Dorothy Lucille Martin was born on August 10, 1922. She never expected to work for Walt Disney; in fact, the Zeigler, Illinois native planned to be a teacher, and had attended Southern Illinois Normal University and earned her state teaching credential there.
But when the young single mother of a 5- and 10-year-old moved to California, her Illinois credential was not valid. She chose to put her secretarial skill to work instead, and look for work—against her children's wishes. "What if I worked for Disney?" she asked. "Oh, that's different!"
So, one Friday in September of 1964, a few weeks after the world premiere of Mary Poppins, Lucille typed up a resume and stopped by the Studio to inquire about work. She was hired on the spot. Lucille started in the Secretarial Pool the following Monday, and was immediately sent to work for Donovan Moye in Publicity; she never dipped her toes in the pool again. She worked briefly for the vice president of Labor Relations, Bonar Dyer, and in early 1965 was called to report to Walt's office. "I thought they had the wrong person!" Lucille laughed.
"Walt made me feel comfortable right away," Lucille recalled fondly. "He saw himself as an ordinary guy." Walt took special care of his office staff, and Lucille remembered many kindnesses: "I had never flown on a plane, and one day when Walt was going to San Diego with a press group, he closed the office so I could have my first plane ride."
"Another time, there were two empty seats on the plane to New York City, and he let my co-worker Tommie Wilck and I go to New York for the weekend, because he knew I had never been to New York! It was fun on Monday to tell people I 'went to New York for dinner.' Such a thing was unheard of 40 years ago."
After Walt's death, Lucille stayed on for a year to help close his office, then worked for Ron Miller in the Studio, moving with him as he ascended to president of the Company in 1980 and CEO in 1983. After Ron retired in 1984, Lucille was asked to stay on in Michael Eisner's office. "Lucille embodies that rare combination of loyalty, dedication, talent, tact, and trust so necessary to the smooth operation of an executive staff," Michael later said.
In 1995, Lucille was promoted to vice president and special assistant to The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors. In this role, she served as a liaison between Company management and the Board. "It was quite a surprise," Lucille said of her promotion. "I had no idea at all, and I loved it, naturally." She retired from this position in January 2006.
"But I have enjoyed all my days at Disney," Lucille later said. "When Michael came, I was surprised he wanted me to stay on as his assistant. When I got my 20-year service award, he made a speech about how glad he was to be at Disney. Then he twinkled—like Walt—and added 'And I got Lucille!' Everyone applauded, and I felt wonderful!"
Lucille Martin passed away on October 24, 2012, in Studio City, California.
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| Tom Murphy (1925–2022) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2007 |
Tom Murphy built Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. from a single television and radio station into a multibillion-dollar international media conglomerate. In addition to leading Capital Cities to its position as a media empire, Murphy distinguished himself as a responsible corporate citizen by a constant emphasis on public service.
Thomas S. Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 31, 1925. After service in the United States Navy, Tom attended Cornell University and earned his B.S. in 1945. An M.B.A. from Harvard University followed four years later.
After five years at Kenyon & Eckhardt Advertising and soap and detergent manufacturer Lever Brothers, Tom began his broadcasting career with a little help from his father's friends. The legendary broadcaster Lowell Thomas and Thomas's business manager Frank Smith joined a few other investors to start Hudson Valley Broadcasting. They needed a station manager, and turned to their friend's ambitious son.
In 1954, Tom assumed duties as station manager—the first employee at WROW-TV in Albany, New York. This station and its sister radio station, WROW-AM, constituted the Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company. It took nearly three years of red ink before the station saw a profit, but the company evolved into Capital Cities, and eventually into Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.
A single share of this company in 1957 would have cost $5.75; 40 years later it would have been worth more than $12,000!
In 1960, chairman Frank Smith moved Tom to New York City, as executive vice president of Capital Cities. In 1964 he was named president. With Smith's death in 1966, Tom became chair and chief executive officer.
As Tom's management philosophy developed, it included three important tenets: tight financial control and fiscal responsibility; strong, lean management with de-centralized local responsibility; and a corporate conscience with a focus on social responsibility. Additionally, Tom was fearless in the notion of always hiring people smarter than himself, believing that mediocrity only breeds further mediocrity. Tom has always attributed much of his success to what he learned from Smith.
For the next two decades, Tom led Capital Cities during a time of extraordinary growth. In 1985, Capital Cities announced its merger with network giant ABC. At the time this was the largest union of media companies in history. Capital Cities/ABC reclaimed this record 10 years later when it merged with The Walt Disney Company. Tom retired as chair and chief executive at that time. Tom served as a member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company from 1996 to 2004, and sat on its Executive Committee from 1997 to 2004.
Tom will long be remembered not just for his business acumen and the shaping of Capital Cities into a media powerhouse, but also for his firm belief in the importance of public service. In 1961, the company received national attention and a Peabody Award for its non-profit, exclusive television coverage of Israel's trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Murphy and Capital Cities continued that level of dedication to public service throughout the early years of the company and into the era of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.
This commitment is evidenced in the significant role that the company played in the public service campaigns to "Stop Sexual Harassment," PLUS Literacy, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and dozens of others.
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| Randy Newman Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2007 |
"I have a great interest in animation and found computer graphics fascinating," Randy Newman said in 1995. "I've always admired Carl Stalling and the other composers who specialized in music for cartoons, and I wanted to do one myself."
That "one," Toy Story, led to scores and songs for James and the Giant Peach, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars, The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3, and Monsters University.
And, amusingly and surprisingly to many longtime fans, the cutting social critic and brilliant curmudgeon Randy Newman has found himself a beloved Disney entertainer.
Perhaps it's no surprise that at 17 Randy was already a professional songwriter, knocking out tunes for a Los Angeles publishing house, since he was born on November 28, 1943 into a famously musical family. His uncles Alfred, Lionel, and Emil were all well-respected film composers and conductors. Even Randy's father Irving Newman, a prominent physician, wrote a song for Bing Crosby.
In 1968, Randy made his debut with the orchestral recording Randy Newman, and before long, his extraordinary and eclectic compositions were being recorded by an unusually wide range of artists, from Pat Boone to Ray Charles, Peggy Lee to Wilson Pickett.
Critics rightly raved about his 1970 sophomore effort 12 Songs, and increasingly the public started to take notice with albums like 1970's Live, and even more so with the 1972 classic Sail Away and the brilliant and controversial 1974 release, Good Old Boys. With the 1977 release of Top Ten Little Criminals, Randy experienced a huge left-field smash in the unlikely form of "Short People."
In the 1980s, Randy was dividing his time between film composing and recording his own albums. In 1981, he released his exquisite score for Ragtime, earning him his first two of 20 Oscar® nominations for Best Score and Best Song. 1983 saw the release of "Trouble in Paradise," while the next year saw the release of his Grammy®-winning, Oscar-nominated and now-iconic score for The Natural.
Following some more film work, Randy finally got around to recording another studio album, 1988's Land of Dreams, another break-through work marked by some of his most personal and powerful work yet.
As for Toy Story, "I took a look at some of the storyboards and animation tests they had done, and I was just amazed by the way it looked, and I liked the idea of the story," Randy said of his attraction to the film. "I absolutely loved the people involved with the project."
Randy managed to play to the adult audience as well with his darkly hilarious take on Faust, the 1995 recording of which included performances by Don Henley, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor.
In 1998, Randy put out an impressive compilation, Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman and a new 1999 album for DreamWorks, Bad Love. In 2002, Randy finally won his first Oscar for "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc.; he would bring home his second in 2011 for "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3.
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| Floyd Norman Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2007 |
Though he prefers to be called a "cartoonist," few other artists working in animation today can boast a career as varied as that of Floyd Norman. From the 1950s to today, Floyd's diverse career, insightful viewpoint, and unflinching honesty have truly made him a Disney Legend.
Floyd E. Norman was born on June 22, 1935. He once said, "I first recognized Walt Disney's signature before I could read. I would see that famous signature on books and comics, and I asked my grandmother, 'What is that name?' She said, 'That's Walt Disney.' I never forgot that name. I just felt like I wanted to work at the Disney Studio one day."
When Floyd was in high school he managed to get a ride to the Disney Studio one Saturday morning. The studio was closed, but the security guard took pity on him. "I'll never forget entering the gates of the Disney Studio and just walking down to the Animation Building," Floyd recalled. "I didn't know any Disney artists, but I knew the names, because I had seen these names in the screen credits.
"I didn't get a job, by the way, but they were very encouraging—suggested I go to art school. Might be good to learn how to draw, you know?"
Floyd returned a few years later, at a time when Disney was not only expanding, it was exploding.
"The studio was probably the busiest it had been in many years. They were just moving into television. Disneyland was under construction. They were doing feature films, and they were still doing shorts at that time. I don't think I even saw Walt Disney the first few weeks, because he was so busy. I couldn't have chosen a better time to start at Disney."
Floyd worked as an in-betweener and animator on Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book, along with various animated short projects at Disney in the late 1950s and early '60s. After Walt Disney's death in 1966, Floyd left Disney to co-found the AfroKids animation studio with animator and director Leo Sullivan. Floyd and Sullivan worked together on various projects, including the original Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert television special, which aired in 1969 on NBC.
Floyd returned to Disney in the early 1970s to work on Robin Hood, was a layout artist on Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, an animator on Jabberjaw, character designer and key layout artist on The New Fred and Barney Show, and key layout artist on The Kwicky Koala Show.
More recently, he worked on Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. for Pixar and The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan for Disney, among others. He has continued to work for The Walt Disney Company as a consultant on various projects.
Floyd has also published several books of cartoons inspired by his lifetime of experiences in the animation industry, including Faster! Cheaper!, Son of Faster, Cheaper!, and How The Grinch Stole Disney.
"I'm sort of a Disney… kind of a troublemaker," Floyd says slyly. "A story artist. Animator—tried to be an animator. But mainly writer, artist, and a guy who's trying to learn his craft. Been doing it now for about 40 years and, just beginning to get the hang of it."
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| Bob Schiffer (1916–2005) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2007 |
During his seven-decade career he dyed a camel, made a wiener dog look like Frankenstein's monster, turned Dean Jones into a shaggy dog, Jonathan Winters into a pumpkin, gave a tailless dog a prosthetic wagger, aged Burt Lancaster from age 18 to age 80, and glamorized a galaxy of stars including Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Errol Flynn, and Cary Grant.
Robert J. Schiffer was born on September 4, 1916 in Seattle, Washington, where his father was a prominent businessman. During a stint as a merchant seaman, Bob discovered that the ship's barber was doing makeup for the guests of the Captain's Dinner—a costume affair—for five dollars a head.
Having previously painted seascapes, Bob set up his own paint pots and charged half that. His success led him to register for constructive anatomy and portrait painting at the University of Washington, which set him on a course to a career as a makeup artist.
Bob began his professional career in 1932 at age 17, when he did make-up for the Marx Brothers' Horse Feathers. The Last Days of Pompeii led to RKO Studios, where he worked on Becky Sharp, Hollywood's first three-strip Technicolor film. At RKO, his credits also included most of the classic Astaire/Rogers films. During this time, he earned his reputation as being an expert with ladies' makeup, creating innovative and stylish looks for Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman, and Rita Hayworth, among others.
During the 1930s, Bob also worked at other studios, including MGM, where he contributed as a makeup artist to such popular motion pictures as Mutiny on the Bounty, The Good Earth, A Night at the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Wizard of Oz.
In 1938, Bob moved over to Columbia, where he worked on all of Rita Hayworth's notable films as the star's exclusive makeup artist for nearly 20 years. Of all the male stars that Bob worked with, including Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, and Cary Grant, he had a particularly long association with Burt Lancaster, on such films as Elmer Gantry, The Young Savages, Judgment at Nuremberg, and The Leopard.
Among Bob's other impressive makeup credits are the films My Fair Lady, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, and Camelot.
Arriving at the Walt Disney Studios in 1968, Bob went on to head the makeup department, and contributed to a wide variety of live-action feature films over the next 33 years, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Shaggy D.A, Return From Witch Mountain, The Watcher in the Woods, Tron, Something Wicked this Way Comes, and Splash.
Bob retired from Disney in 2001, and passed away on April 26, 2005. Michael Eisner said, "Bob was one of the quiet talents who made Hollywood great. He worked with the legendary stars, who we all know by single names—Astaire, Bogart, Welles, Hepburn, Hayworth, Lancaster, Midler, and Hanks. But, among people behind the cameras, Bob was a legend himself. It was my privilege to work with him throughout my 21 years with the company. He is very much a part of the Disney legacy."
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| Dave Smith (1940–2019) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2007 |
Walt Disney Archives founder and former chief archivist David R. Smith officially joined The Walt Disney Company on June 22, 1970, but his Disney roots are even deeper.
A fan of Disney films throughout his youth, Dave once explained, "I grew up in Southern California, and so my appreciation of Disneyland began as a child." In 1967, he had become interested in compiling an extensive bibliography on Walt Disney.
With approval from the Disney organization, he spent more than a year researching all Disney publications and productions.
When the Disney family and Studio management decided to attempt to preserve Walt Disney's papers, awards, and memorabilia, it was natural for them to contact Dave to do a study, and make a recommendation which established the guidelines and objectives of the Archives. Dave was selected as archivist, and in the years since the Archives was established it has come to be recognized as a model among corporate archives in the country. Dave is regarded as the final authority on matters of Disney history.
Born on October 13, 1940, and raised in Pasadena, Dave graduated as valedictorian from both Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College. He earned his B.A. in history at the University of California at Berkeley. While in school, Dave worked part-time for six years in the Manuscript Department of the Huntington Library in San Marino.
Upon receiving his masters degree in library science from the University of California in June 1963, he was selected as one of seven outstanding graduates of library schools throughout the country to participate in an internship program at the Library of Congress in Washington.
He returned to California where he served for five years as a reference librarian at the UCLA Research Library. While there, Dave authored several articles and had bibliographies published on the Monitor and Merrimac Civil War warships, and on Jack Benny.
Of his Disney role, Dave said, "The thing I like best is the tremendous variety in our work. We never know when we come to work in the morning what we'll be doing that day. It keeps the job interesting when you're not doing the same thing day in and day out."
Dave has written extensively on Disney history, with a regular column in The Disney Channel Magazine, Disney Magazine, Disney Newsreel, and numerous articles in such publications as Starlog, Manuscripts, Millimeter, American Archivist, and California Historical Quarterly. He is the author of the official Disney encyclopedia Disney A to Z, now in its third edition; with Kevin Neary he co-authored four volumes of The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book; with Steven Clark he co-wrote Disney: The First 100 Years; and he edited The Quotable Walt Disney. Dave has written introductions to a number of other Disney books.
"My greatest reward has been getting to know the many people who have come to use the Archives over the years. I have been especially proud to be a guide and mentor to so many young people who have gone on to exceptional careers in the Disney organization." Dave said.
"I have had the pleasure and privilege to work with Dave Smith for nearly 35 years," author and animator John Canemaker once said, "and, to me, he has always been legendary. For his steady building of the Disney Archives over the years into one of the greatest, most invaluable, world-class resources for studying American animation—and for his kindness and generosity to all researchers."
Dave Smith passed away in Burbank, California, on February 15, 2019. He was 78.
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| October 13, 2008 |
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| Wayne Allwine (1947–2009) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2008 |
Wayne Allwine provided the voice of Disney's top animated star beginning in 1977, when he officially took over for his mentor, Disney Legend Jimmy Macdonald. Wayne once humbly reflected, "It's a great honor to keep alive what Walt loved so dearly and what Jimmy kept alive so well."
Born on February 7, 1947, in Glendale, California, Wayne was active on stage and screen most of his life, making his first television appearance at age seven as one of the children interviewed by Art Linkletter on his House Party program. While still in high school, he formed his own acoustic music group, The International Singers, which performed in clubs and colleges all over the state. He went on to record with such singers as Dobie Gray and Bobby Vinton and was a member of The Arrows, a musical group put together by Mike Curb.
In 1966, Wayne opted for a "normal" lifestyle and took a job in the mailroom at The Walt Disney Studios. From there, he worked briefly in Wardrobe, then moved to Audio Post Production and began a seven-and-a-half year stint under Macdonald, the Studio's resident sound effects wizard.
Wayne worked in sound effects editing on Disney films and television shows including Splash and Three Men and a Baby. Work for other studios included Innerspace, Alien Nation, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
He received the Emmy® Award and the Golden Reel award for his contributions to Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, which he worked on for two years, and a second Golden Reel for his work on The Great Mouse Detective (1986).
In 1977, Wayne went to an open audition for the voice of Mickey Mouse and walked away with the part. In 1977, he made his debut on The New Mickey Mouse Club and went on to provide Mickey's voice for Disney theme parks, movies, TV specials, records, and video games. In the role of Mickey, he starred in films such as Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Prince and the Pauper, and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: The Three Musketeers, and the TV series Mickey's Mouse Works, House of Mouse, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "In time, you actually realize all of the characteristics that this character has in yourself," Wayne said of his prolific performances as Mickey. "I've got all his naive qualities, and all of his optimistic qualities."
Wayne was married to Disney Legend Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse and many other popular characters. They headed their own production company, Taylor-Allwine Associates, and shared four children—including three who think they sound like Mickey, too.
It's only fitting, given the admonition that Allwine's mentor gave him decades ago: "Just remember, kid," Jimmy Macdonald said, "you're only filling in for the boss." Wayne never forgot that. "Mickey is Walt's," he readily admitted. "I get to take this wonderful American icon and keep it alive until the next Mickey comes along, and it will one day."
Wayne passed away on May 18, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
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| Bob Booth (1923–2009) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2008 |
For nearly three decades, Bob Booth was the unwavering, steady-as-she-goes mechanical master whose work made practical all the dreams of the Disney Imagineers.
"Never brutal, always pragmatic, not the kind of boss that shop guys would fear but a boss you'd follow, because his strategies worked," summarized Disney Legend Bob Gurr.
"His pre-Disney experience included a passion for hot rods and high performance cars, especially those used to establish land speed records on courses similar to the Bonneville Salt Flats," recalled MAPO veteran Jim Verity. "He served in the United States Navy, and worked in other studios prior to his employment at Disney."
Bob, who was born in 1923, first joined Disney as a precision machinist in February 1957. He worked in the Studio's Camera Service department, where his work caught the eye of Disney Legend and mechanical genius Roger Broggie, who made Bob supervisor of the Studio Machine Shop in 1962.
In 1965, Bob was the man Roger Broggie selected to set up an innovative new multi-craft research and development and manufacturing subsidiary for Walt Disney Productions. "Roger told Bob to plan for building everything from animated birds to Monorail trains," said fellow Legend Orlando Ferrante, an engineering, design, and production master.
This subsidiary was known as MAPO, since much of its funding came from the phenomenal windfall created by the success of Mary Poppins; the acronym stood for Manufacturing and Production Organization. Much of Bob's planning for MAPO took place during 1965, prior to the conclusion of the extensive work for the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. Booth supervised the design and construction of an all-new state-of-the-art building adjacent to the headquarters of WED Enterprises, now Walt Disney Imagineering.
Booth had to incorporate such diverse features as a large production floor with a high center overhead hoist to lift steam engines, antique vehicles, ride systems and vehicles, monorail trains and heavy animated props. He also had to support research and development, electronic system design, model making, plastics production, hydraulic and pneumatic assembly, animation assembly areas, and welding and track bending, as well as attendant administrative offices, mechanical and electrical engineering offices, and a huge drafting room—it all had to fit in one building.
For the next 20 years Bob played a major role in all phases of manufacturing for Disney Parks around the world. "Bob was Broggie's main man on the shop floor, leading all the production departments at MAPO," Gurr once said. "He was a good instructor, and was able to organize manufacturing teams to support each other," Verity once recalled.
Bob retired in 1985, "with the appropriate amount of celebration to recognize his outstanding contribution to The Walt Disney Company," Ferrante later said with a smile. Roger Broggie even presented a plaque to Bob, nicknaming him "MAPO ONE."
"Bob was always the 'quiet' one Roger looked to for getting everything done," Orlando recalled fondly. "He always got the job done."
"Artists and designers get a lot of attention in creating Disney Parks," Disney Legend and former Imagineering ambassador Marty Sklar said. "The similarly innovative, creative, and fascinating work of our manufacturing and production entities—and the work of steadfast guys like Bob Booth—often gets lost to the limelight. But without them, the dreams of the designers would never see the light of practical application."
Bob passed away on April 5, 2009.
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| Neil Gallagher Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2008 |
"Almost since the day he joined the Disney Studio machine shop, Neil Gallagher was a leader," Disney Legend and former Imagineering ambassador Marty Sklar once recalled.
Neil hired into the Disney Studio machine shop in April 1957. He worked in the general shop on projects for Disneyland, and in Studio back lot support. His interest began to lean toward the developing craft of mechanical animation and manufacturing, and for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, Gallagher built flower boats with singing orchids, tiki drummers, and rotating birdcages.
"He worked tirelessly on any animation project given to him and always solicited ideas and solutions from co-workers, in his quest to build better animation," said engineering, design, and production authority and Disney Legend Orlando Ferrante.
In 1963, Neil was assigned to the Mr. Lincoln research and development team to create the most sophisticated Audio-Animatronics® figure of its time. In 1964, he traveled to the New York World's Fair to install and complete the show programming of the Lincoln figure for the Stare of Illinois pavilion.
For the next 18 months Neil led the show and animation maintenance of the four Disney shows at the Fair. This valuable experience allowed him to suggest improved methods of manufacturing and organization for MAPO, the Disney manufacturing entity. After the Fair, he returned to California to lead the show and animation team at MAPO in the development of new shows and attractions for Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Florida.
In 1971, Neil relocated to Florida to set up the show installation and maintenance teams in time for the October opening of the Magic Kingdom. In early 1972, he was promoted to director of maintenance for Walt Disney World.
As the Company prepared to build Epcot Center, Neil was moved to Buena Vista Construction Company to direct their involvement in this challenging project. Shortly after the opening of Epcot Center, he was sent to Tokyo Disneyland to reinforce executive leadership to successfully open Disney's pioneering international park. "These two projects, constructed at the same time on opposite sides of the planet, stretched the resources of the entire company," Ferrante later recalled. "Without men like Neil, we would never have made it."
By late 1983 Gallagher was back in Florida, as vice president of Walt Disney World engineering and construction, a position he held through the 1989 completion of the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park. His next assignment took him to France, and the land use planning of the Euro Disney Resort. He also assisted Walt Disney Imagineering with organizational planning for engineering and professional construction management to execute the project. Three more years passed before he was able to return to Florida, where he resumed his leadership role at Walt Disney World as vice president of engineering, construction and Central Shops.
"Every project leader wanted Neil on their team because he always solicited ideas and new solutions from his co-workers," Marty Sklar once reflected. "Neil understood that leadership requires trusting and empowering your teammates."
After more than 23 years in Florida, and a total of 37 years with The Walt Disney Company, Neil Gallagher retired in 1994. He passed away on September 11, 1995.
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| Frank Gifford (1930–2015) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2008 |
"Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture," said the legendary Frank Gifford, a celebrated football player and the prototype for the successful transition from the playing field of professional sports to the arenas of broadcasting, entertainment, and popular culture.
Born in Santa Monica, California, on August 16, 1930, Gifford began his NFL career with the New York Giants, playing both offense and defense. He made eight Pro Bowl appearances and five in the NFL Championship Game, the forerunner of the Super Bowl. In 1956, he was named Most Valuable Player of the NFL, and led the Giants to the NFL title over the Chicago Bears.
Gifford's move to broadcasting and entertainment began in 1957, while he was still an active player for the Giants. In 1959, he was a commentator on the CBS NFL pre-game show, and appeared in the film Up Periscope, as well as in advertisements for Jantzen Swimwear.
He lost 18 months in the prime of his career when he fell victim to one of the most brutal hits in NFL history. The resulting injury led him to retire from football. "Pro football is like nuclear warfare," Gifford said; "there are no winners, only survivors."
During this time he developed an unsold television crime drama pilot called Turnpike, and did occasional guest spots on TV shows such as Hazel.
He returned to the Giants in 1962, changing positions from running back to wide receiver. His eight Pro Bowl selections came in three different positions: defensive back, running back, and wide receiver. He retired again, this time for good, in 1964, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
Gifford became a commentator for CBS Sports, and in 1971, he joined Howard Cosell and Don Meredith on ABC's Monday Night Football, a post he held until 1998. Gifford recalled, "People remember Don being a country bumpkin, which he wasn't, and Howard being a pain in the ass, which he was. I was the law and order."
Gifford was also reporter and commentator on other ABC programs, such as the 1972-1984 Summer Olympics, as well as the 1976-1988 Winter Olympics. In addition, he was host of ABC's Wide World of Sports and other ABC Sports specials, and guest hosted Good Morning America. Gifford even interviewed then-president Richard Nixon in 1971. In 1977, Gifford received an Emmy® Award as Outstanding Sports Personality.
Over the years, Gifford made numerous film appearances, including Paper Lion, Disney's The World's Greatest Athlete, Two Minute Warning, and Jerry Maguire. His memoir, The Whole Ten Yards, written with Harry Waters, was published in 1993.
In 1995, he was given the Pete Rozelle Award by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football." Gifford has been married since 1986 to singer, actress, and television host Kathie Lee Gifford. They have two children.
More than anything, Gifford remains enamored of the powerful unity that pro sports and broadcasting can provide. He recalled, "Governor Reagan had his arm around John Lennon, and he was explaining American football to him. Only on Monday Night Football would you get those two guys, who were poles apart, united."
The celebrated football player, broadcaster, and Disney Legend passed away on August 9, 2015, in Connecticut, at the age of 84.
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| Toshio Kagami Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2008 |
"One of the most important things we can do at Disney is carry on our traditions, and be true to our legacy," said Disney Legend Jim Cora. "Toshio Kagami has continued to follow the dreams of such important and diverse leaders as Masatomo Takahashi and Frank Wells, bringing the full promise of Tokyo Disney Resort to outstanding reality."
Toshio Kagami, Representative Director, Chairman and CEO of the Oriental Land Company, was born in 1936 in Tokyo. At the age of 22, he joined the staff of Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1909, Keisei is involved in a wide range of activities including railway and real estate development in the Tokyo metropolis and Chiba prefecture, where most of its businesses are focused. It is active in a wide range of industries.
Toshio rose through the ranks at Keisei and, in 1972, was appointed deputy director of the Real Estate Division of Oriental Land Co., Ltd. (OLC). The company was founded in 1960 for the purpose of reclaiming land in the ocean off the coast of Urayasu in Chiba prefecture for the development of commercial and residential areas as well as construction of a large-scale leisure facility to contribute to the culture, health, and welfare of the Japanese public. The main stockholders of the Oriental Land Company are Keisei Electric Railway and Mitsui Fudosan, the premier real estate concern in Japan.
In 1976, Toshio was appointed director of the Real Estate Division of OLC. In the 1960s, the OLC approached Disney to bring Disneyland to Japan; this eventually resulted in the opening of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. Owned by the OLC, the venture licenses the various Disney brands, characters, and properties. Disney also provides their park and resort management and Imagineering expertise to the OLC, including the design and construction of the Tokyo Disney Resort complex and a second theme park, Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2001.
Toshio continued his career with OLC in a variety of roles, including Employee Relations, Development, Publicity, and in 1993 was named executive director. He later became executive vice president and, in 1995, was named representative director and president.
"Walt was definitely a wonderful person," Toshio once said, "but the fact that we were able to bring the Disney Resort to Japan and make it a success in Japan, I believe that we were able to bridge these two different cultures together. The world has to be a peaceful place and I would like to see more and more of these bridges built across the world."
"When all is said and done," Jim Cora added, "the work that Kagami-san has done leads directly back to one simple idea—Walt was right."
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| Burny Mattinson (1935–2023) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2008 |
When asked to reflect on a Disney career more than half a century long, Burny Mattinson seemed a bit surprised. "I mean, 50 years is a long time," the artist once admitted, "but I still feel like that 18-year-old kid that came here back in '53, you know? I never feel like I've gotten old."
Burnett Mattinson was born San Francisco on May 13, 1935—the first of two children. Before he was six years old, his mother took him to the San Francisco Orpheum, where he saw Pinocchio. "Ever since I saw that film, this was my dream," Burny recalled, "To work in this business. So I worked every day, drawing."
His father, a drummer with Horace Heidt's Big Band, moved the family to Los Angeles after the band's demise in 1945, and Burny continued drawing through his school years. By the time he was twelve, he was skillfully drawing Disney-style cartoons, and kept dreaming of being a Disney artist.
After graduation, his mother drove him to Burbank and dropped him off at the Studio gate. A kindly guard took a look at the teenager's portfolio and called the head of Personnel. Burny got an interview and a job, beginning in the mailroom. Six months later, and with no formal art training, he started work as an in-betweener on Lady and the Tramp.
Disney has always been a family place. I think that's what's so rich about it. It's family. And, you know, that was the big thing Walt felt, way back. He was family.
He was promoted to assistant animator under Marc Davis on Sleeping Beauty and continued in that capacity on One Hundred and One Dalmatians. When that film ended, he began a twelve-year stint with Eric Larson, working on a variety of projects including The Wonderful World of Color television series, The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and The Aristocats.
After completing an eight-week internal training program, Burny became a key animator on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too, working with Disney Legend Ollie Johnston. Disney Legend Frank Thomas saw Burny's thumbnail sketches and asked him to help on storyboards for The Rescuers. "Storyboards are as close to direction as you can get," Burny later said. "You're telling cameras where to go, what's happening on screen, where to cut, and really making a blueprint for the film."
While briefly assigned to The Black Cauldron, Burny was inspired by a Disneyland Records Christmas album and brazenly sent it, along with a note containing an idea for a film, to Ron Miller, then head of the Studio. The next day, Burny was summoned by Miller. Burny feared that his boldness had been a gaffe, but was pleasantly surprised when the studio chief agreed with Burny's idea, assigning the startled animator to direct Mickey's Christmas Carol, which he also produced. This success led to his contribution as producer and director on The Great Mouse Detective.
Burny continued to work in animation, contributing to development and story on such new classics as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Mulan. Burny also provided additional story for a new Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. He served as story supervisor on the animated feature Winnie the Pooh. In 2013, he celebrated his 60th anniversary with Disney.
Burny and his wife Sylvia have three children and four grandchildren, but he always feels that his extended family is on Buena Vista Street and Riverside Drive. "Disney has always been a family place. I think that's what's so rich about it. It's family. And, you know, that was the big thing Walt felt, way back. He was family."
Burny Mattinson passed away on February 27, 2023, in Canoga Park, California, at age 87.
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| Walt Peregoy (1925–2015) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2008 |
"As much as he wanted things his way, Walt Disney recognized he needed people on his staff that would challenge, disagree, and go against him in his own animation department," Disney Legend Floyd Norman recalled.
"Guys like Walt Peregoy knew that in order to keep animation alive and thriving, there was a need to move forward—even if it was over the objections of the boss."
Born Alwyn Walter Peregoy in Los Angeles, California in 1925, Walt spent his early childhood on a small island in San Francisco Bay. He was nine years old when he began his formal art training, attending Saturday classes at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley. When he was 12 years old, Walt's family returned to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in Chouinard Art Institute's life drawing classes. At age 17, he dropped out of high school and went to work for Disney as an in-betweener.
In 1942, he joined the Coast Guard, and served for three years. After World War II, he continued his art education, studying at the University de Belles Artes, San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico, and with Fernand Leger in Paris.
In 1951, with a young family in tow, Walt returned to the United States, and resumed his career with The Walt Disney Studios. Initially, he served as a designer and animator on Peter Pan (1953) and Lady and the Tramp.
Even on these more conventional projects, Walt's personal style began to surface. "I always asked myself," he later recalled, "how come their idea of realism is completely contradictory to a duck or a mouse or a baboon talking? That's not realism. It's freedom. So, why does a flower have to be put next to an airbrushed rock?"
Walt's unique style meshed well with that of his contemporary, stylist Eyvind Earle, and their work on the Academy Award®-nominated short Paul Bunyan was a departure for Disney. "My style was unusual for Walt Disney, but he tolerated me," Walt later said. Although, since he was "tolerated" for 14 years, the artist sheepishly admitted, "I had to be doing something right."
Walt was lead background painter on Sleeping Beauty, before embarking on his most ambitious, intelligent, and personal effort.
"To this day, Walt Peregoy's color styling in One Hundred and One Dalmatians remains a fine example of how color can be used creatively in animation while serving more than a merely decorative function," said modern animation authority Amid Amidi.
Walt continued at Disney on the features The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book, after which he spent several years with Hanna-Barbera.
He returned to Disney in 1977, contributing his unique view to the design of EPCOT Center, where his influence included architectural facades, sculptures, and murals for The Land and Journey Into Imagination pavilions.
Later in life, Walt worked mostly in oil and pastels, and his work has been shown at the National Gallery, the Library of Congress, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The same muses that drove his innovative work at Disney still spoke to him. "I listen for what should be there," Walt reflected. "If you really love to express yourself visually, it's a shame if you don't do it. If you keep ignoring the muse, it disappears."
Walt Peregoy passed away on January 16, 2015.
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| Dorothea Redmond (1910–2009) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2008 |
Artist Dorothea Redmond was well known at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) for her skills as a painter and illustrator. "All the great art directors, like Bill Martin and Harper Goff, wanted Dorothea's design illustrations," Disney Legend and former Imagineering ambassador Marty Sklar once said.
Dorothea was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 18, 1910. After receiving her degree in interior design from the USC School of Architecture and attending Art Center College, Dorothea went to work for producer David O. Selznick.
At Selznick International, she contributed to The Young in Heart, Gone with The Wind, and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca. Dorothea also worked at RKO with famed French director Jean Renoir, at Universal Studios, and at Paramount. An especially fond Paramount memory was the "great sets" of The Road to Bali with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. After working with Charlie Chaplin on Limelight and with Hitchcock again on Rear Window (1954), Dorothea joined an architectural firm.
Tired of "ten years of working weekends to meet Monday deadlines," the artist joined WDI in October of 1964. Some of her first Disney work involved the transformation of Disneyland's Red Wagon Inn Restaurant into the sumptuously appointed Plaza Inn. Working with art director John Hench, Dorothea transformed the Inn into a graceful dining facility that was one of Walt's favorite spots to host guests.
Her next project was to design interior settings for New Orleans Square. Dorothea did many interior and exterior views of the area restaurants and shops, her evocative style bringing a rich reality to the finished work.
"A Dorothea Redmond watercolor painting is a wonder to behold," Disney artist and historian Stacia Martin once said. "The exquisite detail coaxed from the elusive medium combines with a flawless sense of color and light to create not just illustrations, but living environments."
Working with art directors Bill Martin and Bob Brown, as well as with Walt himself, Dorothea developed the interior paintings of the Royal Suite, a Disney family hideaway atop New Orleans Square, once the home of The Disney Gallery and currently the Disneyland "Dream Suite."
Dorothea remained at WDI to work on the Walt Disney World project in Florida, where her work was varied and prolific, including moody studies for Fantasyland, renderings for an architecturally opulent Main Street, and Adventureland area development that communicated a feminine and ethereal mood of exotica.
"Her watercolor sketches were extraordinary placemaking," Marty Sklar once said. "They expressed the concept so beautifully you felt you had already 'been there' in her restaurants and shop interiors, Walt's suite for New Orleans Square, or along the promenade in Epcot's World Showcase."
She designed the elaborate murals in the entry passage through Cinderella Castle. The five fifteen-by-ten-foot panels were realized in a million pieces of multicolored Italian glass, real silver, and 14-karat gold, and were duplicated for Tokyo Disneyland a decade later. "She combines her knowledge of space and structure with a stylized storytelling experience evoking the animated film—yet giving it a new, illuminated elegance," Stacia Martin later said.
Dorothea retired in June of 1974. Her work was later featured in the exhibit Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film, organized by the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, in collaboration with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library.
Dorothea passed away at age 98 on February 27, 2009 at her home in the Hollywood Hills.
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| Russi Taylor (1944–2019) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2008 |
Russi Taylor has a light, bubbly, energetic performance quality, with an incredible range and a skilled and intelligent sense of improvisation. Her "cast of characters" includes newborn infants and Muppet Babies, children and grown-ups, and a menagerie of animal and fantasy personalities.
Her most famous role, and certainly one that she feels closest to, is Minnie Mouse. "You have to bring yourself to a character," Russi once observed. "But because of this particular character, she actually enhances who I am, she really does. In a sense Minnie makes me better than I was before 'cause there's a lot to live up to."
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 4, 1944, Russi had a desire to work for Disney ever since childhood and once even had the opportunity to express that hope directly to Walt Disney, when she encountered him at Disneyland. Walt himself assured young Russi that her dream would come true.
Russi has been the official voice of Minnie Mouse since 1986, when she won the coveted role in an audition that included nearly 200 hopefuls.
She has given voice to Minnie in the films Runaway Brain and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: The Three Musketeers, and the TV series Mickey's Mouse Works, House of Mouse, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Her other Disney voices have included Nurse Mouse in The Rescuers Down Under as well as Donald's mischievous nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Webbigail Vanderquack in DuckTales. Other audio appearances included the TV series TaleSpin, The Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Kim Possible.
As one of the leading voice performers working today, Russi is in perpetual demand and has a resume of credits that runs more than six pages. Among her most famous roles are Strawberry Shortcake, Baby Gonzo of Muppet Babies, Pebbles Flintstone, Duchess the Cat in the film Babe, and Ferny Toro in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.
Russi had a recurring role as Penny Tompkins in The Critic, and has provided the voice of Martin Prince and the twins, Sherri and Terri, on more than 100 episodes of The Simpsons" as well as the blockbuster feature The Simpsons Movie.
Even with this vast repertoire, Minnie is never far from Russi. "Russi has imbued Minnie with so much of her own appeal, her strength, her spirit; a sense of gentleness, but combined with a certain sauciness," Roy E. Disney once said. "In the process, she has really helped to define Minnie's character for new generations."
Russi feels a deep sense of stewardship about Minnie. "I really want whoever comes after us to be aware of the history and the tradition, and to love the characters as much as we do," she says of herself and her husband, Wayne Allwine, who provided the voice of Mickey Mouse until his death in 2009.
Of her long career providing voice for Mickey's lady love, and the benefit that she and Allwine derived from the roles, Taylor once stated, "We're so lucky, we really are."
Russi Taylor passed away in Glendale, California, on July 26, 2019. She was 75.
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| Barbara Walters (1929–2022) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2008 |
"I was the kind nobody thought could make it," Barbara Walters once said. "I had a funny Boston accent. I couldn't pronounce my R's. I wasn't a beauty." She was, however, a wholly unique combination of intelligence, ambition, drive, and character—a matchless personality that led her to one achievement after another in a remarkable fifty-year career.
Barbara was the first woman co-host of the Today show, the first female network news co-anchor, the host and producer of top-rated TV specials, the host and chief correspondent of "20/20," and the creator and co-host of "The View." She has not only interviewed the world's most fascinating figures, she has become a part of their world.
Barbara Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 25, 1929, to Dena and Lou Walters, and attended schools in Boston, New York, and Miami Beach. She earned a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College, after which she joined NBC New York affiliate WRCA-TV, where she became a writer and the affiliate's youngest producer. Her abilities and experience in research, writing, filming, and editing soon earned her a job as news and public affairs producer for CBS.
In 1961, she began as a writer on the Today show, and within a year became a reporter-at-large. She became a co-host of the program without the official title in 1963, but in 1974 NBC formally designated her as the program's first female co-host.
Barbara joined ABC in 1976 as the first woman to co-host the network news. Through the years she has interviewed such world figures as Boris Yeltsin, Premier Jiang Zemin, Margaret Thatcher, Muammar Gaddafi, and Sadaam Hussein.
She was also the first American journalist to interview Vladimir Putin, and the first interview with President and Mrs. Bush following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In fact, she has interviewed every American president and first lady since Richard Nixon, and made journalism history with the first joint interview with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1977.
The Barbara Walters Specials are continuously top-rated, and have included such legends as Sir Laurence Olivier, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Audrey Hepburn. The 10 Most Fascinating People broadcast, launched in 1993, offers a review of the most prominent newsmakers of the year. After 25 years as host and chief correspondent of ABC News' 20/20, Barbara left the show in 2004, but remains an active member of the news division and network. She is creator, co-executive producer, and co-host of The View, recipient of the 2003 Daytime Emmy® award for Outstanding Talk Show. In 2008, her autobiography, Audition, was published by Knopf to critical and popular acclaim, and spent several weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List.
Over the years Barbara has been the recipient of numerous honors, including induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame and receipt of the ATAS Lifetime Achievement Award. She even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Barbara is the recipient of honorary degrees from Sarah Lawrence, Ohio State University, Temple University, Marymount College, Wheaton College, Hofstra University, and Ben-Gurion University in Jerusalem.
"Success can make you go one of two ways," Walters once reflected. "It can make you a prima donna, or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out."
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| Oliver Wallace (1887–1963) Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2008 |
"Ollie was a madman," animator and Disney Legend Frank Thomas once observed, "funny, eccentric, noisy, unexpected—and loved by everyone." This combination of traits seems to have fated Oliver Wallace to a varied and unconventional career creating music for The Walt Disney Studios.
Born in London, England on August 6, 1887, Oliver studied widely, in subject and geography: "Under La Gourg of the Chicago School of Music, counterpart and harmony with Bresha in San Francisco, piano with Louis Diamond Professor Cottohn of London, MacDonald Hope of Los Angeles," according to an early Studio biography.
After relocating to Canada from England in 1904, Oliver moved to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1914. He is frequently cited as the first musician to use a pipe organ to accompany motion pictures (in Seattle, Washington in 1910), later becoming house organist for the prestigious Granada Theatre in San Francisco and then Sid Grauman's Rialto Theatre in Los Angeles.
Oliver's work experience gave him a background uniquely suited to the varied and unusual music he created for Disney: "I began acquiring that art when I got my first job playing for vaudeville and single reels in 1906," Oliver recalled in 1954. "Believe me, you had to be snappy with your invention to keep up with the shadows in those early flickers."
"He was primarily an improving musician with a great sense of music, and from his years of playing organ to silent movies he was able to match music to any piece of action,"
Thomas further recalled. "He was caustic, satiric, looked like a little Bantam Rooster, and never let anyone get the best of him."
Oliver also noted that he had an allegorical drama published in book form, as well as numerous poems, and more than two dozen songs and compositions, including the 1918 hit Hindustan. He worked in the Music Departments of Columbia and Universal Studios (his pipe organ prowess can be heard in the Franz Waxman score of the 1935 horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein) before coming to Disney in 1936.
In his years with Disney, Oliver proudly estimated that he had written more than 30 miles of soundtrack. He was musical director for the Academy Award®-winning score for Dumbo, as well as for Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp.
Animation music historian Ross Care also noted of Oliver's prolific short cartoon music, "His scores for the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse shorts… collectively provide a virtual, though still largely unread, textbook in animation scoring."
Oliver contributed music to a number of notable songs, including "When I See an Elephant Fly," "Pink Elephants on Parade," and "Der Fuehrer's Face," for which he also wrote the lyrics. He scored entries in the award-winning People and Places and True-Life Adventures series and the Disneyland television program, for which he was Emmy®-nominated in 1957.
Wallace's feature film scores included Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Ten Who Dared, and The Incredible Journey; he accrued five Academy Award nominations during his career.
He was married to Claire Burch Wallace, a musician herself, and formerly of the University of Washington's music faculty. The couple had two daughters, Martha and Mary. Wallace was working at Disney until his death on September 15, 1963.
"He was a genius," Frank Thomas said, "and responsible for so many unique musical moments in our pictures."
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| September 10, 2009 |
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| Tony Anselmo Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2009 |
"The 'secret' of Donald Duck's voice is really just muscle control that you have to develop, like lifting weights," Tony Anselmo, who since 1985 has given our garrulous if sometimes unintelligible duck his unforgettable squabble, once said. "You have to contort your mouth in a certain way, and the muscles have to be strong enough to stay contorted, so you can lock into it and concentrate on acting rather than 'doing' the voice." It may sound difficult, but as anyone knows who has listened to Tony's work on television series like DuckTales and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, in feature films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or in video games and myriad consumer products, it's probably even harder than it sounds.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 18, 1960, Tony was inspired by the first movie he had ever seen, Mary Poppins, and began drawing and making Super 8 films as a child. His drawings earned him a full scholarship to CalArts, the fabled art school that has bred so many Disney artists. He arrived at The Walt Disney Studios at age 20, focused solely on a career in animation. As a highly skilled animator, he worked on nearly every Disney feature from 1980 to date, but it was a friendship he struck up with Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck and a 1993 Disney Legend, that would eventually lead him to his second career behind the microphone.
Tony recalled that he never had any intention to voice Donald or any other character. He just innocently asked Nash one day how, exactly, he voiced Donald Duck.
"When he first tried to show me, I really couldn't do it. I still wasn't thinking of it in terms of carrying on the tradition. It was just for fun."
Naturally persistent, Tony found himself practicing in the usual places one does such things—in the car or in the shower—and says one day the voice just "clicked in." At this point he quacked a few lines to Nash, who began to tutor his protĂ©gĂ© in earnest. Little by little, he passed down the tricks of his trade. By the time Nash passed away in 1985, Tony, after spending three years perfecting the voice of the vinegary fowl, gladly took up the legacy left to him by his good friend.
In 1990, when the Studios released The Prince and the Pauper, Tony became the first person to animate and voice Donald. And although acting with a pen is much different from acting with a voice, Tony is only too glad to help out in any capacity asked of him. "I've watched Donald Duck cartoons a million times and my whole life I wanted to work for Disney," he once said. "Pending natural disaster, I expect to be doing Donald the rest of my life."
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| Harry Archinal (1928–2017) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2009 |
Harold P. "Harry" Archinal, the man widely considered to have practically invented the international film distribution business, was the only child of Harry Paul Archinal and Catherine L. Peters. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 3, 1928, he was, in a sense, "born" into the movie business. His father had worked for Samuel Goldwyn Productions for 39 years as company treasurer.
Having received a bachelor of arts from Wagner College, in Staten Island, New York, Harry was drafted into the Army in 1951 and served three years in the Signal Corps. He attained the rank of first lieutenant and served overseas in Japan and South Korea before leaving the Army in 1953.
Following his discharge, Harry started working for Disney in March 1954 as a clerk in the foreign department at the New York office of the Buena Vista Distribution Company, which was founded by Disney in 1953 to distribute its films. It was a part-time position that earned Harry $50 per week while he continued his graduate work for a master of arts in history, which he was eventually awarded from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
After receiving his degree, Harry joined Buena Vista International as Latin America sales supervisor. He became general sales manager for the foreign division and then vice president before eventually being named president of Buena Vista International in 1972. He married Beatrix M. Treuherz in Copenhagen on November 1, 1974.
"Harry Archinal is one of the great pioneers in the world of international film distribution, as well as a central figure in establishing Disney's great success in overseas markets," said Dick Cook, former chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.
"From his humble beginnings as a sales supervisor for Buena Vista International in Latin America to his 16-year reign as president of the division, Harry always conducted business in a fair and friendly manner that reflected his personal style and earned him an incredible reputation in the industry. During my years in distribution, I learned a lot from Harry, and always had tremendous respect and admiration for him as an executive and as a person. Being named a Disney Legend officially recognizes Harry's great contributions to our Company."
On January 1, 1988, after 33 years with The Walt Disney Company and 16 as president of Buena Vista International, Harry retired from the Company where he had spent his entire career. At that time, Jeffrey Katzenberg, then Disney Studios chairman, said, "Harry has greatly contributed to Disney's tremendous stature and success in overseas markets for many years with his keen instincts regarding foreign marketing and distribution. The record-breaking box office figures set by many of our animated releases, new product as well as reissues, reflect favorably on his leadership abilities."
After retiring from Disney, Harry became an executive vice president at Introvision, a special effects firm that applied its unique "Introvision" technique to dozens of Hollywood blockbusters in the 1980s and 1990s, including Disney's Adventures in Babysitting and Columbia's Stand By Me. He passed away on Saturday, May 13, 2017, at the age of 88.
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| Beatrice Arthur (1922–2009) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2009 |
Tall, husky-voiced, hilariously forthright if not downright acid-tongued, Beatrice "Bea" Arthur commanded attention, whether she was on stage or the TV screen.
Born Bernice Frankel in New York City on May 13, 1922, Bea was raised in Cambridge, Maryland— the daughter of department store owners. She later trained for the stage at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research in New York City, gaining attention for her natural talent, stature, and a voice so deep it could be mistaken for that of a man's. She went to work on Broadway where she quickly landed a succession of roles, and, in 1966, she won a Tony® Award for her performance as the barb-tongued Vera Charles in Mame.
Bea had little television or film experience when she met television writer and producer Norman Lear, who brought her to Hollywood in 1971 for a guest spot on All in the Family as Maude, Edith Bunker's opinionated and progressively minded cousin. Maude's cosmic-scaled clashes with Archie Bunker, the possessor of a more retrograde mindset, became the stuff of comedy legend; within a year, Bea had her own show, Maude, which aired on CBS from 1972-1978. For her work on the series, Bea received five Emmy® nominations and won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1977.
It was in the Touchstone Television series The Golden Girls, which aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992, that Bea found her most fully realized and enduring character, utterly inhabiting the role of Dorothy Zbornak, daughter of the widowed Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). Mother-daughter exchanges never sounded more authentic or hilarious, and what helped make the show tick so smoothly, as show producer Paul Witt once said, was the way Bea functioned as "the isle of sanity who could look at the other three characters from the audience's perspective."
"I'm thrilled to be part of this bright, funny comedy," Bea said during the series' run. "It's fun to go to work every day with this marvelous group of performers." All four of the show's stars, Bea, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, and Betty White, would go on to receive Emmys for their work on this landmark television series, with Bea earning hers in 1988.
After The Golden Girls, Bea continued to work, most notably in a one-woman show called Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, which enjoyed strong runs on Broadway and around the world. She was also a strong advocate of animal rights and AIDS research.
She was married twice, to playwright Robert Alan Aurthur, from whom she derived her stage name, and to Broadway director Gene Saks.
Bea passed away on April 25, 2009, in Los Angeles on April 25, 2009. Three days later, the Broadway community paid tribute to this giant of screen and stage by dimming marquees in New York City's Broadway theater district for one minute. Betty White, who played Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, said upon hearing of Bea's passing, "I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much. She was such a big part of my life."
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| Bill Farmer Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2009 |
When Bill Farmer's wife introduces him to people as "goofy," he doesn't take it personally. He just laughs, "Ah-hyuck," and confused looks turn to smiles of recognition. Bill's voice is familiar to cartoon fans around the world as the voice of Goofy and Pluto, two of Disney's most enduring and endearing characters.
Bill was born in Pratt, Kansas, on November 14, 1952. It was a lonely place where, he once said, "there wasn't an awful lot to do." Bill therefore gravitated to the movies—especially cartoons. As a boy, he discovered he had a knack for imitating the voices he heard on screen, and the outsized vocal talent he discovered as a kid stood him in good stead though high school and college and throughout his career. The current voice of Goofy and Pluto once admitted, "Of all the cartoon characters, Goofy was always my favorite, so [voicing the character] really is a dream come true."
His youth sounds like something straight out of Norman Rockwell, an evocation of the halcyon days of the Midwest in the 1950s and 1960s. "I'd been doing impressions since I was 15," Bill once recalled. "It was great for teenage pranks—we'd pull up to the fast food drive-through speaker, and I'd order the burgers as Walter Brennan."
Throughout his college years at the University of Kansas, where he earned a degree in broadcast journalism, Bill constantly burnished his repertoire, which grew to include more than 100 jaw-droppingly authentic celebrity impressions. "I kicked around in radio for a few years, got into standup comedy for about five years as an impressionist before finally coming out to Hollywood in 1986 and striking the big time with the Goof," he once said.
In winning the coveted voice role, Bill walks in the long and celebrated shadow of 1993 Disney Legend Pinto Colvig, a storyman at the Disney Studios in the 1930s and the original voice of Goofy. Bill, whose rugged good looks, full head of sandy-blond hair and perpetual smile seem to radiate Midwestern optimism and individuality, once said, "The hardest thing to learn was 'ya-ha-hooooooiieewe!'"—the Goofy calling card that accompanies every delicious tumble or pratfall.
Bill's vocal talents starred in our lovable Goof's first animated feature film, A Goofy Movie, and the television series Goof Troop and Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. He has performed in more than 40 other films and shows, including Disney's DTV Doggone Valentine television special in 1987—the first time he voiced Goofy and barked for Pluto in the same project. He also lent his vocal talents to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast and Ed Wood and to such Pixar films as A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and Toy Story 2. But of all the characters he has brought spectacularly to life, it is Goofy that he cherishes most.
"Doing the voice of Goofy has become second nature to me," Bill says. "In the beginning, I had to stop and think what his motivation was, but now he lives inside me."
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| Estelle Getty (1923–2008) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2009 |
"I've played mothers to heroes and mothers to zeroes," the Emmy® Award-winning actress Estelle Getty observed in her 1988 autobiography, If I Knew Then What I Know Now… So What? "I've played Irish mothers, Jewish mothers, Italian mothers, Southern mothers, mothers in plays by Neil Simon and Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. I've played mother to everyone but Attila the Hun."
She also played, perhaps most famously, the wisecrack-slinging mother Sophia Petrillo in Touchstone Television's The Golden Girls. With her tiny frame, huge eyeglasses, and ever-present purse, Estelle cut a comic swath few have forgotten, and in so doing revealed a heartbreaking truth. Older women, as Estelle once observed, need an oversized purse, because they have been relieved of so many possessions in their lives that everything they have managed to hold on to seems to wind up in one. It was precisely this deeply realized mix of comic absurdity and sad truth that made Estelle's portrayal of Sophia so unforgettable. In 1988, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in this seminal comedy series.
"I know this lady I'm playing," Estelle observed during the show's spectacular run. "She's partly me and partly my imagination, but she's an original and that's what I've been playing all my life—original characters."
Original is an adjective that fit Estelle nicely. Born July 25, 1923, in New York City, she was trained for the New York stage by the legendary Herbert Berghof Studios and famed acting coach Gerald Russak. After a long stage career, she gained national prominence with her headline-stealing role in Broadway's Tony Award®-winning Torch Song Trilogy. Her portrayal of the inimitable Mrs. Beckoff won her the first-ever Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Performer.
Hollywood discovered Estelle Getty when the show arrived in Los Angeles. Her management team told her she should try to make it in Hollywood. Her answer? "I'll give it two months." In that time, Estelle starred in Torch Song Trilogy," shot the NBC pilot No Man's Land, went to work on the highly regarded film Mask (again, playing a mother, this time to Cher) and performed in Copacabana (playing mother to Barry Manilow). Although she was slightly younger than Bea Arthur, Estelle donned a wig, makeup and delightfully dowdy clothes to try out for the role of Dorothy's mother on The Golden Girls. Six weeks later, she won the part.
Estelle shared with her character Sophia a forthrightness that, after The Golden Girls, made her a spokesperson for many AIDS related charities. She became a preeminent voice in this country for the senior population.
Estelle passed away on July 22, 2008, in her Hollywood home. "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," Bea Arthur said at the time of her passing.
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| Don Iwerks Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2009 |
Don Iwerks was born in 1929 and followed his father, the animator, special effect wizard, and Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, to Disney, joining the Company in 1950 as a laboratory technician. He worked briefly for the Company before being drafted into the Korean War, where he served for two years in the Signal Photo Corps. When he returned to the United States, he immediately went back to work at Disney, having decided to forgo formal education.
He soon transferred to the fabled Studio Machine Shop, where he was eventually offered a camera technician position and went to work on his first film for the Studio, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He eventually headed both the Machine Shop and Camera Service Department, as well as the Technical Engineering and Manufacturing Division.
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| Along the way he displayed his father's flair for technological innovation by developing cameras, projectors, and other systems for Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and Epcot Center. |
Among his many accomplishments were helping to develop the 360-degree CircleVision camera that was first used in Circarama, U.S.A.; building the film equipment used at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair; Captain EO, a Disney park attraction featuring a 3-D film and in-theater effects; and the projection system for the wildly popular Star Tours attraction. Don also aided his father in the development of the sodium traveling matte process, including the creation of specialized cameras and optical printers that could combine painted backgrounds, traditional animation, and live-action foregrounds to create the unforgettable cinematic experience that was the Academy Award®-winning Mary Poppins.
For his part, Don often cited his work at the New York's World Fair and Epcot Center as defining moments in his career. "In my career, Epcot was most outstanding," he once said. "The theaters included two nine-screen CircleVision theaters plus the French Pavilion—which was like CircleVision, except that it was a sit-down theater with five screens and a 200-degree wrap. The American Adventure was a huge rear-projection theater with set pieces in front of it. The film and scenics served as the background that helped to tell the story of America. It remains one of the most powerful experiences at Epcot."
In recognition of contributions to the movie industry made by his large-format and simulated film innovations, Don received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors in 1997.
After a 35-year career at Disney, Don formed his own company, Iwerks Entertainment, Inc., in 1986. The maker of giant-screen theaters and 3D-projection-based theme park attractions was acquired by SimEx, Inc. in 2001.
Don credited Walt Disney and his father for the success he enjoyed throughout his career. From them, he learned that keeping a keen eye on detail and quality is the key to success. "There was a 'can-do' attitude I learned from Walt and my father," he once said. "If you're doing a really first-class job, you don't need to worry about the money. It will come. Walt gave everyone a feeling that they were creating things that others had never thought of before, of being a part of history."
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| Rue McClanahan (1934–2010) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2009 |
Born on February 21, 1934, in Healdton, Oklahoma, Eddi-Rue McClanahan graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa, where she majored in German and theatre, before embarking on what would become a highly successful career in theater, commercials, television, and film. Gifted, spirited, and blessed with an uncanny sense of comic timing, Rue is perhaps best known for her role as Blanche Devereaux in The Golden Girls, a wildly successful and critically acclaimed Touchstone Television series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992.
Rue began her acting career in New York City in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in 1969, portraying Sally Weber in the musical Jimmy Shine with Dustin Hoffman. The following year she landed her breakout role in the NBC soap Another World, bringing to life the maniacal nanny Caroline Johnson. Rue then joined the cast of the CBS soap Where the Heart Is, where she grabbed the spotlight as Margaret Jardin, another character of questionable intentions.
From 1972 to 1984, she played a variety of TV roles, including her charming performance as Vivian Cavender Harmon in Maude, the multiple award-winning CBS series. But it was in 1985 with The Golden Girls that Rue McClanahan found the perfect character for her unique comic talents, and playing the sarcastic, rapier-witted Blanche Devereaux gave Rue the chance to explore fully her comedic range.
"I'm playing a man-crazy, self-centered widow, and I'm having a lot of fun doing it!" she said during the show's run.
"I'm very lucky and thrilled to be back with Bea [Arthur] and Betty [White], two wonderful actresses I've worked with before [on "Maude" and "Mama's Family," respectively]. And, of course, the hilarious Estelle Getty is a delight."
The Golden Girls hilariously redefined viewer notions of how respectable older women ought to behave. Rue's hilarious turn as an unrepentantly oversexed senior citizen endlessly recalling, with her spot-on Southern drawl, escapades from days gone by threatened to steal the show every week. During its original run, The Golden Girls received 65 Emmy® nominations, 11 Emmy awards and four Golden Globe® Awards. All the lead actresses won Emmy Awards for their performances on the show. Only the landmark television series All in the Family and Will & Grace can make that same claim. For her work on the series, Rue received the Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987.
In 1992, Rue starred in The Golden Palace, again for Touchstone Television, in which she reprised the role of Blanche. This time, with dreams of becoming the next Leona Helmsley dancing in her head, Blanche convinced her roommates, Rose and Sophia, to pool their resources and buy an art deco hotel in Miami Beach.
Rue continued to act on television and on stage, remained an animal activist and became a successful author. In an interview late in life, she said she still thought often about her friends from The Golden Girls: "I was washing my face the other day and thought, 'What if I was working today and walked onto the soundstage and Bea and Estelle were there?' Those days were truly golden."
Rue passed away on June 3, 2010, in New York City.
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| Leota Toombs Thomas Legends Award Category: Attractions & Imagineering Year Inducted: 2009 |
The millions of guests that have explored the shadowy confines of the Haunted Mansion have seen Leota "Lee" Toombs Thomas—or at least the likeness of her face. She appears as Madame Leota, the disembodied head that speaks from inside a crystal ball at Disney's creepiest and most ghoulishly fun attraction. "As I remember," the soft-spoken Imagineer recalled shortly after making her debut at the attraction, which first opened at Disneyland in 1969, "my eyes were the right distance apart to fit the test model when the whole thing began."
Something of the gypsy look in her handsome face worked so well, however, that she later found herself in the Studio's makeup department preparing to have a special rubber mask made of her face; her visage is now enshrined forever in the Haunted Mansion.
Lee began her career at The Walt Disney Studios in 1940, when she was hired into the Ink and Paint department. She then transferred to the Animation Department, where she met animator Harvey Toombs, whom she married in 1947. She left the Company to raise their two children, Launie and Kim, but returned to Disney in 1962. Joining WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering, she created and developed designs for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. A natural craftsman, Lee played pivotal roles in the creation of it's a small world, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and Ford's Magic Skyway. After the conclusion of the World's Fair, Lee transferred her talents to some of the most beloved attractions at Disneyland, including Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.
Kim Irvine, Lee's daughter and a Disney Imagineer since 1970, once painted a vivid picture of these heady times in Disneyland history: "When Yale Gracey was experimenting with ideas for a gypsy in a crystal ball, he asked Leota if she would mind posing for the head," she remembered. "They were a close-knit group, and mom said she thought it sounded fun. Blaine [Gibson] made a life mask of her face and Yale, Wathel [Rogers] and the rest of the team filmed her, crazy makeup and all. I still remember when she wore it home that night! Then they created the 'Little Leota' bride at the end of the ride. Since that figure is small, they wanted a high voice, so they kept mom's voice because she sounded like a little girl."
Kim adds that when the Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay was created for the Haunted Mansion, Imagineers wanted a new incantation and they asked if she would do it. "Funny thing is," she explained, "they discovered that our life masks are so similar they can just project her face on my head and they match up perfectly! Mom would have liked that!"
Lee relocated to Walt Disney World in 1971 to start up the on-site team that would maintain shows and attractions. After returning to California in 1979, she worked in several different capacities, including at Walt Disney Imagineering, where she trained many Disneyland figure finishers and artisans.
Leota Toombs Thomas passed away in December 1991.
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| Betty White (1922–2021) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2009 |
By any standard, Betty White is one of the most popular and beloved American actresses of this or any time.
From the moment she appeared on television in 1950, critics and audiences fell in love with her. From her hilarious portrayal of the snide "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her charming performance as Rose Nylund, the charmingly daft spirit she played on the Touchstone Television series The Golden Girls, to her scene-stealing role as Grandma Annie in Touchstone Pictures' The Proposal, Betty is proof that if you're kind, dedicated to your craft, and hysterically funny, getting acting work will never be a problem. Deciding how much you can fit into your incredibly busy schedule, however, may be.
The six-time Emmy Award®-winning actress was born Betty Marion White on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, and raised in Southern California. After hosting a local television show, she formed her own production company in the early 1950s with producer Don Fedderson and writer George Tibbles. The partnership led to her debut comedy series, Life with Elizabeth, for which she won her first Emmy® in 1952. Betty then became a mainstay on variety and game shows and was a much-in-demand regular with Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, and Johnny Carson. Betty then appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in its fourth season, and her legendary star turn as the man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens brought her two Emmys for Best Supporting Actress, for the years 1974-75 and 1975-76.
Equally, if not more beloved, was her spirited performance as Rose Nylund on the critically acclaimed and breakout hit The Golden Girls (1985-1992), for which she was nominated seven times for an Emmy, winning one in 1985. Who can forget her rambling soliloquies about her curious hometown of St. Olaf, Minnesota, which perpetually left her roommates flummoxed but had viewers at home laughing to the point of tears?
"Let's face it," Betty said about her character, "Rose is a little bit naive. To her, life is a romantic musical and she's waiting around to see how it turns out."
Betty never was good at waiting to see how life turns out. After The Golden Girls, she appeared in a spin-off series, The Golden Palace, won an Emmy for her work on The John Larroquette Show, earned an Emmy nomination for Suddenly Susan, and continued to appear on television shows such as Ally McBeal, That '70s Show, Boston Legal, and the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. For Disney, she performed A Conversation with Betty White, taped at the Disney-MGM Studios for Disney Channel, starred in the series Empty Nest as Rose Nylund, and appeared in Maybe This Time. She supplied the voice of Round in Disney's Whispers: An Elephant Tale. She also played Mrs. Kline in the Touchstone Pictures film Bringing Down the House, opposite Disney Legend Steve Martin.
She is the author or co-author of five books, and in 2006 was honored by the City of Los Angeles as the "Ambassador to the Animals" for her lifelong work for animal welfare. Betty was honored by the Television Critics Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. "You can't get rid of me," she joked at the ceremony. "I just won't go away!"
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| Robin Williams (1951–2014) Legends Award Category: Film & Voice Year Inducted: 2009 |
Like Mork, the character he first played on an episode of ABC's Happy Days, this utterly original comic and movie star appeared on our television sets seemingly out of nowhere, almost as if from outer space. But, by 1978, when ABC's Mork & Mindy arrived on screens, Robin Williams soared to superstardom faster than you could say "Na-Nu-Na-Nu," "Shaz-bot," or any of the other catchphrases the improvisational comic made part of the pop culture lexicon of the late 1970s. Within two weeks of the show's premiere, Robin was hailed as a new star. Little could we have known that he was just getting started.
Robin was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 21, 1951, the son of an automobile executive and his wife, a former model. He was raised in Chicago and Detroit, moving with his family to the San Francisco area during his last year in high school. A gifted student, Robin majored in political science at both Marin and Claremont Colleges. While at Marin, he won a scholarship to Juilliard in New York City, where he studied with the legendary John Houseman, along with Christopher Reeve, with whom he remained lifetime friends.
Critics waxed euphoric in their attempts to describe Robin's stand-up comedy work, a craft he turned to with vigor and perfected in the years following the conclusion of Mork & Mindy.
"An outstanding lunar Wildman, out of Jonathan Winters by way of Lenny Bruce with a touch of Richard Burton thrown in," is how one critic enthused about Robin's performances. "An engaging, bright, and inventive actor," said another.
After taking in the sight of the deliriously manic comic's nightclub act on an HBO special, The Hollywood Reporter characterized the incendiary performance as "unadulterated brilliance."
In 1987, Robin trained his talents on live-action and animated films and almost immediately became one of America's biggest stars. Beginning with his Academy Award®-nominated performance as Adrian Cronauer in Touchstone Pictures' Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin starred in an impressive string of Disney films. They included the haunting portrayal of teacher John Keating in Dead Poets Society, a hilarious voice performance as the Genie in Aladdin, and high-caliber performances in Flubber and Bicentennial Man.
Along the way, Robin starred in several seminal films, including Moscow on the Hudson, for which he earned his first Golden Globe® nomination, Miramax's Good Will Hunting, for which his nuanced role as grieving psychologist Sean Maguire earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Mrs. Doubtfire, which earned him his third Golden Globe—this time for Best Actor-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Robin appeared alongside Walter Cronkite in Back to Neverland, a humorous look at the animation process, for the Disney-MGM Studios Animation Tour, and provided the voice of the Timekeeper for the attraction of that name at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
Other Disney appearances include a reprise performance as Genie in Aladdin and the King of Thieves; Hollywood Pictures' Jack, directed by Frances Ford Coppola; and the 2009 comedy Old Dogs.
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| August 19, 2011 |
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| Jodi Benson Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2011 |
"Nobody really wanted to do those types of jobs," Jodi Benson once said of her audition for The Little Mermaid. "It wasn't a very prestigious job. My goal was to do Broadway musicals. Voice acting was something I didn't know anything about!"
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| She won the role of Ariel over at least 500 other actresses, and Jodi admits that when she watches the film, she can see herself in Ariel. "She's independent, spirited, and strong-willed. I don't think I could have accomplished my dreams if there wasn't a little of her in me." |
Born on October 10, 1961, in Rockford, Illinois, Jodi started singing at age 5. "I can't take any credit for the voice," she says, "it came with the package. I just started singing and it was there, and I've been singing ever since."
She attended Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where she abandoned a career in law to become one of the first students in the college's B.F.A. program in musical theatre. During Christmas break of her sophomore year, she auditioned for a Broadway show and won the job. She's been a perpetual presence on the Great White Way and on stages everywhere ever since.
She made her Broadway debut in in 1983 in Kenny Ortega's Marilyn: An American Fable" and went on to star in the Howard Ashman/Marvin Hamlisch musical Smile. It was in this show that she introduced a soaring tour de force ballad that has become well known to Disney fans, a song called simply "Disneyland." Jodi also appeared in A.E. Hotchner's and Cy Coleman's Welcome to the Club in 1989 and sang George Gershwin classics in the lead role of Crazy for You in 1992, which earned her a Tony® Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
Jodi shared the stage with her husband, Ray Benson, in the European premiere of Gershwin's My One and Only. In Los Angeles, Jodi starred in Flora the Red Menace at the Pasadena Playhouse, Oklahoma! at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, My Fair Lady at the Alex Theatre, and Chess at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera, for which she was honored with the prestigious Drama-Logue Award for Best Actress.
She was the voice of Barbie in Pixar's Toy Story 2 and reprised the role with her beau, Ken, in 2010's Toy Story 3. Other wildly varied voice roles for Disney include Helen of Troy in the Hercules television series and Weebo the flying robot in Flubber, both in 1997. Jodi made her live-action movie debut in Disney's Enchanted; moviegoers with keen ears might have noticed Ariel's "Part of Your World" playing in the background during Jodi's scenes.
But Jodi's heart remains "under the sea," and she has brought voice to everything that is The Little Mermaid" including CDs, toys, video games, talking dolls, a television series, and movie sequels. Jodi also spends her time giving back the gifts she is so grateful for, often teaching kids the various steps in the animation process—and at these times is frequently reminded of the deeper significance of her work.
"I was talking to some third graders," Jodi once recalled. "At the end of a 45-minute presentation, a little boy raised his hand and asked, 'How do you hold your breath that long under water?' You see, the magic is what they want to hold onto—and that brings me tremendous joy."
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| Bo Boyd (1942–2011) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 2011 |
In a long career which saw him rise through the ranks of Disney Merchandising, Barton K. "Bo" Boyd went from stocking the shelves of boutiques on Main Street, U.S.A. to operating hundreds of Disney retail outlets across the world. His many ideas and initiatives led to countless products and mementos that line the shelves of Disney fans to this day.
Born on December 6, 1942, in Santa Ana, California, Bo grew up not far from the Happiest Place on Earth, joining Disney on February 14, 1968 as an assistant supervisor in Merchandise at Disneyland. He was responsible for all Main Street, U.S.A. gift shops and retail spaces: the China Closet, the Camera Center, the Magic Shop, and even the much-photographed Flower Mart. Six months later, Bo moved down the street to assume supervisor duties at the Emporium, which at that time operated independently. Soon thereafter, he was promoted again, this time joining the team creating merchandise specifically for Disneyland. This laid the groundwork for a cross-country transfer to Florida in early 1971 to prepare for the opening of Walt Disney World.
On site in Florida, Bo put together a merchandising organization for the new Park similar to what he had done in California, recruiting from up and down the East Coast and designing and developing unique merchandise that would be ready to go on opening day—then just a few short months away. Soon, he was promoted to director, Merchandise Division; in 1976 he relocated back to California, where he assumed the role of vice president, Retail Merchandising, and established a central buying office for both Parks.
In 1983, Bo was asked to run a new division, Disney Consumer Products, while at the same time retaining his theme park merchandise duties. "It soon became apparent it was going to be too much to stay on top of parks retailing while making the Consumer Products business grow," he recalled. "So I took theme park merchandising out of Burbank and relocated it back to the parks where it belongs."
Over the ensuing years, Bo oversaw one of the longest periods of sustained growth in Disney merchandising history, with initiatives such as Licensed Merchandise, Walt Disney Records, and, in Publishing, the start of Hyperion Press and a line of Disney magazine products. On the retail side, there were the far-flung departments of the Disney Catalog, Disney Interactive for computer games and educational software, ESPN—The Store, and the Walt Disney Classics Collection, a fan-favorite division that celebrated classic Disney animated films. The granddaddy of them all, however, was the establishment of the first Disney Store outside the grounds of the theme parks. The first store opened in Glendale, California, in 1987, and Bo grew that innovative business in 10 years to more than 600 stores in the United States and in eight foreign countries.
Bo was named chairman of Disney Consumer Products in 1997.
He retired in 2001, 33 years to the day he walked down Main Street, U.S.A. for his first job at Disneyland. He had been involved with Disney merchandise longer than any person in the history of the Company other than Walt's brother Roy O. Disney.
Bo passed away April 13, 2011, at his home in Mesquite, Nevada.
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| Jim Henson (1936–1990) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2011 |
Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets and undoubtedly the most beloved puppeteer in history, was born in the town of Greenville, Mississippi, on September 24, 1936. The son of an agronomist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jim moved with his family to Hyattsville, Maryland in the late 1940s. Already a skilled puppeteer, Jim began his studies in theatre arts at the University of Maryland in 1955.
That year marked the appearance of his first television show, Sam and Friends, a five-minute late-night puppet show he produced along with another freshman, Jane Nebel, whom he would marry in 1959. The show featured some early incarnations of his famous Muppet characters, including a lovable frog named Kermit that Jim fashioned from one of his mother's old coats and two ping-pong balls.
In 1958 Sam and Friends earned Jim his first Emmy® award; he would go on to win an impressive 30 Emmys during his lifetime for his work with the Jim Henson Company.
The Muppets—Jim coined the term "Muppet" to describe his unique combination of marionette and foam-rubber hand puppets—immediately proved popular, starring in television commercials and regularly appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. Then, in 1969, came the immensely successful Sesame Street, making Kermit a bona fide star and introducing the world to Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, and the rest of the gang and earning Emmys and plaudits for the indelible ways it taught children the alphabet, arithmetic, and life lessons. "The Muppets transcend all age groups," he once said. "Their satiric comment on society seems to delight all ages."
It wasn't until The Muppet Show debuted in 1976, starring Kermit and the egotistical and hilariously outspoken Miss Piggy, that the Muppets became a favorite of fans of all ages. An estimated 235 million viewers tuned in to The Muppet Show each week in more than 100 countries. In 1979, Jim turned to the big screen with a feature film, The Muppet Movie, followed The Great Muppet Caper, in which Jim made his directorial debut, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.
Jim decided to entrust the Muppets to The Walt Disney Company in 1989, although the acquisition was not actually completed until 2004. There were parallels between the two companies' creative geniuses: Walt and Jim were small-town boys who took something considered simple and limited in appeal—animation and puppetry—and elevated them to art forms that charmed fans of all ages.
In 1989, in addition to working on the Here Come The Muppets show for the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now Disney's Hollywood Studios), Jim collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering on the beloved Muppet*Vision 3D attraction, his last film, which is still charming audiences at Disney's Hollywood Studios and at Disney California Adventure. Jim's last project was the television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World, which aired on NBC in 1990.
Jim was also the creative force behind the innovative Dinosaurs television series for ABC, which ran from 1991-1994. The Henson family has continued to contribute to the Disney legacy; Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and the rest of the gang finally returned to the big screen in The Muppets and are scheduled to follow that movie with The Muppets… Again! in 2014.
Jim passed away unexpectedly on May 16, 1990, robbing us all of future Disney collaborations and the fruits of his genius. "We both work for families, and at Disney they have the best ways of reaching families, the best distribution channels," he said in an article published just before he passed away. "I wanted to work with that whole Disney machinery. It's such a terrifically strong thing. Besides, we're having a lot of fun."
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| Linda Larkin Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2011 |
Linda Larkin grew up with Disney princesses—Cinderella and Princess Aurora were childhood favorites—and she had a sense of fate when she went to audition for the animated feature Aladdin.
"I read a line of dialogue that said, 'It's all so magical,'" the actress once recalled. "I was very taken with that line, and I knew it was meant to be."
Linda was born on March 20, 1970, in Alaska and moved to Duluth, Minnesota, at the tender age of 18 months. In the fifth grade, she relocated with her family to Maplewood, a suburb of St. Paul, where she became active in the performing arts world, studying dance—ballet was her specialty—and auditioning at age 12 for the role of Cinderella at the Minneapolis Children's Theatre. She toured the country with a group from the renowned Larkin Dance Studio, from which she took her professional last name.
At age 18, Linda moved to New York City to attend Hofstra University and to pursue a career in the arts. Her first professional job was dancing in a Disney-produced extravaganza at Yankee Stadium. As her education progressed, her focus shifted from dancing to acting, and after graduation she continued those studies, this time with renowned acting coach and instructor Anthony Abeson.
While visiting a friend in Los Angeles in 1989, Linda was cast in her first film and followed that role with appearances on popular television programs such as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Murder, She Wrote. She continued refining her craft in both Los Angeles and New York, as well as in regional stage roles around the country, before being cast as the speaking voice of the fiery Princess Jasmine in Aladdin.
She continued acting in TV series such as Wings and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and feature films such as Our Son, the Matchmaker, Basquiat, Childhood's End, Runaway Bride, The Next Best Thing, Joshua, and You Belong to Me.
Over the years, she has often returned to the role of Jasmine in the sequels The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves; the 1994-1996 Aladdin TV series; and in games, including Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II.
"Aladdin was my first big job, and it definitely opened a lot of doors for me," Linda once said. "I think being the voice of Princess Jasmine has given me an extra advantage in getting some of the jobs I've had—although sometimes they find out about me being Princess Jasmine after they've hired me, and that's always fun!" Linda cherishes the role Disney has played in her life. "I've always believed that if you have a wish, then you also have the power to make it come true."
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| Paige O'Hara Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2011 |
As the singing and speaking voice of the animated heroine Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Paige O'Hara added a Disney classic to a career that has spanned Broadway, opera and concert stages, and the recording studio.
"I had been a Disney fanatic from the time I was little," Paige once said. "As soon as I heard about the project, I called my agent and said, 'I have to be seen for this.' I ended up auditioning five times for Belle, but from the very beginning I felt very confident, because I knew this was my part. It was just one of those things you know." Paige reprised the role of Belle in the sequels Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and Belle's Magical World, and the unprecedented success of Beauty and the Beast has earned her multitudes of fans of all ages all around the world.
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Paige made her Broadway debut in the 1983 revival of Showboat. She was also featured in the Houston Grand Opera's 1989 production, which allowed her to make her international debut when the production was selected to open the Cairo Opera House in Egypt.
Paige co-starred as Ado Annie (the girl who can't say no) in a national tour of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma! in 1979, directed by William Hammerstein. She went on to perform the title role in the original musical comedy The Mystery of Edwin Drood, both on Broadway and in the national tour, and co-starred in Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing/Let 'Em Eat Cake, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. In 1995, she starred as Fantine in the award-winning Les Miserables on Broadway, mesmerizing audiences with her heart-wrenching rendition of the song "I Dreamed a Dream."
With demand for her services growing around the world, Paige toured Japan with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and in London in 1995 starred as Venus in the BBC's broadcast of Kurt Weill's One Touch of Venus. She is a featured vocalist on the recording of Mack and Mabel in Concert, also recorded live in London, and starred as Nellie Forbush in the Australian production of South Pacific in 1996. As a concert soloist, she has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the Turin Opera House in Turin, Italy, and with orchestras across the United States.
On film, sharp-eyed moviegoers spotted her in a cameo role, playing a television soap opera star in Disney's 2007 live-action/animated fantasy Enchanted.
She now lives in Las Vegas, where she and her husband appeared in The Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular with the Radio City Rockettes. She has also appeared in the smash hit Menopause: The Musical.
"I love Belle," Paige once said. "I love the fact that she is a revolutionary kind of heroine. She's very smart and odd and is looking for adventure—not a husband. She was a first, in a lot of ways, for a Disney Princess and was ahead of her time in the film and for Disney. I think that's why, almost 20 years later, people still love her."
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| Regis Philbin (1931–2020) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2011 |
Television talk show host, game show superstar, singer, author, actor, red carpet bon vivant. You name it, he's done it. The word "icon" seems to have been created for Regis Philbin.
Born on August 25, 1931, Regis, a native New Yorker, graduated from his beloved University of Notre Dame in 1953 with a degree in sociology. After serving in the Navy, he began a standard apprenticeship in television: page, stagehand, sports newswriter, and substitute anchor. Regis first tasted fame on ABC's The Joey Bishop Show from 1967 to 1969 and amply proved he could handle the demands of live television; on opening night, actress Debbie Reynolds tackled Regis to the ground while demonstrating how to help someone on fire. But the show also had its upside, introducing him to Bishop's assistant, Joy. They married in 1970.
Regis next co-hosted KABC-TV's local morning talk show A.M. Los Angeles before moving back east to take over WABC-TV's The Morning Show. There, he eventually paired up with Kathie Lee Gifford. In 1988, Buena Vista Television picked the show up for national syndication and re-titled it Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, a name that lasted until Gifford departed in 2000. In 2001, Regis won a Daytime Emmy® Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host, and Kelly Ripa joined him at the morning show. The pair spent a decade together until Regis departed the show in 2011.
Regis' game show career began in 1975 with a short-lived program, The Neighbors, followed by what surely must be considered a precursor to today's reality competition shows. Called Almost Anything Goes, the ABC series was an uninhibited outdoor free-for-all. Regis honed his off-the-cuff interviewing skills on the field as contestants competed in stunts like carrying a loaf of bread while sliding across a greased pole suspended over a pool of water. His credentials soared, however, with the debut of ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 1999, on which Regis almost singlehandedly popularized catch phrases like "Is that your final answer?" He also took home the Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host in 2001.
Regis has also found time to write three books, I'm Only One Man!, Who Wants To Be Me?, and How I Got This Way. As a longtime admirer of crooners such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, he recorded several albums, including two for Hollywood Records: When You're Smiling in 2004 and The Regis Philbin Christmas Album the following year.
Proving that time waits for no man, Regis kept up the pace with annual hosting duties for the Disney Christmas Parade specials, serving as Grand Marshal of the 2002 Tournament of Roses Parade, and acting in several hilarious guest appearances on Kelly Ripa's ABC series Hope & Faith, where he played car salesman Handsome Hal Halverson. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and in 2008 received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys. If that wasn't enough, Guinness World Records enshrined him as having more on-air hours than any person… a record he keeps breaking.
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| Anika Noni Rose Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2011 |
Anika Noni Rose fulfilled a lifelong ambition with her Disney debut. "Since I was a little kid I wanted to work for Disney—and I didn't need to be the Princess! I would have been a tick or a flea!"
Born on September 6, 1972, in Bloomfield, Connecticut, Anika received classical training at the San Francisco American Conservatory Theater. She soon set her sites on the Broadway stage and was hired for the production of the musical Footloose. Her theatre repertoire also includes Eli's Comin', for which she received an Obie Award in 2001; the role of Lutiebelle in the Encores! production of Purlie; and roles in The Threepenny Opera and Tartuffe, which played at A.C.T's Geary Theater.
For her breathtaking performance on Broadway in Caroline, or Change, Anika won the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. When she reprised the role in the West Coast productions in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Anika won both the Los Angeles Critics Circle Award and an Ovation Award. Returning to the New York stage in 2007, Anika tackled Tennessee Williams as Maggie the Cat, a role made famous by Elizabeth Taylor, in a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opposite Terrence Howard, James Earl Jones, and Phylicia Rashad.
On television, Anika was cast in an adaptation of The New York Times bestseller The Starter Wife" in 2007, which debuted to record ratings and earned multiple Emmy® nominations. She moved next to the television series adaptation of another huge literary phenomenon, HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in the role of Grace Makutsi. Anika has also had a featured role in the CBS series The Good Wife.
Anika's breakout role on film came in 2006 when she played Lorrell Robinson, the third member of the legendary trio at the center of Dreamgirls. She was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and shared a Grammy nomination with Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson for the Dreamgirls soundtrack album. In 2008, Anika also played a role in the independent comedy feature Just Add Water, directed by Hart Bochner and co-starring Danny DeVito and Justin Long. She was also featured in the ensemble cast of Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls.
When Disney came calling, Anika dazzled as Tiana in 2009's The Princess and the Frog, making the song "Almost There" an instant Disney classic.
"I always dreamed of being a voice in a Disney movie, but even in those dreams, I never once dreamed of being a princess," she once said. "I just wanted to be a voice. I feel like what an honor that this is how the dream comes true, bigger and stronger than I had even imagined it.
"I feel like I am in such a beautiful spot right now," Anika said at the time. "I feel like I'm living my fairy tale in this portion of my career."
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| Lea Salonga Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2011 |
In the field of musical theatre, Lea Salonga has been honored with the Olivier, Tony®, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World awards. In addition, she holds the distinction of having played the vocal roles of two Disney leading ladies—the spectacular singing voices of Princess Jasmine and Mulan.
Born on February 22, 1971, in the Philippines, Lea made her professional debut at age 7 in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I with Repertory Philippines. She then starred in Annie and later appeared in an array of productions, including Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, The Goodbye Girl, and The Fantasticks.
She began her recording career at age 10 with her first album, Small Voice, which went gold. Her second album, Lea, was released in 1988. In addition to performing on stage and in recordings, Lea hosted her own musical television show, Love, Lea, acted in films, and in Manila opened for international acts such as Menudo and Stevie Wonder.
Lea's breakthrough came on the West End stage in London, England, when she was selected to play Kim in the musical Miss Saigon in 1989. For her performance, she won the Olivier Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical.
Miss Saigon moved to Broadway in 1991, where Lea garnered the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and the Theatre World Awards—the first performer to win so many international awards for a single role.
At that time, she was invited to Disney to sing Princess Jasmine's soaring love song for the 1992 animated feature Aladdin. "'A Whole New World' is a great song," Lea once said, "and it's a dream come true to be a part of a Disney animated film." She reprised the song, along with the singing voice of Aladdin, Brad Kane, on that year's Academy Awards broadcast. The song, written by fellow Disney Legends Alan Menken and Tim Rice, went on to win both the Golden Globe® and the Oscar® for Best Song.
Lea returned to Disney just a few years later, this time to sing the bittersweet "Reflection" for the character of Fa Mulan for another Disney animated feature, Mulan. The song, composed by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Lea sang again as Mulan in the sequel Mulan II.
Since then, Lea has been in perpetual motion, enjoying a regular role on the daytime drama As The World Turns, making a triumphant return to Broadway in the 2002 reinterpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, and performing in concerts, recordings, television shows, and tours all over the world—many of which feature beloved Disney songs. In 2012, Lea joined the Candlelight Processional at Epcot as narrator.
"I've been listening to Disney music my whole life," Lea once said. "The challenge in doing these songs is to capture all of their feelings and emotions in just a few minutes. You've got to remember that moment will last forever and ever on film, and you have to really do your best in that one shot. The whole Disney experience has been great fun."
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| Raymond Watson (1926–2012) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2011 |
Raymond L. Watson was born on October 4, 1926, in Seattle, Washington. After moving to Oakland, California, in 1934, Ray was raised by his grandmother, spending his summers at the state beaches and parks where his father worked as a carpenter. After a short stint in the Unites States Army Air Forces Cadet Training Program toward the end of World War II, Ray enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, receiving his B.A. in 1951 and a master's degree in 1953, both in architecture.
Wasting no time getting started on a career that would help change the face of urban planning and development, Ray's first job was planning a civic center for the city of Stockton. He left Northern California in 1960 to join the Irvine Company in Orange County, enticed by the company's 90,000 acres of undeveloped land.
"At that time," Ray recalled, "there was a spirit within the Irvine Company. We had a blank paper for our creative juices and our plans could go from this blank page to the ground. There is that same spirit in Disney."
Ray first got involved with Disney in the mid-1960s when he was asked to meet with Walt to discuss EPCOT, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow," which was still just a dream in Walt's imagination. Walt needed advice from someone with urban planning experience on the same gigantic scale as his new project, and Ray, who was currently developing what is now the city of Irvine, was a perfect fit. Although he was never actively involved in the development or construction of Walt Disney World, Ray would frequently stop by the site whenever his business affairs took him to the East Coast. And in 1973, when he was president of the Irvine Company, Disney's then-CEO Donn Tatum asked him if he would be interested in serving on the Board of Directors for Walt Disney Productions. Ray accepted the position on May 28, 1974.
His early tenure on the Board saw the expansion of Walt Disney World and the opening of Disney's first water park, River Country, in 1976. Grandest of all, however, was the opening of Epcot Center on October 1, 1982; at that time it was the largest private land development project ever, at a cost of more than $1 billion. Disney Chairman Card Walker retired after the April 1983 opening of Tokyo Disneyland, the Company's first international theme park, and Ray was elected to the position of chairman of the board in his place.
It was a tough nine months in 1984 as Ray, along with Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold, fended off not one, but two hostile takeover attempts during perhaps the most tumultuous period in Disney's corporate history. On September 22, 1984, Ray stepped down as chairman to let the Board of Directors bring in new CEO Michael D. Eisner and new president Frank G. Wells. He remained on the Board and served as part of the Executive Committee until his retirement in 2004, after serving the Company for 30 years and establishing a worldwide reputation as a real estate development visionary.
Ray passed away on October 20, 2012, in Newport Beach, California.
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| Guy Williams (1924–1989) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2011 |
"Out of the night… when the full moon is bright…" If you were a child in the 1950s, you immediately recognize those dramatic opening words to the theme song of a certain television hero of the time—"a horseman known as Zorro." And of all the famous film Zorros, the memorable standout was Guy Williams.
Born Armando Catalano in New York City on January 14, 1924, Guy attended grade school in New York and received his advanced education at Peekskill Military Academy with the intention of entering West Point. Fate intervened in 1952 when a Hollywood agent saw him walking down Fifth Avenue. He took a screen test and began to find regular acting work in New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and on television productions like Studio One. The screen test eventually led him to a one-year contract at Universal Studio—and a new name.
At that time in Hollywood, actors with foreign-sounding names were quickly typecast. In coming up with a stage name, he once laughingly recalled, "'Guy Williams' was about as non-specific as I could imagine!"
Not finding his big break despite a few early movie roles, he returned to New York to continue acting and occasional modeling. In 1957, he decided to try Hollywood again; this time he appeared as the policeman who guns down Michael Landon in I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney had scored major successes on the fledgling ABC television network with Disneyland, the Mickey Mouse Club, and a five-part western adventure, Davy Crockett. Walt acquired the rights to the Zorro stories, a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley, and began searching for his star. Enter Guy Williams, who not only physically looked the part, but was also an experienced horseman and skilled swordsman. Norman Foster, director of many of the Zorro episodes, said he was amazed "the other Hollywood studios failed to get him before we did!"
With Guy on board, Walt built an expensive replica of a Spanish pueblo on the backlot of his studio in Burbank and filming began. Zorro debuted on ABC on October 10, 1957, eventually running for 78 episodes over two seasons. The series was an instant hit, and kids from coast to coast soon drove parents and teachers crazy by scratching Zorro's traditional "Z" on sidewalks, book covers, and even their clothing. As part of Guy's contract, he also began delighting camera-toting tourists when he made occasional guest appearances in character in Frontierland at Disneyland.
The series ended in 1959 and Walt moved his anthology show to NBC, but Guy stayed with Disney in four one-hour Zorro special episodes and starred in a three-part television movie of the classic Mark Twain story The Prince and the Pauper. In 1965 Guy donned a silver spacesuit, starring as professor John Robinson in three seasons of the CBS series Lost in Space.
By 1973, Zorro was in syndication worldwide, with one very important fan—the wife of Argentine president Juan Peron. Guy was convinced to appear at a charity show in Buenos Aires, and he fell in love with the country's large ranches and leisurely way of life. He built residences there and in California, and passed away on May 6, 1989, in Buenos Aires.
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| Bonita Wrather (1923–1988) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2011 |
Born in Chicago on February 2, 1923, Bonita Granville's family moved west when she was 7; she almost immediately gravitated toward the film business. In 1932's Westward Passage, her film debut, she played the daughter of star Laurence Olivier. Inexplicably, she was most often cast in young female roles ranging from precocious and obnoxious to downright mean and spiteful. Her finest hour was in These Three, a 1936 film directed by William Wyler. Based on the Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour, Bonita propelled the plot with her performance as a schoolgirl whose malicious lie about two teachers disrupts all their lives. Film critic Leonard Maltin called it "a restrained, genuinely chilling performance." For her keen portrayal, Bonita was honored, at age 13, with an Oscar® nomination as Best Supporting Actress.
Off screen, Bonita, called "Bunny" by her friends, was the opposite of her movie persona. In 1939 she finally got a chance to play a markedly nicer character: the title role in Nancy Drew, Detective. Warner Bros. hoped to create a series of movies based on the juvenile mystery novels that would rival MGM's successful Andy Hardy films. Bonita starred in only three more Nancy Drew pictures, but, ironically, later appeared in two Andy Hardy movies. She made the often-challenging transition from child star to young adult in more than 55 films, including classics like 1942's The Glass Key with Alan Ladd and Now, Voyager with Bette Davis.
Bonita married Southern California businessman Jack Wrather on February 5, 1947, giving up her career as an actress to become a key player in his expanding entertainment empire.
She became a producer on two of Wrather's television shows, The Lone Ranger and Lassie, and is even credited with discovering Jon Provost, who played Timmy in that long-running series. Later, television's dramatic anthologies lured Bonita back to acting, and she starred in series such as The United States Steel Hour, Studio One, and Playhouse 90.
At her husband's side during the construction and operation of the Disneyland Hotel, Bonita officiated over the groundbreaking and dedication of the world-famous Dancing Waters show. In her honor, the Hotel's third tower was named the Bonita Tower, and, in 1983, fine dining arrived in the form of the sumptuous Granville's Steak House.
In the 1980s, Bonita oversaw the renovation of the docked luxury liner Queen Mary, restoring the ship to its original art deco grandeur. She was a founding member of the Los Angeles Music Center, a member of the Board of Trustees at the American Film Institute, and assumed the chairmanship of the Wrather Corporation after her husband's death in 1984. Under her watch, Disney acquired Wrather's operations in 1988 and obtained ownership of the Disneyland Hotel.
Bonita passed away on October 11, 1988, in Santa Monica, California.
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| Jack Wrather (1918–1984) Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2011 |
Walt Disney was out of cash. Construction of Disneyland—set to open in four months time—proceeded at a frantic pace, but there was no money for an upscale hotel where guests could stay. Enter Jack Wrather.
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. was born on May 24, 1918, in Amarillo, Texas. After receiving a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas in 1939, Jack took a series of jobs in the oil industry: pipeline walker, wildcatter, and construction supervisor. In 1940, he took control of his father's oil interests, expanding the Wrather Petroleum Company into a highly successful business.
Jack served in the United States Marine Corps in World War II and was released from duty in December 1945 with the rank of Captain. Convinced that the Hollywood entertainment industry was poised for huge post-war growth, Jack moved to California, where he met and married 24-year-old actress Bonita Granville. Together they built a home in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, not far from where Walt Disney lived.
During the decade from 1946-1955, Jack produced feature films for various Hollywood studios, some of which starred his wife. Never one to rest on his laurels, he diversified his company into numerous other entertainment ventures, including Capitol Records, the TelePrompter Corporation, and Muzak, Inc., where he was chairman. Jack also founded KCET-TV Channel 28, a Los Angeles public television station. He also jumped into producing programs for television, achieving astounding success with three of the most popular shows of that time: Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, eight seasons of The Lone Ranger, and an incredible 20 years of Lassie.
Jack further diversified into the hotel business in 1954, striking a deal with Walt Disney to build a luxury family hotel on property adjacent to Walt's theme park. Ground was broken on March 18, 1955, officiated by Jack, Bonita, and Anaheim Mayor Charles Pearson. The Disneyland Hotel opened six and a half months later—104 rooms in five two-story buildings at a starting room rate of $15. The Hotel, originally conceived as simple lodging, presaged future developments in how Americans entertained themselves.
It pioneered, as Jack's son Chris wrote, "new forms of dining as entertainment, shopping as entertainment, and the use of a waterfront setting" in an urban environment.
The Hotel grew as Disneyland did, even changing the skyline of Orange County with the addition of its first high-rise building, the 11-story Sierra Tower addition in 1962.
In September 1980, Jack made another indelible mark on the development of tourism in Southern California. Wrather Port Properties signed a 66-year lease for the rights to manage the retired luxury liner Queen Mary, berthed in Long Beach harbor since her final voyage in 1967. He spent more than $25 million to restore the ship and turned her former stateroom cabins into hotel accommodations. In 1981, as a favor to his longtime friend Howard Hughes, Jack saved the airplane known as the "Spruce Goose" from demolition and gave it a new home next to the Queen Mary, where it remained under a giant white dome until it was moved in 1992 to an aviation museum in Oregon.
Jack passed away at the age of 66 on November 12, 1984. His son Chris later remembered him this way: "My father had the notion that business should be fun. He had more fun with the Disneyland Hotel than with any other investment."
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| August 10, 2013 |
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| Tony Baxter Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2013 |
Born in Los Angeles on February 1, 1947, Tony Baxter grew up in Orange County, California. It was the perfect time and place for this future Imagineer—he not only witnessed the birth of the theme park industry, but he also grew up alongside his beloved Disneyland. A Disney fan from an early age, Tony especially enjoyed his weekly visits with Walt courtesy of the Disneyland television program. The show whetted his appetite for Walt's new wonderland rising from the Anaheim citrus groves. In his spare time he could be found building models and mocking up rides in his backyard.
He went to work scooping ice cream at Carnation Plaza Gardens in Disneyland when he turned 171⁄2—the earliest age at which one could get hired by one of the park's lessees— and went on to other positions during the five years he spent working there. During lunch hours, he would poke around backstage. One day, while trying to get a peek at Pirates of the Caribbean, a chance encounter with Imagineer and Disney Legend Claude Coats led to a personal tour of the unfinished ride.
Unbeknownst to both of them, Coats would wind up mentoring Tony years later when he joined the ranks as an Imagineer.
In 1970, at age 23, Tony was hired as an Imagineer, and was soon shipped off to Orlando to serve as a field art director for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for the upcoming opening of the Magic Kingdom. He would remain in Florida until the end of 1971. In the following years came a string of creations that helped define the modern Disney park landscape. Tony's teams developed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the first of which opened at Disneyland in 1979. During that decade he also helped create concepts for the Seas and Land pavilions at EPCOT Center, as well as the unrealized Discovery Bay and Dumbo's Circus areas for Disneyland.
In 1983 Disneyland debuted an entirely new Fantasyland; Tony's team transformed the area into a spectacularly detailed European village with re-envisioned and enhanced attractions. That same year, the Journey into Imagination pavilion opened at EPCOT Center. Again led by Tony, the project resulted in one of the most timeless and beloved attractions in the Epcot roster as well as a pair of unforgettable characters—Figment and Dreamfinder.
More attractions followed. With Tony's assistance, filmmaker George Lucas was brought into the Disney fold, resulting in innovative projects such as Star Tours (1987) and the groundbreaking Indiana Jones Adventure (1995). Childhood memories of Song of the South, which he saw in theatrical re-release, helped inspire Splash Mountain (1989)—the initial idea for which was Tony's alone. He also worked on smaller projects, such as 1987's opening of The Disney Gallery at Disneyland.
After serving as executive producer of Disneyland Paris (1992), Tony returned stateside and developed the concept for WESTCOT Center, a proposed futuristic theme park for Anaheim, a redesign of Tomorrowland at Disneyland (1998), and an ambitious slate of projects to enhance the park's luster for its 50th anniversary and beyond. These included the restoration of the Disneyland submarines (a sentimental favorite of Tony's) with Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (2007), the re-opening of an enhanced Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough (2008), an upgraded restoration of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (2009), Star Tours — The Adventures Continue (2011), and Fantasy Faire (2013).
On February 1, 2013, Tony announced that he would be stepping down from his Imagineering role as senior vice president of creative development. He remains a creative advisor and mentor of a new generation of Imagineers and continues to work on new ideas and attractions combining time-tested design practices with modern technology. "I'd like to think that's one of the things I learned working at Disneyland," he once said. "The emotional side of the business. It's been my edge as I transitioned into being professionally engaged to develop these things."
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| Collin Campbell (1926–2011) Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2013 |
Born November 11, 1926, in St. Charles, Michigan, Collin Campbell was a farm boy who found his way to California. He attended half-day sessions at Glendale's Hoover High School while working on the Disney lot, where he started as a messenger in 1943. In 1944, at the age of 17, he was drafted into the Navy where he would serve for two years. Ironically, he would be assigned into a unit alongside fellow Disney mail clerk and future artist and Disney Legend Walt Peregoy.
Collin returned briefly to the Studio's Traffic Department after he left the service in 1946, but soon resigned to spend four years at the School of Allied Arts in Glendale, California. To put himself through school, he worked at the campus art store and took custom framing jobs.
After five months back at Disney in 1952, where he worked as an apprentice inbetweener for the Animation Department, Collin left again to spend a year in Paris. In November 1953, he returned to the Studio to stay. He began work as an inbetweener, but soon switched to the Layout Department as an apprentice. There, he worked on such projects as Lady and the Tramp (1955), The Truth About Mother Goose (1957), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959), Goliath II (1960), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Collin also contributed layout and backgrounds for Ward Kimball's groundbreaking "Man in Space" episodes for Walt's Disneyland television program.
His contributions reached beyond animated productions. Working with art director Bruce Bushman, Collin designed many of the iconic sets for the Mickey Mouse Club (1955) including the Mouseketeer Treasure Mine and Dry Gulch, site of the weekly "Talent Roundup." He contributed costume sketches for live-action productions, and did matte and developmental work with artist Peter Ellenshaw for projects like The Light in the Forest (1958) and Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959).
Collin then started at WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), which was gearing up production on a slate of attractions for the 1964–65 New York World's Fair. It wasn't the first work he'd done for WED, though; as early as 1954 he had helped create paintings of concept art to help sell the park to financiers.
Collin's first full-time assignment was the Enchanted Tiki Room, which he helped develop.
For the World's Fair he sculpted cavemen for Ford's Magic Skyway, built models and sets for It's a Small World, and designed concept art for the Carousel of Progress. With Claude Coats he developed Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland; Collin built the model for the attraction's Blue Bayou area and designed its trademark flat-bottomed boats. At the same time he helped design the fabled Club 33, for which he hand-painted a scene of the Mississippi River and Jackson Square on the inside lid of Lillian Disney's harpsichord.
Collin even contributed the spooky illustrations for the beloved "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" album book (1969), which became a favorite keepsake for generations of Disneyland fans.
For Walt Disney World in Florida, Collin developed much of the overall feel for the resort and Magic Kingdom Park. He created concept art for the resort hotels, the Fort Wilderness Railroad, and unbuilt concepts for Treasure Island. He also served as field art director on Tom Sawyer Island, and designed the unique entrance and queue for Florida's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.
Later work included renderings and concept art for the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) and illustrations of a proposed 1920s-era Main Street, U.S.A. for Disneyland Paris. After serving as art director for Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park, Collin retired in 1990—only to return to supervise a renovation of Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland.
Collin passed away in Lighthouse Point, Florida, on April 2, 2011.
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| Dick Clark (1929–2012) Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2013 |
"I was 26 years old, looked the part, knew the music, and was very comfortable on television," Dick Clark once recalled of the time he was first offered hosting duties on the show that would become American Bandstand.
"They said, 'Do you want it?' And I said, 'Oh, man, do I want it!'"
Dick made the most of the opportunity, going on to produce what has been estimated at more than 7,500 hours of programming spanning more than 30 series, 250 specials, and 20 television and theatrical films. An icon of the teenybopper set, his eternally youthful appearance would earn him the nickname "America's oldest teenager."
Born Richard Wagstaff Clark on November 30, 1929, in Bronxville, New York, Dick grew up nearby in Mount Vernon. He broke into the broadcast industry at age 17, working in the mailroom of an upstate radio station operated by his father and uncle. Before long, he was pulling on-air duty as a substitute announcer and weather reporter. He attended Syracuse University, where he worked as disc jockey for the student-run radio station. Upon graduation in 1951, Dick returned to his family's station.
Soon, though, he found himself in Philadelphia, where Dick Clark's Caravan of Music debuted in 1952 on radio station WFIL. In 1956, Dick took over hosting duties of Bandstand, a daily afternoon dance show on that station's television affiliate. Within a year the show was picked up by ABC for national distribution, and by 1958 American Bandstand was pulling in a daily audience of 40 million music-hungry teens.
As the affable, clean-cut host of American Bandstand, Dick helped the nascent art form of rock 'n' roll reach a national audience. Artists such as Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets, James Brown, Buddy Holly, and the Everly Brothers all made their nationwide debuts on his show. In the process, Dick stood up against would-be censors who attempted to brand the new music as immoral, and helped to break the race barrier by playing R&B integration of the televised Bandstand dance floor. The show continued to introduce new artists until it ended in 1989.
A savvy businessman, Dick soon expanded into game shows, awards shows, comedy specials, movies, and other popular forms of programming. He founded Dick Clark Productions in 1957, and would go on to produce everything from the Pyramid series to Bloopers & Practical Jokes. He created the American Music Awards for ABC in 1973, and would continue to produce its telecast along with other annual events such as the Golden Globes® and the Academy of Country Music Awards. Dick sold Dick Clark Productions to businessman Daniel Snyder in 2007.
For Disney, Dick starred as himself on Mickey's 50 in 1978 and Blossom in 1991 and hosted the syndicated television series The Challengers in 1990. Dick might be best remembered, however, as the host of ABC's annual Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve from 1973 until 2011.
All told, Dick won five Emmy® awards, including a Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award. He is an inductee of the Television Hall of Fame, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the "Non-Performer" category in 1993.
Dick Clark passed away on April 18, 2012, in Santa Monica, California. "I got to know Dick over the past five years," Daniel Snyder said at the time of Dick's death, "and he was just as personable and warm in person as he was on television. Once you got to know Dick, it was obvious why he was so beloved by his many fans. He was, in every sense of the word, a giant."
Dick always attributed his success to his ability to stay in touch with the tastes of his average viewers. "My greatest asset in life," he once said, "was I never lost touch with hot dogs, hamburgers, going to the fair, and hanging out at the mall."
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| Billy Crystal Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2013 |
"He's my favorite character I've ever played," Billy Crystal once said of Mike Wazowski, the frenetic, green, cyclopean monster from 2001's Monsters, Inc. and 2013's Monsters University. Billy's voice acting and improvisational talents brought the excitable, soft-hearted Wazowski to life, making the character, as Billy once explained, "fast and edgy; speedy and nuts; aggressive and romantic… and positive."
It's a versatility that has served Billy well in his varied career as a comedian, actor, writer, director, producer, host, and… major league ballplayer?
From the very beginning, Billy was drawn to the life of an entertainer. Born in New York City on March 14, 1948, his father Jack was a music promoter while his uncle was legendary record producer Milton Gabler. His mother, Helen, once even provided the voice of Minnie Mouse in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Billy grew up surrounded by jazz legends, but the real stars of the household were he and his two brothers. The trio performed a constant stream of skits and variety acts—many "borrowed" from comedy albums they discovered at their father's record store—at family get-togethers and local events.
After briefly attending Marshall University on a baseball scholarship, Billy wound up graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1970. He began to work the improv comedy circuit in New York City, and eventually found his way into an appearance during the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976).
Billy's big breakthrough came with his groundbreaking role as Jodie Dallas on Soap, which aired on ABC from 1977 – 81. He joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for its 1984 – 85 season, where his character Fernando famously coined the catchphrase, "You look mahvelous!" In 1986, he hosted the first of many Comedy Relief charity fundraisers alongside friends Whoopi Goldberg and fellow Disney Legend Robin Williams.
An appearance early in his career on All in the Family led to a long friendship with actor and director Rob Reiner, who would bring Billy to movie screens in the 1980s. Two small-but-memorable roles in Reiner films, This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and The Princess Bride (1987), led to a starring turn in 1989's When Harry Met Sally. That performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, a feat he would repeat with City Slickers (1991) and Mr. Saturday Night (1992).
In 1993, Billy guest starred on the Jim Henson Productions-produced Muppets Tonight for ABC. After initially passing on the role of Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story, he joined the Pixar family as the voice of Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. It's a role he has revisited in the 2002 short film Mike's New Car, as a cameo in Cars (2006), and in 2013's Monsters University. He also provided Mike's voice for the Disney California Adventure attraction Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! (2006). For the 2005 Studio Ghibli production Howl's Moving Castle, he voiced the character Calcifer.
For ABC television, Billy hosted the Academy Awards® broadcast nine times between 1990 and 2012—more than any performer save for Bob Hope, and earning him four of his six Emmy awards. His love of baseball—he is a lifelong New York Yankees fan—led him to direct 61* (2001), based on the 1961 race to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record. It earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special. Billy is a part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks club, which won him a World Series ring in 2001. For his 60th birthday in 2008, the Yankees signed him to a minor league contract—for a single day.
On the Broadway stage, Billy wrote and performed the two-act, one-man autobiographical play 700 Sundays, about his childhood on Long Island. It ran for 163 sold-out performances in 2004, won the 2005 Tony® Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, and brought him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.
For his lifetime of achievement, Billy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007.
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| John Goodman Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2013 |
John Goodman lent his voice to one of animation's most famous monsters, but he had his own personal "scarer" as a child. John's imaginary monster hid under his bed, unlike the closet-dwelling James P. "Sulley" Sullivan from 2001's Monsters, Inc. and 2013's Monsters University. "There's no way one could've survived in there with my sneakers alone," he once joked.
John was born June 20, 1952, in Affton, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. In high school he indulged his two big loves, football and theater. Following graduation in 1970, he obtained a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University. But when he was sidelined by an injury, he changed his major to drama and graduated with a theater degree in 1975.
Thanks to a loan from his brother, the Midwesterner found his way to New York City. He made his way on to the dinner theater circuit, and made ends meet by acting in commercials. In 1979 he worked his way to Broadway in Loose Ends. More roles followed, on stage and then in film, until John received a big break in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Big River (1985–87). For the role of Pap Finn, he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
His first major film role came in True Stories (1986), which he followed with Raising Arizona (1987). This would mark his first appearance in a Coen Brothers film, but he would soon become a reliable member of their stock company of actors, appearing in Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), Touchstone Pictures' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
A trip to New Orleans during college sparked John with a lifelong adoration for the city, where he would return to film The Big Easy (1987) and Everybody's All-American (1988).
During production of the latter film, he met his wife, a native of the area, and relocated there soon after.
In 1987, John was acting in a Los Angeles stage production of Antony and Cleopatra when an ABC talent scout recruited him to act opposite Roseanne Barr in the sitcom Roseanne (1988–97). John's character, Dan Conner, a rumpled everyman with a heart of gold, provided a grounded center for the show and earned John a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes in 1993, and seven Emmy nominations from 1989–95. Further Emmy nominations came for his roles in the telefilms Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1995).
John appeared as the iconic Fred Flintstone in The Flintstones (1994), and made appearances in such prominent projects such as The Artist (2011), ParaNorman (2012), Argo (2012), and Flight (2012). He has also continued to work in television, appearing on the acclaimed HBO series Treme (2010), on NBC's Community (2011), and on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), for which he won an Emmy. John has also hosted Saturday Night Live 12 times.
Among John's appearances in Disney-produced films are Arachnophobia (1990)— the first Hollywood Pictures film—and Born Yesterday (1993), as well as Touchstone Pictures' Stella (1990), Coyote Ugly (2000), and Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009).
He has also brought his affable yet booming baritone to a number of animated classics, including Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013). He voiced Sulley for Disney California Adventure's Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! (2006). In the realm of hand-drawn animation, John voiced Pacha for the screwball favorite The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and its sequel, Kronk's New Groove (2005). He gave voice to longtime favorite Baloo in The Jungle Book 2 (2003) and brought a Louisiana drawl to "Big Daddy" La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog (2009).
John was inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame in 1997. He continues to enjoy his adopted home of New Orleans and has aided in recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spills.
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| Steve Jobs (1955–2011) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2013 |
A lot of times, Steve Jobs once said, "people don't know what they want until you show it to them." Steve did just that for 30 years, donning his trademark black turtleneck and worn blue jeans to become the world's best-known consumer electronics evangelist.
He was born Steven Paul Jobs in San Francisco, California, on February 24, 1955, and was adopted at birth by Paul and Clara Jobs. His father, who never graduated high school and was a machinist by trade, was the first to sit Steve down at a workbench and show him how to use tools when Steve was 5 years old.
In the years that followed, Steve learned how things worked, and how to take things apart and put them together again. His family moved to Mountain View, California, meaning that Steve grew up in Silicon Valley amid a cultural and technological revolution.
In 1971, Steve met fellow hobbyist Steve "Woz" Wozniak through a mutual friend from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. The two bonded over the creation of electronic devices that would allow them to make free long-distance telephone calls. After graduating in 1972, Steve enrolled at Reed College but soon dropped out, as the expensive tuition was draining his parents' savings. He audited classes for the next 18 months before taking a job at Atari Inc. in 1973. In search of spiritual enlightenment, he made a seven-month trip to India in 1974.
Upon returning to California, Steve began attending the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak in 1975. Wozniak had designed a new computer, and Steve was intrigued. He suggested they sell his creation and, in 1976, Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company in Steve's parents' garage with $1,300 they had raised by selling Steve's Volkswagen Microbus and Wozniak's scientific calculator.
Eventually a former Intel executive lent them $250,000 and they set up offices in Cupertino. The next year they debuted the Apple II, and it was a runaway hit.
By 1983 the company had joined the Fortune 500 faster than any corporation in history.
"Hardly anybody had families at the beginning," he later recalled, "and we all worked like maniacs and the greatest joy was that we felt we were fashioning collective works of art… something important that would last."
A visit to the Xerox PARC research center in 1979 exposed him to a new technology—a graphical user interface driven by a mouse-controlled pointer. He saw the instant appeal of the concept, which led to the release of the Macintosh in 1984.
In 1985, a power struggle led to Steve leaving Apple, and founding NeXT Inc. The next year, Lucasfilm Ltd.'s computer graphics division spun off its Graphics Group, which became Pixar, Inc. With a $10 million investment, Steve became its primary investor and, eventually, its chief executive. The company spent the next several years developing cutting-edge rendering hardware and waiting for technology to progress to the point where computer-generated feature films would be feasible, which eventually resulted in 1995's Toy Story. Steve was credited as the film's executive producer. Disney has consulted on and distributed all Pixar features ever since—and acquired the company in 2006.
Steve returned to Apple when the company acquired NeXT in 1996. He was officially named CEO in 2000. The result was a wave of innovative consumer electronics products based on Steve's unique sense of minimalist style. Success followed success, with the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad each becoming ubiquitous among a gadget-hungry populace. Steve also oversaw the development of Apple retail and online stores. All this activity culminated in 2011 when Apple became the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
When The Walt Disney Company acquired Pixar Animation Studios in 2006, Steve became the Company's largest shareholder overnight, joining the Disney board of directors in 2006. He remained a valuable advisor in the years that followed.
"The thing that bound us together at Apple," Steve once said, "was the ability to make things that were going to change the world."
Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, in Palo Alto, after a long and public battle with pancreatic cancer.
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| Glen Keane Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2013 |
"I always wanted to draw ever since I can remember," Glen Keane once recalled, and as soon as he could hold a pencil in his hand, there was no stopping him. Throughout a life devoted to art—and nearly 38 years as an animator at The Walt Disney Studios—Glen's towering imagination has dreamed up starry-eyed maidens, a coarse and unrefined beast who discovers love, and a diamond in the rough who became a prince.
Born April 13, 1954, Glen grew up in Paradise Valley, Arizona. His father, cartoonist Bil Keane, created the long-running Family Circus comic strip, and so sketch pads and freshly sharpened pencils were never difficult to find around the house.
Torn between his love of football and his desire to become an artist, Glen eventually decided to attend the California Institute of the Arts, enrolling in the Film Graphics program as an animation student. Despite initially not knowing anything about animation, he soon came to embrace the art form.
In September 1974, he accepted a position at Disney as an animator. Glen was one of a new generation of animators brought in to be tutored under Walt's remaining veterans as they approached retirement.
To continue the legacy of Disney animation, this new class of artists would have to learn the tricks of the trade from the old-timers.
Glen learned from the masters, including Disney Legends Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston. Their instruction served him well on his first major assignment, assisting Johnston in drawing Penny for 1977's The Rescuers. He followed this with work on Elliott the Dragon for Pete's Dragon (1977).
For The Fox and the Hound (1981), Glen helped animate Tod, Vixey, and the thrilling battle with a towering grizzly bear at the film's climax. His work earned him praise for the force and weight he brought to the grizzly, as well as the visceral feel of the scene.
After doing conceptual work for The Small One (1978) and The Black Cauldron (1985), Glen found himself animating Willie the Giant for Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). During production, he caught a screening of Tron, Disney's groundbreaking foray into computer animation. Impressed by the new art form, he began to discuss a new project with fellow animator John Lasseter; the two teamed up with MAGI, a computer animation company that had worked on Tron, to produce a revolutionary 30-second test that combined hand-drawn animation with computer-generated backgrounds. Based on the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are, the demonstration project also marked Disney's first experiment in digitally inking and painting characters.
Glen left the Company in 1983 to work as a freelance artist, although he continued to work on new Disney animated features. He returned to Disney to work on The Little Mermaid (1989), for which he animated the heroine Ariel. This began a slate of successful projects including The Rescuers Down Under (1990), for which Glen animated the golden eagle Marahute; Beauty and the Beast (1991), for which he animated the imposing Beast; and Aladdin (1992), for which he animated the titular desert rogue. He brought to life Pocahontas in 1995, and, after a sabbatical in Paris, tackled the title character for 1999's Tarzan. He also animated the roguish John Silver for Treasure Planet (2002).
In 1996 Glen began work on a retelling of the Rapunzel story, which he would develop over the next decade. This project became the 2010 hit Tangled, for which he served as Executive Producer, Animation Supervisor, and Directing Animator for the character of Rapunzel.
Glen was the recipient of the 1992 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation for his work on Beauty and the Beast, and in 2007 he received the prestigious Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Animation.
Glen retired from Walt Disney Animation Studios in March 2012 to explore new directions in the animated art form. He continues to animate, teach, and inspire new generations of artists—and above all, he continues to draw.
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| Ed Wynn (1886–1966) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2013 |
"A comedian," Ed Wynn once said, "is a man who doesn't do funny things but who does things funny." Ed did just that in a long and distinguished career that led from the vaudeville stage to Broadway, radio, television, and the silver screen—a career that defied the maxim that there are no second acts in American life. In the process, he became a familiar face to generations of viewers and found a fan in Walt Disney, who called Ed "our good luck charm."
Quiet and self-effacing offstage, Ed used oversized shoes, an outrageous wardrobe, and silly hats to create a zany persona, the "Perfect Fool," known for his squeaky giggle and fluttering hands.
"I don't care what my calendar age tells people," he once remarked. "I pay no attention to it."
Born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia on November 9, 1886, Ed was the son of immigrants. A youthful preoccupation with vaudeville led him to run away from home at age 15 to join the Thurber-Nasher Repertoire Company, but the company soon folded and Ed found himself back home selling hats for his father. Within weeks he hit the road again, headed for Broadway. Dropping the name Leopold out of respect for his father, who disapproved of show business, he split his middle name in two and became "Ed Wynn."
Success came first alongside fellow comedian Jack Lewis, and then in solo skits including "The Boy With the Funny Hats"—a routine he would reprise decades later on an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. By age 19, Ed had become a vaudeville headliner.
With his own money, he put on Ed Wynn's Carnival, which proved a major hit in 1920. Other shows followed, including his most famous role in 1921's The Perfect Fool. Ed wrote, produced, and starred in the show, which enjoyed a long Broadway run and introduced material that he would revisit for the rest of his career. It was said that Ed used 300 ill-fitting coats and 800 funny hats in his act, alongside a slew of absurd inventions such as an 11-foot pole (for people you wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole), a typewriter device for eating corn on the cob, and a piano mounted to a bicycle.
Radio fame came, too, when he starred as Texaco's The Fire Chief from 1932–35. During both World Wars, Ed contributed by entertaining troops and selling war bonds, and in 1949 he took to the airwaves with The Ed Wynn Show, one of the first televised variety shows. The program earned him an Emmy Award in 1950.
At the encouragement of his son, Keenan, Ed began tackling dramatic roles. The two appeared in the 1956 telecast Requiem for a Heavyweight, which put Ed back in demand as a character actor. Father and son continued to act together in projects both serious and comedic. Ed's new career reached its zenith when he received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank.
It was with 1951's Alice in Wonderland that Ed first joined the Disney family, providing the manic voice of the Mad Hatter. Ed returned to his comedic roots as the Toymaker in Disney's Babes in Toyland (1961); it was a role he said combined his Perfect Fool and Fire Chief characters. During production, the cast and crew threw him a party on the Disney lot to celebrate his 60th year in show business. Son Keenan and grandson Ned, both of whom appeared alongside Ed in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963), were on hand, and Ed was presented a coveted "Mousecar" award to mark the occasion.
Other Disney projects in which Ed appeared include That Darn Cat! (1965), Those Calloways (1965), and The Gnome-Mobile (his final, posthumous, appearance in 1967). He even appeared on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color series in 1961's Backstage Party, 1962's The Golden Horseshoe Revue (wherein he revived many of his classic vaudeville routines), and 1964's For the Love of Willadean. But it is Mary Poppins (1964) that cemented him in cinematic history as the hilarious, lighter-than-air Uncle Albert who "loved to laugh."
Ed Wynn passed away on June 19, 1966, in Beverly Hills. Walt Disney, who had wanted to cast Ed for a role in the under-development The Jungle Book, attended his funeral. In an interview before his passing, the vaudevillian said he had warned his son Keenan, who continued to appear in Disney films, that "he won't inherit much money, but he'll get a lot of jokes."
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| August 14, 2015 |
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| George Bodenheimer Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2015 |
When he retired from his role as Executive Chairman of ESPN in May 2014, George Bodenheimer wrapped up a remarkable 33-year career, which began in the company's mailroom in 1981. Consistent and substantive growth defined George's career, leading to unprecedented success. His leadership style was simple but effective: empower all employees to take charge of their careers and to base decisions on the company's stated mission: "Serve Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere."
Serve Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.
George is an ESPN and cable industry pioneer and, as the company's longest-tenured President (13 years, 1998–2012), he led an unprecedented period of global growth. He oversaw all multimedia sports assets of The Walt Disney Company, including ABC Sports, from 2003 to 2011; and was co-chair, Disney Media Networks, from 2004 to 2011.
Like ESPN itself, George is a Connecticut native. He grew up in Greenwich, not far from Bristol, where his father managed a department store, and his mother was a bank teller. He calls his parents his heroes, and credits their inspiration in his success. He earned a degree in economics at Denison University, and wanted to work in sports and entertainment. After graduating, he sent letters to Madison Square Garden and every Major League Baseball team. "I got 28 letters back saying, 'I don't think so,'" George says.
The advice of a family friend led to an interview at a fledgling cable TV network called "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network." George recalls an intimidating human resources director sizing him up. "I was standing and he was sitting, and I don't think he looked up at me once," George recalls. "He said I was qualified to be a driver. So I began delivering the mail and working in the mailroom." He also served as a driver for on-air personalities. It was a perfect beginning for the enthusiastic youngster. "I got to meet everybody," he says.
As ESPN expanded, George applied for an open Sales and Marketing position and hit the road, selling the network to local cable operators across five states. "I learned that every town in America considers itself a 'sports town,' and every city in the world thinks the same way. ESPN was tapping into that."
Working his way through the ranks, he became executive vice president of sales and marketing in 1996, before being named the network's fifth president in 1998. He held this role until 2012, when he stepped down from day-to-day operations.
While President, his vision led to company- and industry-leading innovations in integrated sales and marketing, original programming, acquisitions, and new technologies. At the same time, he solidified and enhanced ESPN's position as The Worldwide Leader in Sports.
George's tenure at ESPN saw an explosion in cable sports broadcasting, as the ESPN family of networks grew from a single channel to multiple domestic networks and dozens of international networks, as well as hundreds of radio affiliates and a massive online and publishing presence. He also oversaw major investments in new broadcasting technologies.
George elevated the company's numerous corporate outreach initiatives, most notably The V Foundation for Cancer Research, which was founded by ESPN and the late basketball coach and commentator Jim Valvano. The V Foundation has raised more than $150 million since 1993, and 100 percent of cash donations go directly to research.
He also championed an impressive increase in ESPN employee volunteerism during his tenure as President, highlighted by more than 30,000 hours of service given as part of the company's 30th anniversary efforts.
Following his retirement from Disney, he continues to serve on the boards of several corporations, Denison University, and The V Foundation. "It's a very competitive business we're in… but our culture at ESPN is something we can control. I think of it as: always operate with integrity, respect for your co-workers, and passion about what we're doing here."
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| Andreas Deja Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2015 |
"I always wanted to be a Disney animator, but it was somewhat of an exotic idea," Andreas Deja says. Exotic because Andreas was born in Gdansk, Poland, and grew up in Germany. "You'd tell your friends and family that your life's goal was to go to America and work for Disney, and the reaction was, 'Yeah, dream on!'"
Raised on Disney comics and seeing Walt Disney's The Jungle Book at age 11 reinforced his desire to become an animator—and he persisted in his "exotic" ambition.
I always wanted to be a Disney animator
It was Disney Legend Eric Larson, one of the famous "Nine Old Men" at Disney, who provided Andreas his professional access to his dream. "I had written to him while still living in Germany as an art student; I'd heard that he was involved in training young animators," Andreas once said. "I sent him some of my student work and cartoon work. Eric wrote back, and he was really encouraging, and said, 'I think you've got what it takes.' I finished school in the spring/summer of 1980, and in August I went over to America."
Andreas was first assigned to The Black Cauldron, working on visual development alongside Tim Burton, but he soon moved on to animate many of the film's characters.
After working on The Great Mouse Detective, he traveled to London to animate Roger Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He animated Mickey Mouse for the 1990 featurette The Prince and the Pauper, a character he returned to for Runaway Brain (1995) and Fantasia 2000.
Andreas is known for his rich portraits of villainy, having animated Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, and Scar in The Lion King. "Villains are the most fun to animate," he says. "It's fine to have a villain who beats people up and is ruthless, but the more important thing for me is whether or not they are interesting. The villains who have full personalities are the ones you remember."
But he has also brought life to heroes, such as mighty Hercules, precocious Lilo (Lilo & Stitch), regal King Triton (The Little Mermaid), the wise Mama Odie (The Princess and the Frog), and lovable Tigger (Winnie the Pooh). He has animated on the shorts How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and The Ballad of Nessie, and has contributed visual development for Oliver & Company and The Emperor's New Groove.
A true student of his craft, Andreas was resourceful and diligent in his research and analysis about what makes animation work and who are its greatest talents. "I found that Milt Kahl was probably the best draftsman Disney had over the years—he just drew the best. Now that's not to say that he was the best animator, because there is more to animation than drawing, of course. He happened to have the best sense of design, a more stern knowledge of anatomy, and incredibly good taste. He had all that, and whatever he designed was just stunning."
As a young person, I kept thinking, wouldn't it be nice . . . to work for Walt Disney?
In 2006, Andreas was awarded the prestigious Winsor McCay Award for his contributions to the art of animation. Since 2011, his blog, Deja View, has provided inspiration and insight to budding artists and fans alike, and has helped convey the wisdom Andreas received from the old masters to a new generation.
At present, Andreas is working on his own independent animated films and his book, The Nine Old Men: Lessons, Techniques, and Inspiration from Disney's Great Animators, will be published in October by Focal Press.
Having been mentored by some of animation's greatest legends, Andreas Deja is at once a link to Disney's past, one of the greatest animators of its modern era, and an inspiration for the Studio's future. Andreas is living proof of the most beloved Disney notion about dreams coming true. "As a young person, I kept thinking, wouldn't it be nice to be able to do this and work with a group of fellow artists who share my passion? Wouldn't it be nice to work for Walt Disney?"
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| Johnny Depp Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2015 |
A teen heartthrob who then became one of the biggest movie stars in the world star, Johnny Depp is a rarity among actors, willing and able to mix swashbuckling leading-man performances with eccentric character roles. Perhaps best known among these parts is the internationally-beloved Captain Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Nothing, however, could match the record-smashing and Academy Award®-nominated success of Johnny's Captain Jack Sparrow.
Born John Christopher Depp II in Owensboro, Kentucky on June 9, 1963, Johnny moved frequently as a child before dropping out of school at age 15 to become a musician. Encouraged to become an actor, he made his first on-screen appearance in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street. He earned a role in Oliver Stone's acclaimed drama Platoon, but rocketed to fame on TV's 21 Jump Street. A series of acclaimed roles followed, including John Waters' Cry-Baby, Benny & Joon, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Edward Scissorhands marked Johnny's first work with director Tim Burton, and the beginning of a long friendship and collaboration that has included eight films to date. Their second film together, the 1994 masterpiece Ed Wood, marked Johnny's first appearance in a Disney film. Subsequent successes included Don Juan DeMarco, Donny Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Sleepy Hollow.
Nothing, however, could match the record-smashing and Academy Award®-nominated success of Johnny's Captain Jack Sparrow, beginning with 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Not only has he reprised the role in three sequel films, but he has continued to bring this unique character to life in video games, the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions in Florida and California, and The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Captain Jack Sparrow will next be seen in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Depp once said, "It was mentioned that they were considering a movie based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and I said I was in. There was no screenplay, no director, nothing. For some unknown reason, I just said I was in."
"It's been a fun ride, and I'm enjoying it for all it's worth."
More recently, Johnny has appeared as Peter Pan creator James Barrie in Finding Neverland, and has scored hits with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, The Tourist, Dark Shadows and Rango. In 2010, Johnny had another blockbuster success at Disney with Alice in Wonderland, and his brilliant characterization of the Mad Hatter will return in Alice Through The Looking Glass in 2016. He returned to the Studio in 2013, as Tonto in The Lone Ranger and appeared as the Wolf in 2014's Into the Woods.
Long acclaimed for his acting work, Johnny received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow.
"I've been around long enough to know that one week, you're on the exclusive list of guys who can open a movie, and then the next week, you're off the list," Depp once said. "It's been a fun ride, and I'm enjoying it for all it's worth."
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| Eyvind Earle (1916–2000) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2015 |
In animation art circles, the work of artist, illustrator, and author Eyvind Earle is renowned, revered, and still influential today. That this remarkable and diverse talent came to call The Walt Disney Studios home for nearly a decade of his career is a testament to his talent—and to the artistic vision of Walt Disney himself.
Born on April 26, 1916, in New York City, Eyvind moved with his family to California two years later. His father, Ferdinand P. Earle, was, in Eyvind's words, " …an artist, a writer, a poet, played the violin, produced and directed a motion picture… just to mention a few of his activities." His mother, Charlotte, was a concert pianist.
At age 10, Eyvind's father challenged his son to either read 50 pages of a book or paint a picture every day—he did both. By age 14, he had already had his art exhibited in France, and in 1937 he had his first show in New York City. Subsequent exhibitions sold out, with one piece going into the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
He began designing Christmas cards in 1938, a sideline he would continue through most of his life. More than 800 card designs were created for the American Artist Group alone.
"As of 1985, I estimate that American Artist Group has sold well over 300 million of my cards," Eyvind once said.
He came to the Disney studio in 1951, working on background artwork for Peter Pan. He also painted the illustrations for Walt Disney's Peter Pan and Wendy, the Little Golden Book adaptation of the film. He continued to develop his style in memorable shorts, including For Whom the Bulls Toil, Working for Peanuts, Pigs is Pigs, and Grand Canyonscope. He contributed to 1953's Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, which won an Academy Award®. As Disney shorts became more experimental, Eyvind provided backgrounds and color styling to Jack and Old Mac, The Truth About Mother Goose, and Paul Bunyan.
But the pinnacle of his work for Disney was the landmark 1959 feature film Sleeping Beauty, for which he was responsible for the overall production design, including styling, background, and color.
"There are clear influences from the Renaissance in his work," said film writer Justine Smith, "and his backgrounds owe much to those of Leonardo Da Vinci and Raphael.
He utilizes color to emphasize the sheer breadth of his worlds, shedding the far off backgrounds in green-bluish tones, a technique that Da Vinci used extensively."
In 1958, Eyvind appeared with his colleagues Walt Peregoy, Marc Davis, and Joshua Meador in the short film 4 Artists Paint 1 Tree, aired as part of the Disneyland TV episode "An Adventure in Art," which became a staple in art classrooms for decades.
He returned to full-time painting in 1966, producing watercolors, oils, sculptures, drawings, and scratchboards. Always a very personal artist, much of his work from this era was not seen or exhibited in his lifetime.
In 1987, Sleeping Beauty Castle (La Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant) and its surroundings for Disneyland Paris were created based on Eyvind's film designs. His former colleague Frank Armitage even created a concept painting in the distinctive Eyvind Earle style of the film.
At the same time, Eyvind was inspiring a new generation at Walt Disney Animation. Co-director Eric Goldberg recalls, "Mike Giaimo and Mike Gabriel and I were highly influenced by Eyvind Earle in designing Pocahontas."
So, late in his life and career, Eyvind enjoyed a renaissance of acclaim. He was praised by such publications as Time, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Art News. In 1998, Eyvind was honored at the 26th Annie Awards with the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in the field. He passed away in 2000, but his work continues to grace galleries around the world. Museums have purchased his works, and his paintings have been shown in several one-man exhibitions worldwide.
"For 70 years, I've painted paintings," Eyvind once said, "and I'm constantly and everlastingly overwhelmed at the stupendous infinity of nature. Wherever I turn and look, there I see creation. Art is creating… Art is the search for truth."
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| Danny Elfman Legends Award Category: Film & Music Year Inducted: 2015 |
Daniel Elfman grew up immersed in movie music.
"I could listen to the scores of Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and Erich Korngold and identify them. I was really proud."
"I could hear something and go, 'That's definitely Max Steiner,' and Nino Rota was huge. I loved playing the game of tuning into a movie on television, trying to guess who the composer was, then seeing if I was right. I was definitely a film music nerd—but it never occurred to me to actually do it."
As a young man, Danny roamed France and across Africa absorbing local musical trends—largely unaware of his own talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe in Paris; the group "The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo" was created for Richard's 1980 directorial debut, Forbidden Zone (now considered a cult classic by Elfman fans). The group's name went through many incarnations before eventually becoming just Oingo Boingo.
In 1985, director Tim Burton, a fan of Oingo Boingo, asked Danny to provide the musical score for Pee-wee's Big Adventure. This marked the beginning of a long collaboration between the two, and Danny has provided the music for most of Burton's films ever since.
The Elfman-Burton collaboration continued with the clever and quirky music for Beetlejuice and reached a crescendo with the massive, Gothic score for Burton's Batman, which earned a Grammy® for the composer; it also attracted an active fan base, who felt that Danny's "Wagnerian" approach gave the Dark Knight a new and entirely appropriate sound.
Following his work on Batman, Danny provided the soundtrack for Disney's adaptation of Dick Tracy. Soon after, he worked on the songs and score for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of the composer's personal favorites, and for which he also provided the singing voice of Jack Skellington.
"Halloween was always my favorite night of the year," Danny says,
"and Christmas was the saddest. I was raised Jewish in a secular family. We didn't celebrate anything, so in my mind all my friends were singing Christmas carols in a warm, happy environment, while I was stuck in this depression. Black clouds gathered. I was cast out. Halloween was the opposite. It was the night to become something else. Anything!"
Danny has scored nearly all of Burton's films, including the touching Edward Scissorhands, with its delicately lyrical choral passages; the funhouse-from-hell music for the mad Penguin and Catwoman in Batman Returns; the '50s-style sci-fi score for Mars Attacks; the intense and powerfully orchestrated Sleepy Hollow; and Planet of the Apes. Five of Danny's eight Grammy nominations are for Burton films.
In addition to Burton, his regular collaborators include Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and Gus Van Sant (Milk). "Writing the score is the easy part," Danny confides. "Getting into the director's head and understanding their psyche is what's hard. But that's what you need to do. You have to be half-composer, half-psychiatrist."
His many subsequent successes include Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, Hulk, and many others. Danny also has scored several Disney films, including Dead Presidents, A Civil Action, Flubber, Instinct, Meet the Robinsons, Alice in Wonderland, Frankenweenie, and Oz The Great and Powerful. His haunting music for the drama Good Will Hunting and his raucous sounds for the sci-fi comedy Men in Black earned him dual Academy Award nominations in 1997.
Not content to compose only for the screen, Danny also composed the themes for various television shows, including The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives, and even wrote the music for the exciting new Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.
"The thing that got me really into doing this ride was they said it was inspired, in part, by a ride that I loved when I was small," Danny says.
"The Haunted Mansion was a part of my musical subconscious… that's really the big appeal, that it was inspired by that: that I might do something that will become part of the musical subconscious culture of a generation."
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| George Lucas Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2015 |
Few filmmakers, no matter how successful, can claim to have created an entire universe—much less one that defined generations of young filmgoers—but that's exactly what George Lucas did with Star Wars, the biggest film phenomenon of its time, and one that continues to make new fans to this day.
George Walton Lucas, Jr. grew up in Modesto, California. A childhood obsession with fast cars seemed to be driving him to a career in professional racing, but after a harrowing accident, he began to document his love of the sport with a movie camera instead. Graduating from the University of Southern California's film program, George joined a generation of filmmakers who were changing the world of cinema in the 1970s. Adapting one of his student films, he made his debut as a feature director with the dystopian THX 1138. He followed it up with the classic American Graffiti, based on memories of his California youth and his love of cars.
. . . Disney is a huge corporation with amazing capabilities and facilities, so I feel confident Lucasfilm is in good hands.
It was Star Wars, however, that would affirm George's legendary status in the pantheon of cinema. He went on to executive produce two sequels based on his stories, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and returned more than a decade later to write and direct three Star Wars prequels, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. In the meantime, George brought to the screen another legendary film hero, Indiana Jones, who debuted in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman and directed by friend Steven Spielberg, the Indiana Jones franchise has included three sequel films as well as a television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
Among other projects George executive produced are Labyrinth, directed by Muppets legend Jim Henson, and Willow, directed by Ron Howard and based on a story by Lucas. His tireless efforts to push the boundaries of film technology have resulted in groundbreaking companies such as Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, THX, and LucasArts. He even founded the small Lucasfilm computer graphics division that would eventually become Pixar.
A lifelong Disney fan, George first worked with Disney in the 1980s to bring his characters into the Parks for the first time. His initial project was the 3-D spectacular Captain EO, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Michael Jackson and Anjelica Huston. Star Tours opened the following year, allowing fans to soar through the universe of the Star Wars saga for the first time. Adventurer Indiana Jones has made his way into the parks as well, with the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Indiana Jones et le Temple du PĂ©ril in Disneyland Paris, and two blockbuster Indiana Jones Adventure attractions at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Of course, the culmination of George's relationship with Disney came in 2012 when Lucasfilm and its many creative properties became part of the Disney family.
"I felt that I really wanted to place Lucasfilm in the care of someone who would protect it," George says. "Disney is a huge corporation with amazing capabilities and facilities, so I feel confident Lucasfilm is in good hands."
He remains a devout philanthropist in the field of education, having founded the George Lucas Educational Foundation in 1991. A long-time art collector, he is currently seeking to build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago to house and display his collection publicly. He is the recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Award, the National Medal of Technology, the National Medal of Arts, the Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award, and the NAACP Vanguard Award. His films have garnered 13 Academy Awards® and his television projects have won 18 Emmy Awards®.
George remains interested and excited by the creative worlds brought forth by joining Disney and Lucasfilm. "Being a part of Disney has opened up an endless number of possibilities for Lucasfilm, from theme park attractions to movies, television and games. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new projects ahead."
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| Susan Lucci Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2015 |
Few actors prove so dominant a presence that they practically define an entire genre, but Susan Lucci did just that in her four decades portraying Erica Kane on ABC's fabled soap opera All My Children. It is a role that TV Guide deemed unequivocally the most famous character in the history of daytime television—and it earned Susan an astounding 21 Daytime Emmy nominations.
Susan was born in Westchester, New York, although she grew up in Garden City on Long Island. She recalls that she always wanted to be a performer, and appeared in all her high school plays. She was a cheerleader, staff writer for the school newspaper, and a foreign exchange student to Norway. After graduating with Honors from Garden City High School, she attended Marymount College, graduating with a BA in Drama.
She moved to New York City and began going to auditions. Within the year, she auditioned for a brand new soap opera that was to be called All My Children.
She won the role of Erica Kane, and, in the decades that followed, she crafted the character of a notorious diva into the most famous "woman you love to hate" character in the world of daytime TV. In 1978, Susan received her first Daytime Emmy nomination. She was nominated again in 1981, and almost every year since then. Finally, in 1999, on her 19th Emmy nomination, she won.
"My husband picked me up by my elbow and took me up to the stage," Susan recalls.
"Shemar Moore gave me the Emmy. And when I turned around and I saw the whole room on their feet… I didn't even know if I could speak, let alone remember a speech! I'll never forget that as long as I live. It was an amazing, amazing moment!"
Susan received a four-minute standing ovation that night. Now, after 21 nominations, she is considered to be one of the most honored performers in the history of television, daytime or primetime.
She starred in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006. VH-1 named her one of the "200 Top Icons of all Time," and Susan was also featured as one of Disney Legend Barbara Walters' "Ten Most Fascinating People." Her autobiography, All My Life, was published in 2011 and was a New York Times bestseller.
While All My Children ended in 2011, Susan continues to appear in other television roles, starring in Lifetime's Devious Maids and hosting Investigation Discovery's Deadly Affairs. She has also appeared on the Lifetime series Army Wives, as well as on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and has appeared as a guest on Hot in Cleveland along with hosting Saturday Night Live.
Susan's commitment to her work with children has taken her to Africa in support of Feed The Children, appearing in an Emmy-award winning documentary. She and her husband have been ongoing champions of Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York and have been the spokespersons for the National Facing AFib Campaign. She served as the March of Dimes National Ambassador in 2000 and has also been involved with Broadway Cares: Equity Fights AIDS and currently hosts United Cerebral Palsy of NYC "Women Who Care" Luncheon. Susan is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the prestigious New York City Gracie Award, and the Muse Award for Women in Film & Television. She was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement Awards, was presented with the Italian Board of Guardians Lifetime Achievement Award, and was the second woman to serve as Grand Marshal for New York's iconic Columbus Day parade—the first was Sophia Loren.
"Do what you love," Susan once said, "and if this is your passion, and you need it to breathe—of course, pursue it… learn, keep on growing, always. Not just when you're beginning, but always."
Timeless advice from an actress who enjoyed a remarkable career, donated so much of her time to worthy charities, and created one of the most enduring characters in television history.
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| Julie Reihm Casaletto Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2015 |
For decades, Disney Ambassadors have been a constant presence around the globe, attending special events, supporting charitable causes, and spreading goodwill. But the long tradition began with a single individual—Julie Reihm Casaletto, the very first Disneyland Ambassador.
a personification of Disneyland's world-famous spirit of friendliness and happiness.
Julie was born in Galveston, Texas, but the Reihm family moved to Long Beach, California, when she was three months old. After high school, she attended California State Long Beach to study speech. As a part-time job, she became a tour guide at Disneyland. Working weekends and summers in the Park, she soon came to know Walt Disney and quickly got to experience Walt's impish sense of humor.
"I had first met him in the Park when I was a tour guide," Julie recalls. "He followed me up Main Street." One of the members of Julie's tour group was upset that there was a man who hadn't paid for it following the tour. She told Julie that that the man shouldn't get the same information as a paying guest. Julie had hoped that Walt overheard and would move along, because, as she says, "It would have been highly unusual to go up to the man who owned the place and tell him to run along."
"He just winked and grinned at me and walked away. I think he enjoyed taking you a little bit by surprise, and seeing your reaction to things. He delighted in seeing other people delighted."
Walt . . . delighted in seeing other people delighted.
After two years as a tour guide, Julie was encouraged to apply for a new role—that of "Disneyland's Ambassador to the World." As Walt's commitments had increased and his free time dwindled, he found it hard to attend all the events to which he was invited. Disney needed a representative who could travel the world, speaking for Walt when he could not be there in person. Although she initially turned down the offer to become Ambassador—taking a year off from her studies didn't seem wise—she eventually changed her mind and was chosen as Disneyland's first Ambassador in 1965.
As first Ambassador, she was chosen as "a personification of Disneyland's world-famous spirit of friendliness and happiness." She became the template upon which decades of Ambassadors would pattern themselves.
At the time, Julie expressed her genuine enthusiasm for the opportunity the role presented, and the advantage two years of tours for guests from all over the world offered. "I've learned so many fascinating things about so many places from them, I can hardly wait to see them for myself. I feel I've travelled everywhere because of the wonderful people I've met at Disneyland."
In 1965, on the occasion of Disneyland's "Tencennial," the 10th anniversary of the Park opening, Julie was a key part of the festivities. She appeared on the Wonderful World of Color episode "The Disneyland Tenth Anniversary Show," where Walt introduced her to Disney Legends such as John Hench and Marc Davis, while giving a preview of upcoming attractions such as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. "The highlight of my year was to see Walt smiling ear to ear about a new idea—a new project—and feeling his boyish excitement," she later recalled.
Julie also attended several events related to the release of Mary Poppins. Her travels took her to most of the United States and several foreign nations, where she often accepted awards and honors on behalf of Walt. She logged more than 52,000 miles in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
After a year serving as Ambassador, Julie returned to her studies—despite attempts to convince her to stay with Disneyland. She would return on occasion to give tours to VIPs or attend special events, but eventually left California to raise a family in Virginia. She continues to hold fond memories of her time as Ambassador, and of her time spent with Walt. "He wasn't just a great creative person, he was a good 'common sense' person, and he was a person who was tenacious about wanting to get something right, doing the right thing, being there at the right moment—it all meant so much to him. And that was something that we shared, and he realized it, and I realized it, so that was a quick bond for the two of us."
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| Carson Van Osten (1945–2015) Legends Award Category: Consumer Products Year Inducted: 2015 |
"I think I always knew that I'd be an artist," Carson Van Osten says, "and although I was too young to remember it, my parents told me that I said I wanted to draw cartoons for Walt Disney when I grew up." And since 1970, Carson Van Osten has done just that. He's helped bring Disney characters to life, in a wide breadth of media all around the world.
After attending the Philadelphia College of Art, Carson instead became a professional musician and recording artist, founding the rock group Nazz along with Todd Rundgren. Moving to Hollywood, he applied his artistic skills as an assistant animator, layout man, and background artist at Fine Art Films, creating animated titles and interstitial segments for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show, Jonathan Winters' Hot Dog, and The Dean Martin Show. He also worked on the animated feature Shinbone Alley, based on the "Archy and Mehitabel" stories by Don Marquis.
He arrived at Walt Disney Productions in 1970, beginning as an illustrator of Mickey Mouse comic books.
"I did like to draw Mickey and Goofy stories from the start," Carson says. "And the Studio needed them more—Tony Strobl and Al Hubbard drew the ducks."
Carson became a staff comic strip artist and story man in 1974, working alongside legendary Disney comic artists Floyd Gottfredson and Manuel "Gonzy" Gonzales. "We all worked in the same big room and got to be great friends," Carson says. "They loved to talk about the early days at Disney." Carson was an interested and attentive listener. "I still think about Floyd often, especially when I draw Mickey in the 1930s style."
One of his best-known works is the Disney Comic Strip Artist's Kit, a seven-page primer on staging, perspective, and other design fundamentals inherent in comic panel art. It is still in use today, all around the world. "I wrote and drew those sketches around 1975, and I'm so tickled to know that people still find them helpful today. Frank Thomas saw it and used it for an animation class he was teaching at the Screen Cartoonists Guild. That's how some sketches wound up in the book that he and Ollie wrote, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life."
In 1980, Carson became a manager in Creative Services for Disney Consumer Products, providing art supervision and concepts for Disney West Coast Licensing. He also oversaw motion picture tie-in advertising, Disney publications, and the Disney Music Company.
"I really liked the variety of work for 2D and 3D products, book or magazine art, record cover ideas, and more. It was changing and challenging every day."
In 1988 Carson took on the role of vice president in Creative Resources for Disney Consumer Products, providing art supervision and guidelines for art production, as well as helping to establish some of the first licensing style guides for the group. In 1994 he became vice president of Creative Services for the European regional office of Disney Consumer Products in Paris, and, starting in 1997, he was vice president of International Creative Development for the Disney Publishing Group. In that role, he provided art and editorial supervision for key international publishing projects.
Other projects to which Carson has contributed were the logo concepts for Mickey Mouse's 50th and 60th birthdays, The Walt Disney Studios, and the Disneyland Hotel clock tower "Mickey" at Disneyland Paris. More recently, he has served as a consultant for the Disney Epic Mickey and Where's MyMickey? games.
"I retired from Disney in 2000," Carson says, "but I have continued to do projects for my friends there as an outside consultant and illustrator. Most of my work is for books, but I've also done concepts for licensing, interactive games, and other areas, too; including seminars about the history of Disney Consumer Products.
Carson passed away Tuesday, December 22, 2015.
Altogether, I've been doing some kind of work for Disney regularly for the past 45 years."
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| July 14, 2017 |
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| Carrie Fisher (1956–2016) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2017 |
Carrie Fisher will be instantly recognizable for her iconic performance as Princess Leia in the Star Wars saga. But throughout her career Carrie took on many roles—as an actress, author, playwright, screenwriter, and advocate for mental health awareness.
Carrie was born on October 21, 1956, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She stepped into show business at age 15, appearing alongside her mother in the Broadway musical Irene. In 1975, Carrie made her film debut in the comedy Shampoo. But it was 1977's Star Wars that made her an international celebrity, casting her as Princess Leia Organa. Carrie changed cinematic history and captured hearts with her portrayal of the groundbreaking heroine.
Subsequent film roles included parts in 1980's The Blues Brothers, as well as Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, When Harry Met Sally…, and Soapdish. Carrie even starred in a 1986 episode of the Disney Sunday Movie, entitled Sunday Drive. She also appeared in many television shows, including 30 Rock, Family Guy, Entourage, The Big Bang Theory, and Catastrophe.
Carrie published her first novel, Postcards from the Edge, in 1987. The wickedly funny, semi-autobiographical tale proved a best-seller and won the PEN Center USA First Fiction Award for Best First Novel. A film adaptation, scripted by Carrie herself, premiered in 1990. She later continued her career as a best-selling novelist with Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma, and The Best Awful.
In addition to her novels, Carrie wrote a series of memoirs, including Wishful Drinking, Shockaholic, and The Princess Diarist. Through her writing she tackled the entertainment industry, mental illness, depression, and substance abuse with insight and humor. Carrie was open about her struggles with bipolar disorder and substance abuse, and her voice on the subject helped break through the stigma of mental illness. Millions of people connected with her and appreciated her willingness to share her story.
Carrie's writing skills were also in high demand as a Hollywood script doctor, with her uncredited contributions including films such as Hook, Sister Act, and The Wedding Singer.
In 2015, she reprised the role that made her famous, returning as General Leia Organa in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and will be seen in the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Carrie received the Women of Vision Award in 2005 from Women in Film & Video of Washington, D.C., and in 2016 she received the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism at Harvard University for her outspoken activism.
Carrie passed away on December 27, 2016. A documentary based on her fabled relationship with her mother, Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, was released shortly after her passing.
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| Clyde Geronimi (1901–1989) Legends Award Category: Animation Year Inducted: 2017 |
You remember the scenes—a terrifying nighttime flight from the Headless Horseman, a romantic spaghetti dinner behind Tony's Restaurant, and a remarkably Mad Tea Party. These and many other instantly recognizable moments from Disney's animation history were created under the supervision of Clyde Geronimi.
Amid the Italian Alps in the town of Chiavenna, Clito Enrico Geronimi was born on June 12, 1901. His family moved to New York when he was a child, and although his name was anglicized as Clyde Henry Geronimi, his later collaborators would know him as "Gerry."
Clyde was enrolled in night school studying art at Cooper Union when he got his first animation job in 1919. He worked first at William Randolph Hearst's International Film Service, which produced short animations based on popular comic strips from Hearst's newspapers. Clyde next found himself at Bray Productions, working on animated series featuring characters like "Colonel Heeza Liar" and "Dinky Doodle."
Moving west in 1930, Clyde briefly worked at Universal before joining The Walt Disney Studios in 1931. His first assignments as an animator were to a number of memorable Mickey Mouse, Silly Symphony, and Pluto cartoons, and he eventually contributed to more than 50 of the Studios' shorts. His career as an animation director began in 1939 with Beach Picnic and the 1941 Pluto short Lend a Paw, for which Disney would receive an Oscar®. Other notable shorts he directed include the wartime pictures Education for Death and Chicken Little (both in 1943), as well as the 1952 classic Susie, the Little Blue Coupe.
Clyde made the leap to sequence director with 1943's Victory Through Air Power, and he subsequently contributed to The Three Caballeros, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. For the 1940s Disney package films Make Mine Music and Melody Time, Clyde directed memorable segments such as Peter and the Wolf and Pecos Bill. He also directed segments for television's Disneyland the Park/Pecos Bill and contributed to episodes of Walt Disney Presents. The apex of his Disney career came when he served as supervising director for the 1959 masterpiece Sleeping Beauty.
Clyde left The Walt Disney Studios in 1959 after 28 years. Later he recalled that "…the Studio was like one happy family… Walt Disney had the enthusiasm of a big kid. The Studio was his whole life and love; that is why it became such a great studio."
Before he retired in the late 1960s, he directed dozens of television cartoons starring Marvel Super Heroes, such as Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man. In 1979, Clyde received the Winsor McCay Award from the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, for a lifetime of contributions to animation.
Clyde passed away on April 24, 1989.
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| Whoopi Goldberg Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2017 |
As an award-winning actress, producer, and talk-show host, Whoopi Goldberg is one of the most prolific entertainers currently working in the industry.
Whoopi was born on November 13, 1955, in New York City. After dropping out of high school and struggling to make ends meet working odd jobs, she decided to move to California to pursue an acting career. There she joined theatre and improvisational groups, eventually creating material on her own for her one-woman act, The Spook Show. After catching the eye of director Mike Nichols, she was able to take her show to Broadway. This would lead to a Grammy® Award-winning album and the HBO special Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway. The program helped launch her career, establishing the actress and comedienne as a tour-de-force talent.
Shortly thereafter, Whoopi landed a role in Steven Spielberg's film The Color Purple. Her breakthrough performance earned her an Academy Award® nomination and Golden Globe® Award for Best Supporting Actress. From there, she would go on to appear in a string of classic film roles in the '80s and '90s, such as Jumpin' Jack Flash, Sarafina!, Soapdish, The Associate, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Girl, Interrupted. Whoopi is perhaps best known by audiences for her iconic role as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost, for which she earned an Academy Award® for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and as Deloris in Touchstone Pictures' Sister Act and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
Whoopi has enjoyed much success on television, starring for five seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation, appearing on The Wonderful World of Disney as Queen Constantina in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and Vivien Morgan in A Knight in Camelot, starring in her own NBC sitcom, Whoopi, and appearing most recently in ABC's miniseries When We Rise. Since 2007, she has been a co-host on ABC's The View, for which she won a Daytime Emmy® in 2009. Well-known for her comedic timing, she became the first woman to host the Academy Awards in 1994, and later hosted the 68th, 71st, and 74th telecasts. She also appeared in nine Comic Relief television specials with fellow comedians and Disney Legends Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.
Audiences may also recognize Whoopi's voice talents, as she has recorded for many television series and film projects—from Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Liberty's Kids: Est. 1776, and Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 3 to ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Disney Junior's The 7D and Miles from Tomorrowland—though Whoopi's biggest voice role may have been the hyena Shenzi in Disney's 1994 blockbuster animated feature, The Lion King.
Expanding her resume beyond acting, Whoopi directed Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley and has executive produced her show Whoopi, Hollywood Squares, Strong Medicine, ESPN's documentary short Coach, and Broadway musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie and Sister Act. She is also an accomplished best-selling author with Book, Is It Just Me? Or Is It Nuts Out There?, If Someone Says "You Complete Me," Run!, and for Disney, Whoopi's Big Book of Manners and the Sugar Plum Ballerinas series.
For her talents, Whoopi has earned the highly coveted EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar®, and Tony® Awards. Beyond her countless awards for her acting and producing, she is also renowned for her humanitarian efforts, receiving multiple NAACP Image Awards and People's Choice Awards.
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| Manuel Gonzales (1913–1993) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 2017 |
For nearly 40 years, Manuel Gonzales brought Mickey Mouse to newspapers nationwide. At its peak, his Mickey Mouse-starring comic strips appeared in 120 newspapers around the world with a collective circulation of more than 20 million readers each week.
Manuel was born on March 13, 1913, in Cabana, Spain. His family moved to Cuba when he was 1, and then immigrated to Massachusetts when he was 5. They then relocated to New York City, where he attended the National Academy of Design.
While living in NYC, Manuel and his best friend created a comic strip based on World War I flying "aces"––an early foray into the medium for the budding draftsman. While the strip never found publication, the work helped the young artist earn the nickname "Ace" by his early associates. From a young age, Manuel aspired to be an illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post. He greatly admired renowned illustrators such as Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, and Frederic Remington.
In 1936, The Walt Disney Studios was in great need of new artists to work on its first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Open auditions for artists were held at Rockefeller Center in New York, and Manuel was one of 33 selected from thousands of applicants to join the Disney ranks. In 1938, Manuel took over penciling duties on the Sunday Mickey Mouse comic strip from Disney Legend Floyd Gottfredson. After taking a three-year break for Army service, Manuel began to pencil and ink the strip in 1946, a role he continued to occupy until 1981.
During his time at Disney, Manuel was known by his colleagues simply as "Gonzy." He was amazed by the talents of the artists around him and was honored to be in their ranks. Those who knew him described him as a humble and gentle family man with a passion for World War I aircrafts, steam locomotives, and fine art. He often enjoyed socializing with his friends from Disney, but especially appreciated his time with his wife and two sons.
As a Disney comic artist, Manuel helped to expose the world to the off-screen adventures of Mickey Mouse and his pals Goofy and Pluto, and also drew nine-week promotional comic strips that helped introduce films such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp. He later penciled and inked the popular daily newspaper strip featuring Scamp, the mischievous son of Lady and Tramp, from 1956-1981. Occasionally stepping in to pencil the daily Donald Duck strip, Manuel contributed to various Disney comic books and publications throughout his lengthy career, and was known for tackling each project with a masterful sense of artistry.
Manuel was presented a "Mousecar" award for his company accomplishments by Walt Disney himself in 1966. Walt joked that Manuel, who signed each of his comic strips as "Walt Disney," had probably signed Walt's name more often than Walt himself had.
Manuel passed away on March 31, 1993.
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| Mark Hamill Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2017 |
For an entire generation of filmgoers, there has been no greater hero than Luke Skywalker. And behind the robes of the aspiring Jedi was an actor who would become an iconic part of the great Star Wars legacy: Mark Hamill.
Born in Oakland, California, on September 25, 1951, Mark was the son of a Navy officer. Growing up across the world, he developed an interest in acting. Back in the United States, Mark landed television roles, before earning a recurring part as Kent Murray on ABC's General Hospital.
Many more television appearances followed, including the sitcom The Texas Wheelers, but it was the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars that made Mark a household name. Luke Skywalker was a role that Mark would revisit in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as decades later in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Mark would even appear as himself—and as Luke Skywalker—on The Muppet Show in 1980.
Mark continued to act in a number of film, television, and theater projects. Other notable movies include Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One, Slipstream, Sleepwalkers, Village of the Damned, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Brigsby Bear. A longtime comic-book fan, Mark directed the mockumentary Comic Book: The Movie in 2004. He appeared as the Trickster on television's The Flash in 1991, a role he returned to decades later in the 2015 iteration of the show. His stage career includes the Broadway shows The Elephant Man, Amadeus, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, and the musical Harrigan 'n Hart, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination.
But outside of his Jedi heroics, he has found great success in the field of voice acting. His long list of vocal appearances stretches back to 1973, when he was cast in an animated Saturday morning adaptation of the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, to the Marvel animation shows Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, and Fantastic Four and also diverse parts in Metalocalypse, The Regular Show, and Time Squad.
A prolific voice actor, Mark has dozens of other appearances giving voice to any number of heroes and villains in television shows, feature films, documentaries, and video games. He lent his voice to Disney Channel's Miles from Tomorrowland, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates, as well as the Disney-released English-language versions of two films by Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki. He's appeared on The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas, and provided vocals to video games such as Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and LucasArts' Full Throttle.
Mark has even taken on a long list of parts as notorious villains. He dabbled in the dark side, giving voice to Sith Lord Darth Bane in television's Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but he is most known for his role as the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker. Beginning with Batman: The Animated Series, Mark has given voice to the scourge of Gotham City, performing in a string of Batman television series, full-length animated features, and video games. For his performance as the Joker in Batman: Arkham City, Mark won a BAFTA Award in 2012 and received a nomination for Arkham Knight in 2015.
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| Wayne Jackson Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2017 |
Wayne Jackson began his career as an Imagineer in October 1965, and in the decades that followed he would put his technical skill and know-how to great use in the development and installation of Disney attractions around the world.
Wayne was the first employee of MAPO—Walt Disney Imagineering's manufacturing and production arm. Originally trained in aircraft tooling, he began as a technician and machinist assigned to rebuild the shows from the 1964–65 New York World's Fair that were slated for installation at Disneyland. Instrumental in the early development of Audio-Animatronics® technology, Wayne would go on to help install Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, as well.
He then served as installation supervisor for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and spent seven years as manager of the show mechanical and plastics manufacturing departments. In these roles he supervised the installation of many Disney theme park projects on both the East and West Coasts.
In 1981, Wayne relocated overseas to become the director of show and ride production, manufacturing, and installation for all the shows for Tokyo Disneyland. Known for his patience, kindness, and thoroughness, he trained both Imagineering and Oriental Land Company staff during the production and fabrication of the Tokyo Disneyland attractions.
After the opening of Tokyo Disneyland, Wayne served as director of show quality standards there. Dedicated to a deep appreciation of show quality, he worked to establish a program for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland. Disney Legend Jim Cora remembered Wayne's contributions to WDI, saying, "He left a legacy which highlighted the importance of the Disney Show."
Eventually Wayne transferred to the then-underway Disneyland Paris project as the director of show/ride manufacturing, fabrication, and installation. After the park opened he was named technical director for show quality standards, where he established a communication system for special effects, projection, and new materials. For the first time, this allowed all Disney parks to identify common problems and methods for maintaining the parks.
Wayne's final assignment was as director of show systems for the construction of Tokyo DisneySea. For this project, he directed the manufacturing and installation of all show mechanical equipment, special effects, audio equipment, electronic show control equipment, and show ride programming. From his early work at Disneyland to the completion of Tokyo DisneySea, Wayne spent many years as an Imagineer helping shape experiences at Disney Parks worldwide.
Wayne retired from Imagineering in March 2002, after 36 years of service.
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| Jack Kirby (1917–1994) Legends Award Category: Publishing Year Inducted: 2017 |
The work of Jack Kirby helped define the Super Hero, expanded the power of the comic book, and brought thrilling tales of wonder and adventure to millions throughout the world.
Jacob Kurtzberg was born in 1917, the son of European Jewish immigrants. He grew up in New York's Lower East Side neighborhood during the Great Depression, where he faced fights every day just to walk to school. Those fights were a firsthand influence on the dynamic action he would bring to the pages of his comics.
He was inclined at an early age to pursue drawing, inspired by the comic strips of Milton Caniff and Hal Foster. Taking the pen name "Jack Kirby," he would go on to work in Max Fleischer's animation studio, illustrating for Lincoln Features syndicate, and winding up at the comic-book publishing house of Victor Fox. At Fox's studio he met Joe Simon, a fellow writer and artist. The two decided to strike out on their own—a collaboration that would endure for 16 years. One of their first jobs was working for the company that would one day be known as Marvel.
In spring 1941, Jack and Joe Simon created their biggest and most influential blockbuster comic, Captain America Comics #1. Its titular hero punched Adolf Hitler in the jaw on its iconic cover, months before America had joined the war. That comic helped redefine what comics could be with its innovative page designs and proportion-exploding panels.
After serving honorably in World War II and working briefly for National/DC, Jack returned to Marvel and began to collaborate with Stan Lee, his former assistant and now his editor. They worked on Western, war, and monster comics before lightning struck. In 1961, Stan and Jack produced Fantastic Four #1, and began what has become known as the Marvel Age of Comics. It was during this time that Jack earned the nickname "The King," and his way of working became so popular that it set the tone throughout the '60s. Jack brought his dynamic layouts, unparalleled action, and unbridled creativity to the fore in books such as Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, Incredible Hulk, and Thor, creating a legion of characters now known throughout the world.
Jack went on to design work in Hollywood, including artwork for a science-fiction film that was never made, yet helped the CIA sell a plot to rescue embassy workers trapped in Khomeini's Iran, as depicted in the film Argo.
His work influenced many people, and continues to inspire to this day. "Words haven't been invented that can truly quantify what he has meant," said Joe Quesada, chief creative officer of Marvel. "Not just to Marvel, but to the entirety of the comics industry and to every young artist who has ever had the impossible task of staring at a blank page, knowing that even before they start, no matter how talented they are, how hard they work, Jack Kirby already did it better."
He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame's 1987 inaugural class and continued creating comics into the '90s.
Jack passed away on February 6, 1994.
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| Stan Lee (1922–2018) Legends Award Category: Film & Publishing Year Inducted: 2017 |
Excelsior! It is the familiar rallying cry of Stan Lee, one of the most prolific and legendary comic creators of all time. In his more than seven decades in the industry, Stan has dreamed up an endless number of new characters and worlds, and brought readers an all-star roster of heroes and villains.
Stanley Martin Lieber was born in New York City on December 28, 1922. Stan grew up during the Great Depression, getting a job as an office assistant at a comic publisher in 1939 to help out his family. Then known as Timely Comics, the company would evolve into what we know today as Marvel.
Stan made his debut with a Captain America story in 1941, and by the next year he was promoted to editor at age 18. After serving in the Army's Signal Corps and Training Film Division, he went on to write a wide variety of comic series in the 1940s and 1950s. But it was with the rise of the Silver Age of Comics that Stan truly found his voice, when Super Heroes returned to vogue and Stan teamed up with Jack "King" Kirby to create the Fantastic Four in 1961.
A deluge of new titles followed, as Stan co-created an enormous roster of Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the X-Men, Daredevil, and Black Widow. Many of the most popular characters were gathered together as a super-team known as The Avengers.
Known for his vivid and engaging prose, Stan gave his heroes real-world problems and realistic human failings. Besides saving the world, they had to face everyday concerns such as dating or paying the rent, and Stan never shied away from social commentary on relevant issues such as race or substance abuse. He also broke ground in giving credit to comic creators, and filled every issue of his titles with chatty responses to fan letters. Stan became Marvel's editorial director and publisher in 1972, and eventually was named chairman emeritus.
But publishing hasn't been Stan's only career. He's also appeared in some of the most popular films of all time. His well-known cameos in Marvel Studios films began with 1989's telefilm The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and since the release of X-Men in 2000 he has appeared in nearly every Marvel Studios film and television project. Cameos include television shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Daredevil, Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-Man, and even as a LEGO version of himself in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes and LEGO Marvel's Avengers. Outside the Super-Hero realm, he even pops up as a wedding guest in Disney's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Stan continues to appear in all forms of media, founding POW! Entertainment in 2001 to produce a number of projects. He's hosted the television documentary series Stan Lee's Superhumans, as well as the series Who Wants to Be a Superhero?
Among Stan's many awards is the National Medal of Arts, awarded by President Bush in 2008. He's also been inducted into the comic industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.
Stan passed away November 12, 2018.
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| Garry Marshall (1934–2016) Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2017 |
An impresario of film and television, Garry Marshall created a vast TV world of long-running and interconnected shows that remain on the air to this day. He was also renowned as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood.
Garry Kent Marshall was born in the Bronx on November 13, 1934. He studied journalism before joining the Army, and spent time as a reporter in New York before moving to Los Angeles in 1961. There, he found work writing for a number of hit shows, including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show, but he had his own big break when he produced The Odd Couple for ABC in 1970.
The 1970s were a prolific decade for Garry, as he created many shows and executive produced many more. For ABC, he developed a shared universe of spinoff series beginning with Happy Days and including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi. His other ABC sitcoms during these years included Angie, The New Odd Couple, and Blansky's Beauties.
Outside of television, Garry was a successful director, with 18 films to his credit. These included popular romantic comedies such as Runaway Bride and Valentine's Day. At Disney, he made Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries movies, which elevated the acting careers of both Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway. He also directed Bette Midler in Beaches and The Lottery, a short film which for years was a fixture of the Backstage Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.
Garry was known for acting as well, appearing in dozens of small roles in film and television. For Disney, he appeared in Race to Witch Mountain and Hocus Pocus, Disney Channel's Liv and Maddie, ABC's Brothers & Sisters, and voiced Buck Cluck in Chicken Little. He could be seen in television's Murphy Brown, in films like A League of Their Own, and he even appeared as a gangster facing off against James Bond in Goldfinger.
A theater lover, Garry wrote plays and directed opera. He founded Burbank's Falcon Theatre in 1997. He also wrote two memoirs, Wake Me When It's Funny: How to Break into Show Business and Stay There and My Happy Days in Hollywood: A Memoir.
Among Garry's many accolades are an American Comedy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Writers Guild of America's Valentine Davies Award, the David Susskind Television Lifetime Achievement Award, the Producers Guild of America's Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Television. He was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1997.
Garry passed away on July 19, 2016.
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| Julie Taymor Legends Award Category: Theatrical Year Inducted: 2017 |
As a Tony®-, Emmy®-, and Grammy®– winning and Oscar®-nominated director, Julie Taymor has changed the face of Broadway with her innovative direction.
Julie was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts. From an early age she was drawn to the stage, becoming one of the youngest members of the Boston theatrical community. At age 15 she spent time studying abroad in India and Sri Lanka, and after graduating high school she traveled to Paris to further immerse herself in theatrical studies.
After graduating from Oberlin College in 1974, Julie spent several years in Asia. In Bali, she founded her own theater company, Teatr Loh. Along the way, Julie studied many techniques of puppetry and mask-making that would become a trademark of her later productions.
After returning to the United States in 1979, Julie designed her first American production, The Odyssey. Her next production, The Haggadah, earned her the American Theatre Wing's Hewes Design Award for Scenic, Costume, and Puppet Design. She directed and wrote the book for the musical Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass in 1988, which earned her the Hewes Award for Concept Puppetry and Masks. A 1996 production of the musical, Julie's Broadway debut, earned five Tony Award nominations, including one for her direction.
Her Broadway adaptation of the animated classic The Lion King debuted in 1997. An instant sensation, it received 11 Tony Award nominations, with Julie receiving awards for Best Director and Costume Designer. She was the first woman in theatrical history to receive the award for Best Direction of a Musical. In addition to her Tony Awards, she also received awards for her puppet, costume, and mask designs.
Disney's The Lion King has gone on to become the most successful stage musical of all time. Julie presided over 24 global productions that have been seen by more than 90 million people, with the most recent premiering in 2016 at Shanghai Disney Resort. The show has played in more than 100 cities in 19 countries.
In 1999 Julie released her first film, Titus. Afterward she worked with Salma Hayek on the biographical film Frida, which earned six Oscar nominations and brought Julie a co-nomination for Best Original Song. Her 2007 film Across the Universe earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and she then returned to Shakespeare's works for 2010's The Tempest.
Also an author, Julie has written or co-written several books including Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire, The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, Titus: The Illustrated Screenplay, and Frida: Bringing Frida Kahlo's Life and Art to Film.
Julie has continued to work in the theater, directing and designing The Green Bird, co-writing and directing Grendel, and designing, co-writing, and providing the original direction for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
Julie is a recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and an inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement. She is currently directing M. Butterfly on Broadway, opening in fall 2017.
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| Oprah Winfrey Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2017 |
One of the best-known media personalities of our time, Oprah Winfrey is a producer, actress, network CEO, and philanthropist. For 25 years she was a daily fixture as host of the award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. While studying communications at Tennessee State University she began to work in radio and then television, eventually becoming a local broadcaster in Nashville.
Oprah moved to Baltimore in 1976 to co-anchor the local news, and went on to co-host the talk show People Are Talking. She moved to Chicago in 1984, where she became host of AM Chicago. She soon took the show to first place in its market, surpassing ratings expectations just a month after she began.
Before long her show was expanded to an hour, put into national syndication, and rebranded as The Oprah Winfrey Show. The ratings juggernaut ran from 1986 to 2011, largely on ABC stations and in more than 100 countries. Produced by Oprah's Harpo Productions, it became the highest-rated daytime program in television history.
Returning to her journalism roots, Oprah will be joining the long-running news magazine 60 Minutes in fall 2017 as a special contributor.
As an actress, Oprah found success early on in her career. In 1985 she was cast in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, which earned her Academy Award® and Golden Globe® nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 1998 she starred in Beloved for Disney's Touchstone Pictures, a film that she also produced. She also voiced Eudora in Disney's The Princess and the Frog in 2009. Oprah earned critical acclaim in Lee Daniels' The Butler in 2013, produced and acted in the Academy Award-winning film Selma in 2014, and most recently produced and starred in the film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Oprah will also star in The Walt Disney Studios' 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time as Mrs. Which.
In 2011, Oprah launched her cable network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, for which she has produced a myriad of original programming, including critically acclaimed scripted dramas such as Queen Sugar and Greenleaf, the latter in which she also has a recurring role.
Oprah has also made her mark on Broadway co-producing the 2005 musical The Color Purple, which earned 11 Tony® Award nominations, and the revival of the play in 2016 for which she won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Off-screen, Oprah has been an active philanthropist. In 2007, she founded The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa to provide educational and leadership opportunities for academically gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds, and is the largest single donor to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture with a $21 million donation.
Oprah was the first recipient of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2002, received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2011, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, the nation's highest civilian honor.
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| August 23, 2019 |
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| Christina Aguilera Legends Award Category: Music & Television Year Inducted: 2019 |
Christina Aguilera is one of the preeminent musical performers in the world. With a powerful voice and wide vocal range, she boasts an unmatched stage and recording presence that has entertained fans all over the world, from the iconic soundtracks of Mulan and Moulin Rouge, to recent hits like the Golden Globe®-nominated Burlesque, her stead on NBC's The Voice, and appearances on ABC's Nashville. Selling more than 25 million records, Christina has also garnered six Grammy Awards® including a Latin Grammy Award for her musical accomplishments.
Her rendition of "Reflection" was met with high acclaim and ultimately landed the musician a recording deal with RCA.
Born in Staten Island, New York, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Christina rose to fame early with a breakout performance as a junior vocalist on Star Search in 1990. Just a few short years later she took to the Disney stage, appearing on Disney Channel's popular update of the Mickey Mouse Club, joining the show in May 1993 for two seasons. At the time, Christina posited that her goal was "to become a good all-around performer," and cited inspiration from popular recording artists such as Whitney Houston, En Vogue, Boyz II Men, and Janet Jackson. Taking cues from her musical idols, and admiring actors like Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, it's no surprise that the Mouseketeer would go on to a diverse career in the entertainment industry.
During the production of Mulan (1998), The Walt Disney Studios was searching for an artist to perform a pop version of Matthew Wilder and David Zippel's "Reflection" for the movie's soundtrack (the song would also be performed by fellow Disney Legend Lea Salonga in the film). "We were looking for a voice that conveys a feeling, not just narrates it," said Chris Montan, Executive Music Producer for Disney Animation at the time. "Christina's voice brings a mature sensibility to the song." At the time of the film's release, Christina noted: "The best thing about singing the part of a great heroine such as Mulan is that I think she is a really great role model… she goes after what she wants with such bravery. She didn't let any limitations hold her back and succeeded in the end. Also, it feels awesome to be in such wonderful company as Celine Dion and Vanessa Williams, in being a part of Disney history. I can't believe I got to do it!" Her rendition of "Reflection" was met with high acclaim and ultimately landed the musician a recording deal with RCA. The song has since gone on to become a standard associated with Disney film music.
Christina would take part in additional Disney projects several times throughout her career, including appearances and performances on Disney's 2 Hour Tour (2000) and the Walt Disney World Summer Jam Concert (2000), while her song "Blessed" was featured in the 2000 Disney Channel Original Movie Miracle in Lane 2. She has performed on ABC's Emmy®-winning Dancing with the Stars, and was featured on the network's hit series Nashville in 2015 as singer Jade St. John. Most recently, Christina entertained New Year's revelers during the 2019 telecast of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, a show that has aired for nearly 50 years and has come to be known as an American institution.
A lifelong fan of Disney Parks and Resorts, Christina performed at the 2005 kickoff ceremony for "The Happiest Homecoming on Earth," Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration, and was a featured performer during the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade telecast in 2011. She is the recipient of the Billboard Music Award, an MTV Europe Award, Rolling Stone Music Awards, NRJ Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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| Wing T. Chao Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2019 |
For 37 years at Disney, Wing T. Chao played a vital role in designing and developing exceptional and inspiring projects, worth more than $12 billion, at Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide. Wing served as Vice Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for Asia Pacific Development, as well as Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, where he oversaw master planning, architecture, and design for Disney properties around the world, including in California, Florida, Hawai'i, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
After Wing graduated with Bachelor and Master's degrees from UC Berkeley, he went on to receive his second Master's degree in Architecture with a focus in Urban Design from Harvard University. His thesis, "A Free Time City," foreshadowed society's transformation into the Information Age, conceiving a "Vacation City" where people could not only have fun, but also undergo educational enrichment. The idea of combining education and entertainment ("edutainment") coincided nicely with Walt Disney World's development plans for what would become the largest "Free Time City" in the world.
Wing's first assignment after joining Disney in 1972 was to master plan the Lake Buena Vista Community, where the initial Disney Village (now called Disney Springs) was created to entertain exiting guests from Magic Kingdom each evening. The Village was subsequently expanded to include Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney.
Beginning in 1984, Wing participated in the landmark expansion of Walt Disney World Resort, including additional theme parks, hotels, restaurants, retail, entertainment, water attractions, convention and exhibition centers, and sports and recreation venues. Additionally, Disney's innovative design paradigm incorporated distinct architectural themes and characters for each hotel, resulting in the creation of "Entertainment Architecture." Wing was the mastermind for planning and the design conscience for architecture, interiors, graphics, landscaping, lighting, and Cast Member costumes.
Wing was a key member in successful negotiations with the French government to build Disneyland Paris Resort. He was responsible for master land use planning and also oversaw the planning of Disney's new community of Val d'Europe with its town center, shopping center, and office and residential development. In Florida, Wing led the design team for master planning Disney's new town development of Celebration, which has evolved into a full-fledged model community.
Wing led the design of Disney's first two cruise ships, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder. He also directed the design of Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy ships, which have taken guests to a new level of cruising experience and enjoyment.
In 1998, Wing was a key member in the successful negotiations with the Hong Kong government for the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and he was responsible for the master planning of the overall resort development including two resort hotels. For the Shanghai Disney Resort, negotiations with the government started in 1999, with Wing playing a vital role in which he led the creation of a master development plan for the project's seven square kilometers.
The list of Wing's remarkable contributions to Disney Parks and Resorts is extensive, and his creative design impact on guest's experiences is far-reaching. This is not only a reflection of his professional commitment, but also his passion for excellence. Wing often said that the biggest gratification in his career was to see the smiles on Guests' faces while they were enjoying the vast array of Disney creations.
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| Robert Downey Jr. Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2019 |
With an art house filmmaker father and a writer and actress mother, Robert Downey Jr. was born to make his mark on the silver screen. Growing up in New York City, London, Santa Monica, and Greenwich Village, among others—wherever his parents were working—he recalled, "I was raised by a black-and-white RCA TV. Rod Serling. Bill Shatner. Hogan's Heroes, and Gilligan's Island." Acting became part of his everyday life.
In Richard Attenborough's 1992 drama Chaplin, Robert portrayed Charlie Chaplin, earning an Academy Award®-nomination for Best Actor and the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In the 2000s, Robert starred in Wonder Boys (2000) and television's Ally McBeal (2000-2002), for which he won a Golden Globe® and a Screen Actors Guild Award®. Robert even made his Disney debut during this time, popping up in 2006's update of the classic Walt Disney fantasy comedy The Shaggy Dog. In 2008, Robert's hilarious turn in Tropic Thunder earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Robert made film history with his Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut performance in 2008 as Tony Stark, the "man behind the mask" of Marvel's Iron Man. Director (and fellow 2019 Disney Legend honoree)
Jon Favreau recalled, "It came down to Robert offering to do a screen test. And once we rolled the camera, it was inarguable. There was nobody who could say he was not Iron Man."
Audiences loved Robert's Tony Stark; his signature portrayal of this character helped launch Marvel Studios into the Hollywood stratosphere, and has brought Robert back to movie screens for a series of increasingly popular adventures, including additional Iron Man films in 2010 and 2013; The Incredible Hulk (2008), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Of the importance of that first film, producer and president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige said, "We were hoping Iron Man would make enough money that we could make another film. If that film didn't work, there would not be an MCU as we know it today."
Robert has this to say about his role in the MCU: "I've gone from being convinced that I am the sole integer in the approbation of a phenomenon to realizing that I was the lead in the first of a series of movies that created a chain reaction that, if everything didn't fire the way it was supposed to, there's no operator; no anything. And you go, O.K., life is doing something here that included me but did not require me. But, yes, that role means a lot. Marvel is kind of like the sacred brotherhood."
In 2014 Robert was honored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts with its prestigious Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. Looking forward, he and his production company, Team Downey, which he launched with his wife, Susan, are continuing to expand their presence in all aspects of the industry—film, television, and digital—and are in various stages of production on several anticipated projects. On the film side, Robert will next star in the title role in 2020's The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, an untitled feature based on an episode of Gimlet Media's Reply All podcast, and he and Team Downey are producing an adaptation of the thriller novel A Head Full of Ghosts.
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| James Earl Jones (1931–2024) Legends Award Category: Voice Year Inducted: 2019 |
With nearly 200 credits in film and television, and countless more on the Broadway stage, it's hard to imagine a more recognizable voice than the rich and commanding basso profundo tones of James Earl Jones. Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, and raised on a farm by his grandparents in Michigan, James Earl developed a stutter at a young age. One of his high school teachers helped him master his stutter by having him recite poetry before the class—and he found his calling in performing.
In 1958, following a stint in the Army after graduating from the University of Michigan, James Earl took to Broadway with a small role in Sunrise at Campobello. In 1960, Joseph Papp cast him as a soldier in Henry V—the first role in a long association with New York's Shakespeare in the Park, where he would go on to play Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.
"Doing a voice for animation is acting in its purest form."
He added film and television to his continuing stage work, making his big screen debut in 1964 in Stanley Kubrick's brilliant satirical comedy Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In 1966 he joined the cast of The Guiding Light with a brief turn as Dr. Jim Frazier, and then became the first black man to have a continuing role in a daytime soap opera as Dr. Jerry Turner on As the World Turns.
His continued work in film and television includes Claudine (1974); Roots: The Next Generations (1979); Field of Dreams (1989); the Tom Clancy trilogy with Harrison Ford—The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), and Clear and Present Danger (1994); and Cry, the Beloved Country (1995). In 1991 he won two Emmy Awards, for the TV movie Heat Wave and the series Gabriel's Fire.
In 1977, as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope, James Earl helped create perhaps the most indelible screen villain in decades, a role which he has continued to portray in subsequent films in the Star Wars franchise, including Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and the Disney XD TV series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018).
In stark contrast to his vocalization as Darth Vader, James Earl voiced the majestic Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King (1994). "Doing a voice for animation is acting in its purest form. It's a bit like the ancient Greek form where the actors would wear masks. In our case, the masks are the animators' drawings and we just simply supply all the behaviors, emotions, and feelings behind that mask," the actor recalled. His Mufasa would be heard again in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (2015).
Other Disney credits include Three Fugitives (1989), ABC's Recess (1998) as the voice of Santa Claus, True Identity (1991), Jefferson in Paris (1995), segment host for Fantasia/2000 (2000), and narrator for the Disneynature film Earth (2009). His voice has been heard in Disney Parks around the globe, including recurring vocal performances as the menacing Darth Vader for Star Tours: The Adventures Continue and as a past celebrity narrator for the Candlelight Ceremony and Processional at Disneyland Park.
In 2019, James Earl reprised his role as the voice of Mufasa in The Walt Disney Studios' photo-realistic re-imagining of The Lion King.
James Earl Jones passed away on September 9, 2024, at age 93. Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, paid tribute to the Disney Legend by saying, in part, "A celebrated stage actor with nearly 200 film and television credits to his name, the stories he brought to life with a uniquely commanding presence and a true richness of spirit have left an indelible mark on generations of audiences."
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| Jon Favreau Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2019 |
Born in New York City, Jon Favreau began his career with appearances in independent films and television, but has since become one of Hollywood's most successful producers and directors. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and studied at Queens College, but prior to receiving his degree, he moved to Chicago to try his hand at improv comedy. Jon's first roles included appearances on TV shows such as Seinfeld and Friends; his earliest film roles, such as D-Bob in the inspirational sports film Rudy (1993) and as Gutter in the college comedy PCU (1994), made him an audience favorite.
Jon's big break came with the indie film Swingers (Miramax, 1996), for which he wrote the screenplay, starred in, and co-produced. In 2003 he directed the Will Ferrell hit Elf, and his stature as a director was further confirmed.
What I learned from Iron Man was that the way you remember things can be as important as how things really were.
He would go on to direct and produce several major box-office hit films for The Walt Disney Company. His directing credits include Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), and the live-action reimagining of The Jungle Book (2016). Jon has also made co-starring appearances in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Tony Stark's loyal bodyguard, Happy Hogan. He also holds executive producer credits on Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Jon says that Iron Man was a life-changing experience for him: "The best way to describe it would be that we were building the hot rod while we were racing it." He further explains that these movies are truly a product of the creative process." [They] never actually lock a script until they're shot and cut. They require an incredible amount of gut instinct and many talented collaborative partners. These types of movies are not made from a script as much as a mélange of storyboards, notes on cocktail napkins, dialogue scrawled on the back of the day's sides, and keyframe drawings hung on the set for inspiration. The movie is slowly culled from both written and drawn elements that together inform the story."
Former Marvel Comics creative leader and Disney Legend Stan Lee once said, "Jon Favreau is so multitalented. He acts, he writes, he directs, and he makes everything he does seem easy. In the times I went to the set, I've never gotten a feeling of stress or crisis or urgency. He just made it all seem like it was the smoothest, easiest thing in the world. I think that feeling affected the cast and the crew, and it made everybody enjoy what they were doing and give their best."
"What I learned from Iron Man was that the way you remember things can be as important as how things really were," Jon once said. So for his Jungle Book, he observed, "We embrace the mythic qualities of Kipling in the more intense tonal aspects of the film, but we left room for what we remember from the '67 film and sought to maintain those charming Disneyesque aspects." Jon has also voiced characters in various Disney television shows and feature films, including Hercules (TV, 1999), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (TV, 2000), G-Force (2009), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV, 2010-2013), and, most recently, the CG pilot Rio Durant in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).
He also produced and directed Disney's 2019 photo-realistic reimagining of The Lion King and is currently writing and executive producing The Mandalorian, the live-action Star Wars television series for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service.
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| Bette Midler Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2019 |
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai'i, Bette Midler was 12 when she saw her first stage show, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, recalling, "I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. I fell so in love with it.
Everything else in my life receded once I discovered theatre."
Bette moved to New York in 1965. Within a year she hit the Great White Way, first as a member of the chorus in Fiddler on the Roof, and then as Tevye's eldest daughter, Tzeitel, a role she would play for three years. She did improv and comedy, then began a record-breaking run at Continental Baths, working closely with her pianist and arranger, Barry Manilow. Together they produced her first album, The Divine Miss M, for which she received her first Grammy Award® in 1973. That same year she was honored with a special Tony Award® for "adding lustre to the Broadway season." Revues, record albums, concert tours, and an Emmy-winning television special followed.
In 1979, Bette starred in The Rose. Her portrayal of Janis Joplin earned her an Academy Award® nomination as Best Actress and two Golden Globes®, as Best Actress and Best New Star of the Year.
The Walt Disney Company debuted the Touchstone Pictures banner in 1984, producing films with broader adult appeal. Bette helped lead the way to box office success for the new production division, appearing in a string of hit comedies, including Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), and Big Business (1988).
In 1985, Bette formed her own production company, All Girl Productions, with partners Bonnie Bruckheimer-Martell and Margaret Jennings South. Their first film was Beaches (1988), produced in collaboration with Disney for release by Touchstone. A timeless tearjerker, the film—directed by Disney Legend Garry Marshall—was a smash with audiences. Beaches also offered the opportunity for Bette to perform classic musical numbers, including what would become Bette's platinum-selling (and Grammy-winning) rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings"—introduced to and arranged for her by her longtime musical collaborator, Marc Shaiman.
In a delightful display of her versatility, that same year Bette voiced Georgette, the prize-winning prima donna poodle in Disney's animated feature Oliver & Company. She also reunited with Marshall for The Lottery (1989), a short film produced for the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) in Florida to demonstrate the secrets of moviemaking for the park's Backstage Studio Tour.
More Disney films followed, including Stella (1990) and Scenes from a Mall (1991). For Walt Disney Pictures, Bette played witchy Winifred Sanderson in what has become a perennial Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus (1993), and in 1996 she recorded a pop version of "God Help the Outcasts" for The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack album. Bette served as a segment host for Fantasia/2000, the film that realized Walt Disney's dream of an updated concert feature based on his 1940 animated classic.
Bette has starred in a dozen non-Disney films, released 27 albums, and has been showered with awards. Twice nominated for a Best Actress Oscar®, she has received the American Cinematheque Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy by the American Comedy Awards. For nearly 50 years Bette has been the consummate performer, honored with three Emmys; four Golden Globes; three Grammys; 10 Gold, Platinum, and Multiplatinum records; and two Tonys. For the 91st Academy Awards broadcast in February 2019, Bette performed "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns, also written by Marc Shaiman.
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| Kenny Ortega Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2019 |
Kenny Ortega grew up in a household filled with music and dance, so it was natural for him to turn to musical theatre and film for a career. "When I was a little boy, I remember watching my mother and father dance in the living room. They would jitterbug and mambo. Before we had TV, we had radio and records, and my mom and dad were always dancing. I remember her laughing, my dad dipping her, and the joy that was in the room when they were dancing. That was exciting and thrilling to me."
Kenny first began designing dances on the small screen, choreographing music videos for Olivia Newton-John and Madonna and quickly moved on to bigger productions. In 1980, he choreographed the dance sequences for the musical film Xanadu, working with legendary dancer/director Gene Kelly. Kenny recalls, "When I met him, he realized I had very little knowledge of designing choreography for the camera. He was one of the pioneers of that. He took me under his wing and unselfishly passed down a tremendous amount of creative and technical information to me. I'm forever indebted to him."
He continued choreographing such 1980s hits as St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Dirty Dancing (1987). In 1988, Kenny entered into what would become a long association with The Walt Disney Company, choreographing two television specials, Disney's Totally Minnie and Mickey's 60th Birthday.
Next, Kenny added directing to his resumé, starting with music videos, then moved on to television. He directed three episodes of Disney's Touchstone Television-produced show Hull High in 1990, and in 1992 made his motion picture directing debut with Newsies.
The musical comedy/drama quickly became a fan favorite, and would go on to inspire the smash Broadway stage production. Disney's desire to reinvent and bring back musicals for a new generation made Kenny the perfect choice to helm the project.
Andrew Laszlo, the film's director of photography, observed that "even the camera moves were choreographed; it was wonderful to work with a director who could do this."
In 1993, Kenny directed the perennial Halloween-time favorite Hocus Pocus starring fellow Disney Legend Bette Midler; following it with the TV movie "making-of " documentary, Hocus Pocus: Begin the Magic (1994). Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, he was a much sought-after television director, directing episodes of popular series such as Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, and Gilmore Girls, as well as the televised broadcast of the XIX Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2002.
In 2006, he directed the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical (HSM), a simple high school story that he helped turn into a smash hit pop musical. The success of the first movie would bring Kenny back to direct two HSM sequels, High School Musical 2 (2007) and the feature film High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008). Besides directing, Kenny also choreographed all three movies. About the High School Musical projects, Kenny says, "I really liked the idea of young people coming to know their own voice, regardless of outside pressure from peers, teachers, parents, and society. There's too much bullying that goes on and as a result, kids back off from new ideas they have about themselves."
Kenny's additional Disney credits include directing the 2014 short The Making of Frozen, The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006), and, most recently, executive producer, director, and choreographer of the popular Disney Channel Original Movies Descendants (2015), Descendants 2 (2017), and Descendants 3 (2019).
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| Barnette Ricci Legends Award Category: Parks & Resorts Year Inducted: 2019 |
In 1967, as a member of a touring singing group called "The Young Americans," a talented California singer and dancer named Barnette Ricci helped Bob Hope kick off the 1967 United Crusade supporting the United Way and American Red Cross. Soon thereafter, Barnette joined The Walt Disney Company as a Disneyland Cast Member, and, in 1969, choreographed and directed a show starring a group of bright-eyed, clean-cut, and sincere young singers and dancers (including herself!) known as the Kids of the Kingdom. The "Kids" were the epitome of the Disneyland spirit as envisioned by Walt Disney. Barnette would go on to choreograph and direct many stage shows, spectaculars, and iconic Disneyland parades, including Christmas parades, America on Parade, and the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade. She also directed the popular stage shows Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland and the Diamond Horseshoe Revue in Magic Kingdom® Park at Walt Disney World® Resort.
While there had been musical shows on Disneyland's Rivers of America for years, from Grad Nites to the Rolling River Revue, Barnette was tasked with the challenge of taking full advantage of the scenic, but underused, locale. "I always felt that the [Rivers of America] was a truly unique venue, but I wanted to use it in a new way to create something different for our Guests," says Barnette. She began researching water-related special effects. "We had already gleaned all this information about mist screens on which we could project light beams and lasers. Then we received a demo reel from a French company. It showed a water screen with film projected on it." She thought, "What if Disney animation was projected onto those screens? It would be incredible!"
Barnette knew this new way to project animation on water would be perfect for a river show, layering it with dancing water fountains, special lighting, lasers, pyrotechnics, and black light, and combining everything with live performers on watercraft. And at the show's center would be Walt Disney's most iconic character, Mickey Mouse.
She wrote the script that brought the show to life with scenes from classic Disney animated films, carefully adapting and re-editing the sequences to fit the new re-scoring of the original film music by Bruce Healey. Barnette even wrote the lyrics for the show's iconic song "Imagination." Healy's dramatic score was the finishing touch.
The results were, in Barnette's estimation—and that of millions of viewers over the years— "absolutely spectacular." She recalls, "The first time we performed the show for a real audience, I was thrilled watching and hearing their reaction to the show.
Words cannot express how proud I am of Fantasmic!
and how proud and thankful I am of everyone who worked so hard to bring it to life, and who continue to keep it going strong, night after night."
Fantasmic! debuted at Disneyland in 1992. Audiences have enjoyed the show so much that it continues to play at Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, and is now presented at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan. Enhanced special effects, thrilling new visuals, and even special holiday editions keep the show fresh and exciting for new generations.
With the smashing success of Fantasmic! under her belt, Barnette moved over to The Walt Disney Studios as Vice President and Show Director of Special Events, where she continued to develop and oversee new Disney entertainment projects. After more than 40 years performing, choreographing, directing, and creating unforgettable shows and experiences with The Walt Disney Company, Barnette retired in 2013.
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| Robin Roberts Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2019 |
Serving her country is in Robin Roberts' blood. Her mother was Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts, the first African American to lead Mississippi's Board of Education. Her father, Lawrence Roberts, served in World War II as a pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators. Today, Robin Roberts serves her country and makes a difference as a journalist and newscaster. Born in Alabama, Robin grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where she played basketball, tennis, and other sports. Her excellence in sports won her an athletic scholarship to Southeastern Louisiana University, where she became the star player for the women's basketball team and graduated cum laude with a degree in communications.
While still in college, she began working as a sports director for a local radio station. From there she moved to sports reporting and anchor positions for local television stations throughout the south. In 1990, Robin joined ESPN—the first female African American sports journalist for the network—and within five years she was also a regular contributor on Good Morning America (GMA). In her 15 years at ESPN, she contributed to NFL PrimeTime and hosted SportsCenter and In the Game with Robin Roberts.
"You want, as a journalist, to create a reaction that leads to action."
In 2005, she joined GMA full time as co-anchor. Since Robin joined the program, the show has won five Emmys® for Outstanding Morning Program and the 2017 People's Choice Award® for Favorite Daytime TV Hosting Team. For ABC, Robin has also hosted In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts: All Access Nashville, as well as ABC's red carpet coverage of the Academy Awards®. In addition to these hosting duties, she's also created original broadcast and digital programming for the network through her production company, Rock'n Robin Productions.
Robin shares that her colleague and friend (and fellow 2019 Disney Legend) Diane Sawyer taught her one of the most important lessons she has learned as a journalist: "You want, as a journalist, to create a reaction that leads to action."
A breast cancer survivor, Robin was treated for myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone marrow disease, in 2012. When she revealed her condition to the public, the primary registry operated by the National Marrow Donor program saw an 1,800 percent increase in donors. She chronicled her journey on GMA and earned a Peabody Award for the coverage.
Through Disney's Hyperion publishing division, she released her first book, From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By in 2007, a compilation of rules and insights to overcome tough obstacles and become successful. A year later she produced an updated edition which included her breast cancer journey, From the Heart: Eight Rules to Live By. In 2014, she released her memoir, the New York Times' best-seller Everybody's Got Something, in which she shared more of her life lessons. "Being optimistic is like a muscle that gets stronger with use. Makes it easier when the tough times arrive. You have to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel," she says.
Among Robin's many awards are the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism; the National Association of Broadcasters' Distinguished Service Award; membership in the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame; the Women's Institute of Sport and Education Foundation's Hall of Fame; and the Radio Television Digital News Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, Louisiana Public Broadcasting named her a "Louisiana Legend." She was voted the "Most Trusted Person on Television" by a Reader's Digest poll in 2013. Robin was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year (2014), and in 2017 the Human Rights Campaign honored her with its Visibility Award.
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| Diane Sawyer Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2019 |
In a career spanning four decades, Diane has been a trailblazer for women and for journalism. She has been a leader in morning television, prime time magazines, and the ABC flagship broadcast World News. Her final season at World News delivered its most-watched season in six years.
Her work also includes some of the most-watched interviews in prime time—38 million viewers watched the first and only interview with Michael Jackson and his new wife Lisa Marie Presley; 22 million viewers watched her unforgettable interview with Whitney Houston about drug use; 21 million viewers watched her interview with the family of Nicole Brown Simpson, their first and only interview; 14 million viewers watched Jaycee Dugard describe how she survived for 18 years when kidnappers imprisoned her in their backyard; and 24 million people watched the Olympic athlete known to the world as Bruce Jenner reveal that Caitlyn Jenner was always the real person inside.
Diane changed the landscape of what was possible for women.
Her interviews also include American presidents, countless world leaders, and generals on the frontlines as she traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Diane has said, "A life in journalism is a wonderful chance to use your curiosity and passion to try to bring more light into the world."
She also launched the award-winning documentary series called Hidden America—a series of reports on the struggles and hopes of families living in Appalachia; on Native American reservations; of schools where valiant principals and teachers are championing children in America's most dangerous neighborhoods; and the crisis in the foster care system.
Diane began her journalism career in 1969 doing the weather in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, after earning her BA in English from Wellesley College. She is the daughter of a third grade teacher and a county judge, both from Kentucky. In 1970, she joined the Nixon White House as a press aid. In 1978, she returned to a career in news at CBS.
In 1984, Diane changed the landscape of what was possible for women, becoming the first female correspondent asked to join Mike Wallace and the legendary anchor team at 60 Minutes. In 1989, she was recruited by Disney Legend Roone Arledge to join ABC News as co-anchor of a new magazine hour PrimeTime. In 1999, she was asked to take on a second anchor role at ABC as co-anchor of Good Morning America, where she would stay for a decade. There, she and her co-anchor and friend (and fellow 2019 Disney Legend) Robin Roberts broke another barrier, becoming the first team of women to anchor a major network morning broadcast.
Diane was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1997. She has received multiple Emmy® and Peabody awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the USC Distinguished Achievement in Journalism Award. In 2017, Diane's interview with Caitlyn Jenner won the GLAAD Outstanding TV Journalism Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. In 2017 and 2019, she helped ABC News win the Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence in Television.
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| Ming-Na Wen Legends Award Category: Television & Voice Year Inducted: 2019 |
Ming-Na Wen was born in Macau, China, and lived in Hong Kong. At age 6, her mother brought her and her older brother to the United States. They settled in New York City, where Ming-Na learned English. Ming-Na vividly remembers when the acting bug bit her. It was in third grade when she performed in her elementary school's Easter play.
After graduating with high honors from Carnegie-Mellon University's drama program, she returned to New York City to pursue an acting career, performing in numerous off-Broadway productions. Ming-Na was cast as Lien Hughes on As the World Turns and made daytime soap opera television history as the first Asian actor cast in a regular role.
She was thrilled to take part in a Disney film that took a piece of renowned folklore from China and featured a beautiful story about a young woman discovering who she is and what her strengths and beliefs are.
In 1993, Ming-Na made her big screen debut in the lead role of June in Disney's critically acclaimed adaptation of Amy Tan's popular novel The Joy Luck Club for Hollywood Pictures. On TV, her credits include series regulars as Dr. Deb Chen on ER and Trudy in The Single Guy and a recurring role in Two and a Half Men. In film, her roles include Mimi in Mike Figgis' One Night Stand with fellow Disney Legend Robert Downey Jr., Chun-Li in Streetfighter, and many more. She even fulfilled her dream and performed on Broadway in the Tony®-nominated play Golden Child by David Henry Hwang.
One of Ming-Na's most important roles came soon after she arrived in Hollywood, when she landed the title role in Disney's animated classic Mulan, for which she received an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer. The film was also honored with several Annie Awards from ASIFA-Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society.
She was thrilled to take part in a Disney film that took a piece of renowned folklore from China and featured a beautiful story about a young woman discovering who she is and what her strengths and beliefs are. Ming-Na said, "That was my first voiceover job ever, and I knew nothing about the process. But I loved the challenge of bringing a character to life just using my voice and my imagination."
In 2018, when Mulan celebrated its 20th anniversary, Ming-Na reflected on the film's impact: "I am ecstatic to have played a character with such long-lasting influence. Mulan is a role model not just for little girls but little boys, too. And for adults! I love it when the moms bring their kids to meet me. They tell me what an impact Mulan has been in their lives, and now, in their kids' lives as well. It's the magic of Disney to be able to translate a Chinese story and make it relatable to everyone for all generations."
Ming-Na has returned to the role of the heroic Fa Mulan in numerous projects, including an animated sequel, video games Kingdom Hearts II and Disney Infinity 3.0, on television's House of Mouse and Sofia the First, and in the 2018 Walt Disney Animation Studios smash hit Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Her Disney television projects include voice work in Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb, Disney XD's Guardians of the Galaxy and Milo Murphy's Law, and the series of superhero digital shorts Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. She currently saves the world as Agent Melinda May, a.k.a. The Cavalry, on the ABC series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Ming-Na sees some of Mulan's character traits in Agent May: "I think maybe Mulan is one of Agent May's ancestors or something. They're both definitely women warriors. I think what's fantastic is that after two decades I'm still able to play these kick-butt characters, and it's such an honor."
A total Disneyphile, Ming-Na has loved sharing everything Disney with her husband, Eric Zee, and her children, Michaela and Cooper.
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| Hans Zimmer Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2019 |
Born in Germany, composer Hans Zimmer has scored more than 160 projects which, combined, have grossed more than $28 billion worldwide. Hans has been honored with an Academy Award® , two Golden Globes®, three Grammys®, an American Music Award, and a Tony Award®.
Hans first gained fame as a member of the pop music group The Buggles, whose music video for "Video Killed the Radio Star" launched the genre on MTV.
Hans brought a unique sensibility from these ventures into film scoring, combining electronic music with traditional orchestral performances.
After breaking into film scoring and making a name for himself as composer on a handful of projects, in 1988 he received his first Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Score for Rain Man. Soon afterward, he began what would become a significant collaboration with The Walt Disney Company, providing additional music for White Fang (1991) and co-writing the score for the John Candy comedy Cool Runnings (1993). But he made history with his groundbreaking instrumental score for The Lion King (1994).
Although Hans had never done anything for an animated film before, he had another reason for accepting the project. As the father of a young daughter, he wanted to do something she could experience.
"I started with 'Circle of Life,'" he remembered, "and I had this perfect idea, that my friend Lebo M… a fantastic African musician, composer, lyricist, etcetera, would come in, and he's got this great voice." Musically, he told audiences this was going to be a journey, an adventure, something very different. He reveals, "The music you hear in that sequence is the first thing I did on The Lion King. Not only that, but it's the original demo, with the original guide vocals. Since I was supposed to make [Elton John's songs] 'more authentically African,' I needed to see just how far I could go. So I built this really big piece." The problem was, it was supposed to be 30 seconds long, and segue into a dialogue sequence. He planned to cut it down, but after hearing it the producers went into a huddle and came back saying, 'We've thrown the dialog out, and we can make it two minutes long. Just give us this big boom at the end, and we'll put the title there. We won't even have any credits at the beginning. This really works.' Since that day, it never changed," Hans says with pride. "Sometimes, without thinking about it, you just get it right." Hans really got it right; his masterful score and orchestrations for The Lion King won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The Lion King was also honored with two Grammy Awards, the American Music Award, a Golden Globe, and a Tony® .
Many Disney scores soon followed The Lion King, including: Crimson Tide (1995, composer), Muppet Treasure Island (1996, instrumental score composer), The Rock (1996, composer), Pearl Harbor (2001, composer), King Arthur (2004, composer), and Iron Man (2008, executive music producer). Perhaps most notably, Hans is the guiding force behind the music of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, serving in various composing, editing, and producing capacities. And, coming full circle, Hans recently composed the music for the re-imagining of The Lion King (2019).
Hans believes music contributes to the overall emotional impact of a film. "I think music is a great way of telling a story especially where words don't quite reach you. Emotions are universal, and music is the universal language."
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| September 9, 2022 |
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| Anthony Anderson Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2022 |
From comedy and drama to video games, animation, and game shows, Anthony Anderson's career has touched nearly every corner of pop culture over the last two-plus decades. Born in Augusta, Maine, and raised in Compton, California, he would often accompany his mother Doris to film sets, where she worked as a background actor. It's no surprise, then, that the "bug" bit early on; Anthony booked several TV commercials as a child and eventually attended Hollywood High School, where his performance of a monologue from The Great White Hope secured him first place in the NAACP's Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) competition, as well as a scholarship to Howard University in 1988.
After trying his hand at stand-up, he returned to acting. Early TV and film roles include a recurring role on the Saturday morning sitcom Hang Time; Life (1999); Big Momma's House (2000); Me, Myself & Irene (2000); See Spot Run (2001); and Barbershop (2002). But it was 2003's Kangaroo Jack that solidified Anthony as a bona-fide star—after which, he pitched his own sitcom to Warner Bros. All About the Andersons ran on The WB for just one season, but it cemented Anthony's place in Hollywood, and new opportunities followed: roles in blockbusters including The Departed (2006) and Transformers (2007); a recurring role on The Shield and guest spots on series such as Veronica Mars and Entourage; and a multi-season, NAACP Image Award-nominated turn on Law & Order. And then, beginning in 2014… black-ish.
Anthony executive produced and starred in the fearless, critically acclaimed ABC sitcom as Andre "Dre" Johnson, a Los Angeles advertising exec determined to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family. During the series' incredible eight-year run, Anthony was nominated multiple times for an array of honors: the Critics Choice Award; the Golden Globe® Award; the Primetime Emmy® Award (both as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and as executive producer for Outstanding Comedy Series); the Screen Actors Guild Award; and even a Kids' Choice Award. And he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series a whopping seven times.
"I realized Disney was a special company when we were first pitching black-ish," he explains." How engaged everyone was from the beginning… This is a company that produces family entertainment, and they're synonymous with executing that seamlessly. The studio and network also empowered us push the envelope to tell our stories and be our authentic selves."
black-ish brought Anthony's several related opportunities—including executive-producing its ABC spinoff series mixed-ish (2019–2021), a prequel that explored Bow's experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the '80s, as well as Freeform's grown-ish, which follows Bow and Dre's eldest kids as they head off to college and beyond.
As black-ish concluded in early 2022, Anthony made a notable return to the Law & Order franchise, revisiting his role as Det. Kevin Bernard.
In the meantime, while he may have left the stand-up stage behind, Anthony hasn't lost the desire to make people laugh: Since 2016, he's hosted ABC's popular To Tell the Truth reboot, and he costarred in ABC's Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons' in 2019.
But that's not all: Anthony's also lent his voice to several video games, such as Def Jam: Icon and Diablo III, as well as to animated series including Disney Channel's The Proud Family, Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins, and Blaze and the Monster Machines.
Diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2002, Anthony devotes much of his time to diabetes advocacy. Not only did he have his character Dre get diagnosed with the same condition on black-ish, but he's also teamed up with Novo Nordisk for their "Get Real About Diabetes" campaign.
Anthony received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2020—and in May 2022, he fulfilled a dream 30 years in the making when he completed his coursework at Howard University and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.
"I can't begin to quantify how working at Disney has changed my career and life," he says. "And I can't think of better partners to be in business with, but more importantly, to be family with."
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| Kristen Bell Legends Award Category: Film & Voice Year Inducted: 2022 |
It doesn't take a detective to deduce that Kristen Bell is a true quintuple threat—an actress, a singer, a producer, a philanthropist, and an entrepreneur.
Born in Huntington Woods, Michigan, Kristen started performing early. As a child, she once appeared in the pivotal dual role of "banana and tree" in a suburban Detroit theater production of Raggedy Ann and Andy, and later signed with an agent—netting some Detroit-area commercials. After starring in several high school productions, she headed off to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts to study musical theater.
While still an undergraduate, Kristen's first big break arrived: the role of Becky Thatcher in a new Broadway musical adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2001). A second Broadway turn—2002's revival of The Crucible—came next, and soon Kristen took the leap and moved to Los Angeles, seeking work in TV and film.
She found success with the series Veronica Mars; running from 2004 to 2007, it followed a cynical high-schooler-turned-private detective and was beloved by critics and audiences alike. (It returned for a fan-demanded fourth season on Hulu in 2018.)
Kristen has juggled a remarkable diversity of work post-Mars. Her first Disney role was in animation—lending her voice to Hiromi in the Studio Ghibli classic The Cat Returns, for the film's U.S. DVD release in 2005. On the small screen, she appeared on Heroes; narrated both iterations of Gossip Girl; voiced characters on animated series including The Simpsons and Family Guy; starred on the acclaimed comedy The Good Place (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe® Award); and led the recent miniseries The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. On the big screen, she has costarred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008); Touchstone Pictures' When in Rome (2010) and You Again (2010); Bad Moms (2016); Queenpins (2021); and many more.
From 2019 to 2020, Kristen executive produced and hosted the Disney+ series Encore!, which reunited cast members of high school musicals across the country to recreate their performance years—sometimes decades—after they were originally performed. As she told Disney twenty-three at the time, "Immediately, we all knew we wanted the show to be more than just a musical theater show; we wanted it to be a human show. We really wanted to focus on friendships, humor, making amends, and those awkward moments in life, giving people the freedom to look back together and laugh about them—all couched in something I loved: musical theater."
And then, there's Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen. Alongside fellow 2022 Disney Legend inductees Idina Menzel as Queen Elsa, Jonathan Groff as Kristoff, and Josh Gad as Olaf, Kristen voices brave, warm-hearted Anna of Arendelle in the 2013 Oscar®-winning phenomenon. "Anna is scrappy and weird and puts her foot in her mouth and is way overly excitable," Kristen said at D23 Expo 2013, ahead of the film's release. "And that's kind of how I am. I wanted to bring who I was to this character, so she was very realistic and very relatable."
Kristen has since reprised the role in several shorts, including Frozen Fever (2015), Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017), and Once Upon a Snowman (2020), as well the Oscar-nominated sequel, Frozen II (2019). She can also be heard as Anna in LEGO® Disney Frozen: Northern Lights (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and the video games Disney Infinity, Disney Infinity 2.0, Disney Infinity 3.0, and Kingdom Hearts III.
An avowed sloth devotee, she gave voice to Priscilla the sloth in 2016's Oscar-winning Zootopia, and will be heard again in the upcoming Disney+ series Zootopia+. Elsewhere within the worlds of Disney, she's been seen in the television specials Lady Gaga & The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular (2013) and Mickey's 90th Spectacular (2018).
Kristen has worked with numerous charities over the years, including the ASPCA, the Helen Woodward Animal Center, and the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. In 2020, she was honored with a Special Achievement Award at the 24th annual Webby Awards for her contributions to online COVID-19 relief and educational efforts.
She and her husband, Dax Shepard, founded the company Hello Bello, a family and baby product company making plant-based premium products at non-premium prices, in 2019.
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| Chadwick Boseman (1976–2020) Legends Award Category: Film Year Inducted: 2022 |
A once-in-a-generation talent. A lasting impact. And now, a Disney Legend.
Chadwick Boseman was born and raised in South Carolina, where he took interest in both performance and basketball during his high school years. Recruited to play sports in college, the call of the stage was too strong, and he graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing.
After his sojourn at Howard, Chadwick attended the British American Dramatic Academy at Oxford University, and upon his return to the U.S., performed with the National Shakespeare Company of New York. His original work Hieroglyphic Graffiti was produced as part of the National Black Theatre Festival in 2001. Chadwick also had early entry into the worlds of Disney: One of his first TV roles was a recurring character on the ABC Family (now Freeform) series Lincoln Heights.
His unquestionable talent led to increasingly notable film roles. Chadwick made his feature film debut in Gary Fleders' 2008 drama The Express, playing football great Floyd Little, but his breakout performance came in 2013 when he garnered critical acclaim as the legendary Jackie Robinson in 42. The next year, Chadwick took on another icon—music superstar James Brown—in the biopic Get On Up; for his work, he received the 2014 CinemaCon Male Star of Tomorrow award, was named one of the year's Top 10 best movie performances by TIME magazine, and was awarded a Virtuoso Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Two years later, he played the title role in Marshall, as future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Chadwick also continued working behind the camera; he wrote, directed, and executive produced the 2008 short film Blood Over a Broken Pawn. Through their shingle X•ception Content, he and writing/producing partner Logan Coles sold several scripts to major studios.
In 2016, Chadwick's life, and pop culture, changed forever: He made his first screen appearance as T'Challa in Captain America: Civil War, setting the stage for 2018's Black Panther. Chadwick's commitment to the role, based on a character created by Disney Legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, was evident. "He was so prepared as an actor that he read all the comic books, and… had his own ideas about Wakanda," Marvel Studios executive producer Nate Moore said at the time. "You realize very quickly this guy is not taking anything for granted and is fully invested in the role."
Chadwick knew there was something truly unparalleled about the opportunity: "T'Challa is smart. He's a strategist, and that has always been something that stood out to me, even in the comic books," the actor said. "If you're going to do a Super Hero, you want to do one where you can really act and where you can do something that's going to make you a better artist as well. And I think, culturally speaking, that there are not a lot of opportunities to play a Black Super Hero. It's breaking new ground—and to be a part of that is a special thing."
The film quickly became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, inspiring millions of fans and picking up seven Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture. Chadwick won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for the role, and went on to reprise it in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and in the Disney+ animated series What If…? (2021–), for which he received a posthumous Primetime Emmy® Award.
Only those close to him knew that Chadwick had been diagnosed with cancer in 2016—and spent the next few years publicly battling fictional foes while privately battling a very real adversary.
Throughout his career, he supported numerous charities, including St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem. Despite impediments brought about by his illness, he persevered in his purpose to uplift and inspire through his creative work. Chadwick appeared in 2019's 21 Bridges, which he and Coles produced, Spike Lee's 2020 film Da 5 Bloods, and—posthumously—was nominated for his first Academy Award® for his star turn that same year in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Chadwick Boseman passed away on August 28, 2020.
In May 2021, Howard University renamed its College of Fine Arts in his honor.
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| Rob't Coltrin Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2022 |
Culminating a nearly 30-year career at Walt Disney Imagineering that included work on some of Disney's most popular attractions, Robert "Rob't" Coltrin was named a Disney Legend in 2020. To his surprise, Rob't was notified of this prestigious honor on August 25, 2020, during a private presentation at home with a few friends and his sister, fellow Imagineer Lori Coltrin, now retired. "It's a huge honor," he says, "and I am humbled to be singled out in such a collaborative company." Rob't was officially inducted as a Disney Legend during D23 Expo 2022.
In the 1980s, Rob't came to Los Angeles after graduating from Cal Poly SLO and got a job assisting renowned television art director Bob Keene on dozens of shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Grammy Awards®, and Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration (for which he received an Emmy® nomination). He finally joined WDI in 1990 as a show set designer and over time moved on through multiple disciplines—including show design, concept design, and art direction—before landing in his final role as an executive creative director. He long specialized in brainstorming the story telling structure and initial design concepts that underpin every attraction, created during the early development phase known as "blue sky," when all ideas are welcomed. "I would always create the initial ride layouts for my attractions," he says. "Ride layouts are how we tell our stories. They're like the director, editor, and cinematographer of a movie all rolled into one."
Rob't has had a hand in the creation of many attractions that have delighted Disney fans for decades, working on such popular experiences as Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Expedition Everest, Mickey's PhilharMagic, and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. He holds a special place in his heart for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney WorldResort, which he created with his sister. "Even though I'd been there [at WDI] seven years," he says, that was "the first time I leda project like that. So that's special in its own way. It's like your first baby." More recently, Rob't was a creative force behind some of WDI's most ambitious projects, including two lands at Hong Kong Disneyland: Grizzly Gulch (with Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars) and Mystic Point (with Mystic Manor). He also conceived Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the Magic Kingdom, as well as a major expansion at Tokyo Disneyland that included the wildly popular Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. One of his last projects was Fantasy Springs, a brand new "port" at Tokyo DisneySea that opens in 2023, themed to Peter Pan, Frozen, and Tangled.
Rob't's key contributions to the conceptual phase of attraction development were immortalized by his colleagues in a portrait in the queue for Mystic Manor. The painting depicts Rob't, imagined as an early twentieth-century aviator, identified as "Prof. R. Blauerhimmel," which translates to "Prof. Blue Sky." "They tell me it's a tribute to the fact that I led the 'blue sky' team at the beginning of so many projects," he says.
"Rob't is a one-stop ideation and design shop," says Kevin Rafferty, retired WDI Executive Creative Director, "because he is a storyteller, writer, director, choreographer, artist, designer, theatrical showman, engineer, musician, architect, and scientist—all wrapped up into one." Among Rob't's collaborations with Kevin was the groundbreaking Toy Story Midway Mania! at both Disney California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios. They also created the immensely popular Radiator Springs Racers, Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek!, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, and most recently, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway.
Whatever project he's recounting, Rob't is sure to mention all the other Imagineers who helped make it happen. "I remember one executive who said, 'When people walk into our parks, they're so overwhelmed because no one person could do any part of this,'" he says. "Well, of course, no one person could do that. It took ALL of us to do that! Imagineering teaches you the power of collaboration, the power of experts in literally 150 different disciplines, and putting them all together. As a creative director, if you can get everyone to follow your vision, stay on the same page, and move forward to opening day, then you've done your job."
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| Patrick Dempsey Legends Award Category: Film & Television Year Inducted: 2022 |
Born and raised in Maine to a school secretary mother and an insurance salesman father, Patrick got his first taste of performing, surprisingly, via juggling—winning second place second place in the Juniors category at the 1981 International Jugglers' Association Championship. But it was an invitation to audition for the tour of Harvey Fierstein's play Torch Song Trilogy (spoiler alert: he booked it) that really set him on his life's course.
One of his earliest roles was an appearance on The Disney Sunday Movie, as Kellin Taylor in A Fighting Choice (1986). By age 21, he'd been cast in his first two major film roles: In the Mood (1987) and—that same year—Touchstone Pictures' Can't Buy Me Love, where he caught some major teen-pop-culture attention. A host of film projects followed, such as Some Girls (1988), Hollywood Pictures' Run (1991), Outbreak (1995), The Emperor's Club (2002), Made of Honor (2008), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016). Patrick's television work has included a multi-episode stint on Will & Grace and an Emmy® Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role on ABC's Once & Again. In 2002, he costarred in the popular Touchstone Pictures romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, opposite Reese Witherspoon.
Just three short years later, Patrick truly caught the cultural zeitgeist, landing the role of Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd on the ABC series Grey's Anatomy. During his incredible 11-season run with the show—during which his character had a memorably stormy relationship and marriage with Dr. Meredith Grey, played by fellow 2022 Disney Legend inductee Ellen Pompeo—he was nominated for a Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, and appeared on several episodes of the Grey's spinoff Private Practice. Most recently, in 2020, "McDreamy" made a very special re-appearance on the series, much to the delight of fans.
"It's remarkable to be a working actor, and then on top of that to be on a show that's visible," Patrick said upon leaving Grey's officially in 2015. "And then on top of that to be a phenomenal show that's known around the world, and playing a character who is beloved around the world… It's very heady."
In the meantime, Patrick provided the voice of Kenai in Disney's Brother Bear 2 (2006) and costarred alongside Amy Adams in the hit film Enchanted (2007), playing Robert Philip—an unsuspecting New Yorker caught up in an extraordinarily real fairy tale, complete with musical numbers and evil queens. He'll soon be seen in the film's anticipated sequel, Disenchanted—alongside fellow 2022 Disney Legend inductee Idina Menzel—coming to Disney+ later this year. In 2019, Patrick produced The Art of Racing in the Rain for 20th Century Fox.
Speaking of racing: Outside of film, TV, and stage, Patrick is a committed race car driver and has competed in prestigious pro-am events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race. He was a co-owner of the Vision Racing IndyCar Series team, and is current owner of Dempsey Racing, which he founded in 2006.
After watching his mother's journey with ovarian cancer, Patrick opened The Dempsey Center in 2008—a space where those impacted by cancer can find relief, comfort, and resources. Located in Maine, The Dempsey Center provides personalized and comprehensive cancer care at no cost. To help fund The Dempsey Center, Patrick started The Dempsey Challenge presented by Amgen, an annual run/walk/cycle fundraising experience that champions a spirit of celebration and a culture of paying it forward. Additionally, Patrick has worked with a multitude of other organizations over the years, including Seattle Children's Hospital and Avon Foundation for Women.
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| Robert Price "Bob" Foster (1924–2022) Legends Award Category: Administration Year Inducted: 2022 |
Without the man who proudly referred to himself as "Disney's official clod kicker," the Walt Disney World Resort we know wouldnot have been possible. Robert Price "Bob" Foster orchestrated the purchase of thousands of acres that the resort covers todayin total secrecy in the early 1960s, involving hundreds of transactions. He joined The Walt Disney Company soon after the opening of Disneyland and remained with the Company for nearly 20 years.
A Midwesterner like his eventual boss, Walt Disney, Bob was born in Elk City, Kansas, in 1924. He served as a U.S. Navy officer in the Pacific theater, then returned home to finish his interrupted undergraduate studies. He earned degrees in political science and business administrationfrom the College of Emporia, Kansas, and in education from the University of Southern California. He served briefly as a teacher in Los Angelesbefore returning to USC to secure a law degree in 1954. Two years later, he joined the legal department for Walt Disney Productions, as the Company was then known.
"I became directly involved as counsel for Disneyland, Inc.," Bob recounted, working "with 'outside' stockholders that included [ABC] … WED Enterprises [now known as Walt Disney Imagineering], and Walt Disney, personally." Bob also served on Disneyland's Park Operations Committee and in 1960 was named Assistant Secretary, Walt Disney Productions, and Resident Counsel for Disneyland. He recalled, "It wasas counsel for the park, negotiating for expansion property and dealing with hold-out landowners … that I became the company's land negotiator."
In late 1963, Walt and Roy O. Disney personally selected Bob to head the land search and acquisitions for the top-secret "Project X."Operating under the pseudonym "Bob Price" over the course of 18 months, Bob surreptitiously scouted and acquired thousands of acres of land across the state of Florida—from an initial target of 5,000 to an eventual spread of more than 27,000 acres. It was one of the largest parcels ever acquired by a single corporation, and Bob singlehandedly negotiated with more than 100 landowners across the United States to make it happen. In total, Bob secured 43 square miles of majestic, largely untouched wilderness, including Bay Lake and Riles Island (which became Discovery Island)—for $5 million, or $182 per acre. It was, Walt said, "enough land to hold all the ideas and dreams [the Company] could possibly imagine."
But as Bob put it, "it was after the purchase of the land that the 'real' work began." Contemplating the massive development that would span two Florida counties, "it occurred to me that just as Walt was regarding the 43 square miles of undeveloped land as a clean sheet of paper, we should do the same—create an entirely new local governmental structure for the project." As the Vice President of Legal, Florida Project, Bob oversawthe creation of a massive, 481-page legislative package that established the governing authority for developing and managing a wide range ofpublic services across the Walt Disney World property. The package passed in May 1967, just months after Walt's death, establishing the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.
In 1967, Bob joined the Board of Supervisors for the improvement district, later serving as its President. The district's groundbreaking building code allowed innovations such as the practical application of experimental building materials; innovative and environmentally friendly land use; a high-speed, all-electric Monorail system; and sophisticated prototype systems for power generation, trash collection, and wastewater treatment—winning the Urban Land Institute's prestigious Award of Excellence in 1981.
In the years approaching the grand opening of Walt Disney World Resort, Bob was named Vice President (Legal), Secretary, and General Counsel for the Walt Disney World Co., and in 1970 was promoted to President of the Buena Vista Land Company, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions. In this role, Bob was responsible for developing Lake Buena Vista—a recreation and resort community on the eastern side of the Disney property now known for its world-class vacation homes, hotels, offices, golf course, and the popular shopping and entertainment district, Disney Springs.
In 1974, Bob retired from Walt Disney Productions as Vice President, Real Estate. He is honored with a window on Main Street, U.S.A., in Magic Kingdom Park—one of the highest accolades bestowed by The Walt Disney Company. He was named a Disney Legend in 2021 and passed away in January 2022.
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| Josh Gad Legends Award Category: Film & Voice Year Inducted: 2022 |
Josh Gad is a Tony Award®-nominated and Grammy®-winning actor and singer who has warmed the hearts of countless viewers around theglobe as Olaf, the lovable snowman from the 2013 box office hit Frozen and its popular follow-up, Frozen II (2019). Gad and Disney havebeen a perfect match at least since the actor's guest role as Kenneth Ploufe in ABC's Modern Family in 2011, and the partnership includes notonly Olaf's many appearances but also Gad's reimagining of the role of LeFou in Beauty and the Beast (2017), which became the DisneyStudios' highest-grossing live-action film at the time.
Gad was born and grew up in Hollywood, Florida, and knew he wanted to be an entertainer even as a small child. After earning a degreeat the prestigious Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, Gad began his career in the theater. By the time he was in his mid 20s, Gad was appearingon Broadway, where he catapulted to stardom as one of the original leads in the musical The Book of Mormon (2011), earning a Tony nominationfor Lead Actor in a Musical. In 2012, Gad shared a Grammy Award win with the rest of the show's cast and creative team for Best Musical Theater Album.
The Book of Mormon introduced Gad to songwriter Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the stage musical's music and lyrics and went on to compose the songs for Frozen and Frozen II with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The original film's endearing comic center was an optimistic, sun-loving snowman named Olaf, voiced by Gad. "Partly the reason I think that Olaf worked so well in the first film is by the time he enters themovie—which is a good 30 minutes into the film—he's such as surprise, and [he] gives [the story] such a different tone," Gad told Disney twenty-three magazine. Olaf "provides such a different energy, and really fulfills his purpose as comic relief… somebody who supports the storyand the characters."
Gad's memorable performances in Frozen and Frozen II earned him two Annie Awards for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in anAnimated Feature Production. In addition to the two features, Gad has voiced Olaf for Frozen Fever (2015), LEGO® Disney Frozen: NorthernLights (2016), Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017), At Home with Olaf (2020), Once Upon a Snowman (2020), and Olaf Presents (2021). "Going into the [recording] booth and tapping into the sheer innocence and naivete of this snowman is one of my favorite things to do," Gad said, "because nomatter what mood I'm in, no matter what baggage I'm bringing into the studio, the second I tap into this little guy, it brings a smile to my face. He'sso pure and so untainted, and he has such a wide-eyed approach and take on life."
In 2017, Gad starred as LeFou, the memorable and iconic sidekick to Gaston, in the live-action Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon. Gad worked with Condon to expand the role of the comedic LeFou to "make him organic to a live-action retelling," Gad explained at the time, a process that "led us to new areas that might not have been touched upon in the original."
Gad's journey with Disney continued in 2020, when he portrayed the lovable rogue Mulch Diggums in Artemis Fowl. Some of his othernotable Disney credits include Mickey's 90th Spectacular (TV, 2018), The Disney Family Singalong (TV, 2020), 20th Century Studios' Murder on the Orient Express (2017), and Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom (Disney+, 2020). Gad's Broadway talent is also showcased as both a creator and star of the Emmy-nominated 20th Television Animation musical series, Central Park (2020–).
Gad also uses his ongoing, intimate association with Olaf to reach out to seriously ill children, making telephone calls in character as thesnowman to kids fighting debilitating diseases. "I don't do brain surgery. I can't cure cancer," he has said. "But, what I can do is make a personsmile. That is the greatest gift I could ever possibly imagine having. That's an honor."
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| Jonathan Groff Legends Award Category: Film & Voice Year Inducted: 2022 |
Jonathan Groff is a talented Emmy® and two-time Tony Award® nominee. Onscreen, he is the voice of Kristoff and Sven in the hit Walt Disney Animation Studios films Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019). He has also given voice to both characters in 2015's Frozen Fever, 2016's LEGO® Disney Frozen: Northern Lights, 2017's Olaf's Frozen Adventure, and 2020's Once Upon a Snowman, as well as in the video game Kingdom Hearts III and the audiobook version of Frozen Fever.
Additional film credits include American Sniper, C.O.G., The Conspirator, and Taking Woodstock. Last year, he co-starred opposite Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix Resurrections. Groff recently completed production on M. Night Shyamalan's highly anticipated feature Knock at the Cabin. In 2022, Groff voiced the titular role of Ollie in Lost Ollie, an animated limited series produced by 21 Laps Entertainment for Netflix.
Groff's breakout role came onstage in 2006, when he gave an award-winning performance in the Broadway production of Spring Awakening (Theatre World Award winner; Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Drama League Award nominee). Additional theater credits include The Bobby Darin Story, Encores! Off-Center's A New Brain, The Bacchae, Hair, The Submission, The Singing Forest, Prayer for My Enemy (for which he won an Obie Award), Deathtrap, and Red.
In November 2021, Groff reunited with the entire original Broadway cast and band of Spring Awakening for a one-night-only, sold-out, 15th anniversary reunion concert, which benefitted The Actors Fund. The reunion concert was the subject of the HBO documentary Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, produced by Groff, his cast mate Lauren Pritchard and Radical Media.
In the fall of 2022, Groff was set to star as Franklin in a Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along at New York Theatre Workshop. Groff was to be joined by Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe in the revival of the musical, which features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. The production was scheduled to run from November 2022 through January 2023.
In 2019, Groff starred as the lovable doomed florist Seymour Krelborn in the celebrated Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Groff's Spring Awakening director, Michael Mayer. Groff starred opposite Tammy Blanchard and Christian Borle in Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's beloved musical. He received rave reviews for his performance and was an Outer Critics Circle Award honoree, as well as aLucille Lortel and Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nominee. The production was also honored with Outer Critics Circle, LucilleLortel, Drama Desk, and Drama League Awards for Outstanding Revival of a Musical and was nominated for a Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theater Album.
Groff is also known for his starring role as Holden Ford in David Fincher's critically acclaimed Netflix television series Mindhunter, which was executive produced by Oscar®- winner Charlize Theron. Groff played an FBI agent who interviewed incarcerated serial killers in an attempt tosolve ongoing crimes. Groff also starred in the HBO series Looking and reprised his role as Patrick in Looking: The Movie, which concluded the acclaimed two-season series. He also appeared as the recurring character Jesse St. James on the Emmy and Golden Globe® award-winning show Glee, created and produced by Ryan Murphy.
In the summer of 2015, Groff originated the role of King George III in Lin Manuel Miranda's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton on Broadway. The production, which began Off-Broadway and tells the story of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, won 11 Tony Awards in 2016, including Best Musical. Groff also received a Tony Award nomination for his performance, and the cast won a Grammy Award and Billboard Music Award for the original cast recording. The Emmy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical is currently streamingon Disney+. Groff also received an individual Emmy Award nomination for his performance in that film.
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| Don Hahn Legends Award Category: Animation & Film Year Inducted: 2022 |
Don Hahn has experienced the past, the present, and the future of The Walt Disney Company in a way very few others have.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Southern California, Don developed an interest in both music and animation early on. "My favorite films were One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Jungle Book," he recalls. "When I was a kid, we went and saw those at the drive-in, in the Rambler station wagon. We put our pajamas on, my dad would back up the station wagon, the tailgate would come down, and we would watch The Jungle Book." In high school, he was as a member of the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic, and he eventually studied music and art at Cal State Northridge.
He considered a career as a music teacher, but the pull of animation was just too strong, and in 1976, he found his way onto The Walt Disney Studios lot for a summer job delivering coffee and art to Disney animators. Several of Walt's "Nine Old Men"—future Disney Legends such as Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman—were still at the Studios at the time and became Don's mentors. "It just became my university," he explains, "a place where I learned about art and music and painting and how hard it is and how great it is."
Eventually, he took on his first animation assignment, serving as an inbetweener on Pete's Dragon (1977)—followed by work as an assistant director or production manager on a host of other animated projects, including The Fox and the Hound (1981), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), The Black Cauldron (1985), and The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Then came a move to London, where Don took on a slightly different role as associate producer on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Next, he produced the Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble (1989).
This shift would prove fortuitous; soon, Don was tasked with producing Disney's 30th full- length animated feature, 1991's Beauty and the Beast. Upon its release, the film was lauded by audiences and critics alike. Perhaps most notably, it was the very first animated film ever nominated for the Best Picture Oscar®. "It's probably the most emotional, and fondly remembered, project in my life," he says. "Working with people like Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and the directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, makes you realize that there's a big safety net at Disney of talented people—and if you don't have an answer, they will."
Don followed Beauty and the Beast with 1994's Oscar-winning The Lion King, which became the most successful film in Disney history upon its release. He'd go on to produce films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). For Fantasia/2000 (1999), he directed the host sequences featuring Angela Lansbury, Bette Midler, and James Earl Jones, among other stars. He also holds executive producer credits on The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Frankenweenie (2012), as well as on The Haunted Mansion (2003), Maleficent (2014), and the live-action reimagining of Beauty and the Beast (2017).
Don's filmmaking eye soon shifted toward documentaries, and he made his directorial debut with Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010)—a fascinating and candid look at Disney's 1980s and '90s "animation renaissance." Other documentary projects include Hand Held (2010), which chronicles the life of Disney Legend Howard Ashman. For Disneynature, Don has served as executive producer on Earth (2009), Oceans (2010), African Cats (2011), and Chimpanzee (2012), which he also co-wrote. He has also penned several books, including Dancing Corndogs in the Night (1999) and The Alchemy of Animation (2008).
With a career this vast and varied, it's no wonder Don's been honored with numerous accolades—including two Golden Globes®, a Golden Satellite Award, the Friz Award for Animation and Family Films, multiple Annie Awards (including the prestigious June Foray Award in 2016), and a Los Angeles-Area Emmy® Award.
The sheer breadth of memorable experiences he's has had at the Company is not lost on him. "I've worked with a lot of really interesting people," Don concedes. "It's not a solo act, especially in animation—it's a team sport. And boy, at its best, it's a wonderful team sport, full of great people."
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| Doris Hardoon Legends Award Category: Imagineering Year Inducted: 2022 |
When Doris Hardoon arrived in 1979 for an interview at WED Enterprises—as Walt Disney Imagineering was then called—three future Disney Legends sat in judgment of this recent graduate from San Francisco's California College of the Arts: Marty Sklar, John Hench, and Rolly Crump. Her creativity and design experience at a small animal-themed park in Northern California after college impressed the trio, and "I was hired basically on the spot."
She was soon at work on EPCOT Center's The Land pavilion under Rolly's direction. In the forty years that followed (including a nine-year hiatus), Doris had creative input into countless Imagineering projects, culminating in a leadership role during the six-year journey that was the creation of the Shanghai Disney Resort.
It was a full-circle project for Doris, whose parents had met and married in Shanghai. They moved to Hong Kong not long before Doris was born, and she grew up in that cosmopolitan city under British rule but steeped in Chinese culture. She was artistic from an early age, pursuing singing, modeling, and even dancing for a time. Finally she landed on graphic design as a pursuit both creative and practical and enrolled at the California College of the Arts.
At Walt Disney Imagineering, Doris quickly graduated from graphics to show design, the discipline now called creative studio. "I was launched into that whole world of designing for the parks," she says, "then also for all the galleries at EPCOT World Showcase." Her work on the many exhibitions at EPCOT also taught her production skills, making her one of the few Imagineers entrusted to do both conceptual and producing work, which she calls "a great, fortunate thing." Inside Disney, she went on to work on Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, among other projects. "I actually have worked on every single Magic Kingdom in the world in some form," she notes. WDI also loaned her out to lead design work on the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles and the Port Discovery Baltimore Children's Museum, as well as to design an exhibition at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
In the late 1990s, Doris was on the team that brainstormed design ideas and scouted sites for Hong Kong Disneyland, but she took a break from WDI in the early 2000s, moving with her family to Vermont, where she and her ex-husband ran their own design firm. In 2010, she accepted an invitation to return to Imagineering to start work on the most all- encompassing project of her career, Shanghai Disney Resort.
The mandate, she recalls, was "the biggest, the widest," the most amazing theme park ever built. It was to be "authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese," as then-CEO Bob Iger phrased it. "I embraced it and it's me," she says. "I'm both East and West in my blood, so this assignment connected with me." Doris was onsite in Shanghai from when all there was to see was construction equipment and mud until well past Opening Day. Among other responsibilities, she was the design lead on a new land at the park's hub, the Gardens of Imagination, and the original design lead on the park's Enchanted Storybook Castle. From beginning to end, the Shanghai project was a prime example of the kind of collaboration that has always been the hallmark of Walt Disney Imagineering. "The team is what I'm all about," she says. "It is about the people. If we don't have the people, we have nothing."
Doris' final project with Imagineering took her back to Hong Kong to transform its centerpiece icon into the grand Castle of Magical Dreams. "That project meant a lot to me, because it had personal meaning," she says. The reimagined structure symbolizes "hope, and the future of dreams. It was an amazing ending of that phase of my career."
She's far from finished, however. "All the people that have come and gone in my life that have made me who I am and have helped me," she recalls, "I never had the chance to pay forward. Now I have the time to do so, and I'm mentoring a lot of people. It's a gift that I hope to continue to give—and they give back to me as well, which is cool. I haven't stopped yet!"
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| Idina Menzel Legends Award Category: Film & Voice Year Inducted: 2022 |
Whether on stage or screen, Idina Menzel's unequivocal signature talents have shone through countless projects across her almost 30-year career.
She was born in Manhattan and grew up on Long Island, where her vocal chops appeared early. "I've been singing and acting and running around putting on shows in my living room since I was a little girl," she has said. By age 15, she'd already begun working as a wedding and bar/bat mitzvah singer, a job she continued while attending New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, eventually earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama.
Idina's life changed forever in 1995, when she earned her first professional theater job with Jonathan Larson's ground-breaking musical Rent. The show premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in January 1996 before transferring to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre, where it became a cultural phenomenon. For her role as performance artist Maureen, Idina was nominated for her first Tony Award®, for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.
It was after leaving Rent that Idina had her first brush with the worlds of Disney—recording her 1998 debut solo album Still I Can't Be Still for Hollywood Records. In the years following, she also appeared on Broadway as Amneris in Disney Theatrical Group's Aida.
In 2003, she defied gravity—literally and figuratively—when she starred as Elphaba in Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's musical Wicked, earning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.
Increasingly popular stage work has meant a transition to screens big and small—including several seasons as Shelby Corcoran on 20th Century Television's Glee; a turn on ABC's Private Practice; and costarring in Disney's Enchanted (2007) as Nancy Tremaine, the girlfriend of Patrick Dempsey's Robert Philip, who winds up getting caught in her own new fairy tale romance. And then in 2013 came Frozen…
Idina gave voice to Elsa, the conflicted queen of Arendelle who has to "let it go" and learn to love again, for Walt Disney Animation Studios' global phenomenon. Frozen later won Oscars® for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song—for Elsa's anthem, "Let It Go," written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The film became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time… And "Let It Go" became an international sensation, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "People always ask me if I get tired of singing 'Let It Go,'" Idina has said. "I don't… It's a reminder of this incredible experience in my life. It's an opportunity to connect with young people in this really special way, and to sing about really important themes about self-empowerment."
Idina reprised her role as Elsa in several Frozen-related shorts, including Frozen Fever (2015) and Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017). A feature-length sequel, Frozen II, smashed more box office records when it was released in 2019. She can also be heard as Elsa in LEGO® Disney Frozen: Northern Lights (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and several video games.
Disney TV credits include Disneyland 60: The Wonderful World of Disney (2015), Mickey's 90th Spectacular (2018), The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II (2020), and the recent Disney+ livestream Harmonious Live! Soon, Idina will be seen in Disenchanted—the much-anticipated feature film follow-up to Enchanted, premiering later this year on Disney+.
Her original song "Dream Girl," from 2021's Cinderella, recently made it to the Oscars' Best Original Song short list. Up next, Idina will add author to her resume with the release of her first children's picture book, Loud Mouse, which she co-wrote with her sister, Cara Mentzel. From Disney Publishing, the book is centered around self-acceptance and the importance of being true to yourself.
Along with performing, philanthropy is of paramount importance to Idina. In 2010, she co- founded A BroaderWay Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to offering girls from underserved communities an outlet for self-expression and creativity and to develop leadership skills through arts-centered programs. Variety magazine recognized Idina in 2014 as one of their Power of Women honorees for her work with the organization. She has also consistently championed LGBTQIA+ rights, partnering with groups including The Trevor Project, the "Give A Damn" campaign for Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund, and the NOH8 Campaign.
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| Chris Montan Legends Award Category: Music Year Inducted: 2022 |
Since Mickey Mouse first whistled in 1928's Steamboat Willie, music has played an integral role in the success of The Walt Disney Company, and for over 30 years, Chris Montan helped define that Disney signature sound. One of the most well-respected executives in Hollywood, Chris re-established Disney's music as a cultural phenomenon. As he explains, "It really became a responsibility. Not only were we trying to entertain people, but we wanted to make sure that we were entertaining them with things that are meaningful."
Music has always been an important part of the New Jersey native's life. A kid with eclectic taste, he was inspired by The Beatles as much as by Maurice Jarre's main theme for 1962's Lawrence of Arabia. He kicked off his career as a touring musician, songwriter, and recording artist, touring for two years with Karla Bonoff's band as a keyboard and guitar player. Any Minute Now, his first solo album, was released by 20th Century Fox Records in 1980.
Soon, however, Chris became intrigued by the idea of segueing to a different kind of music- related career—joining The Walt Disney Company in 1984 to develop music for new Saturday morning animated series. His early work included developing multi-piece orchestral scores for Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985), The Wuzzles (1985), DuckTales (1987), and other shows.
He later moved on to contributing to animated features, beginning with 1988's Oliver & Company. In short order, the Company was revisiting the idea of movie musicals, and before long Chris was meeting with a New York-based songwriting duo named Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Music at Disney would, quite literally, never be the same…
"With Beauty and the Beast, it was the first time I tried to create a 'hit single' based on one of our songs, with Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson," he recalls. "I remember thinking at the time, this is pretty special. We're making movies that nobody else knows how to make, and people are really, really responding."
Rising through the ranks from vice president to senior vice president, Chris oversaw iconic, best-selling soundtracks including The Little Mermaid (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Sister Act (1992), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and Hercules (1997). He also took on a new mantle, producing music-driven films for the company—including new TV adaptations of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) starring Whitney Houston and Brandy, and Annie (1999), which earned him a Peabody Award for Broadcasting.
In 1999, Chris was named president of Walt Disney Music—overseeing music for all Disney and Pixar animated feature films, Disney Theatrical productions, and Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide. Working closely with writers and directors during the story process, he'd often help find the perfect musical talent to match each project. A few examples include Phil Collins for Tarzan (1999), Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz for Enchanted (2007), and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for Frozen (2013). Over the years, he's also collaborated with Jerry Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, Sting, Stevie Wonder, and fellow Disney Legends Sir Elton John, Sir Tim Rice, Randy Newman, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer, among many others.
It's no wonder the accolades have rolled in over the years: Under Chris' guidance, 10 of The Walt Disney Studios' soundtracks have been certified multi-platinum, with The Lion King having sold over 10 million units. In 1997, Variety named Chris "musical supervisor of the decade." His work has been nominated for multiple Emmy® and Grammy® Awards, winning several—as well as an incredible 45 Academy Award® nominations, with 16 wins. In 2015, Chris was honored with the Classic Contribution Award at the BMI Film & Television Awards, and the first Guild of Music Supervisors Award.
With his good friend Thomas Schumacher, Chris has worked on all of Disney Theatricals' globally acclaimed productions—including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, Newsies, and Aladdin. Chris retired in 2017 but has since consulted on several recent Disney projects, such as Frozen on Broadway.
"Families around the world have fallen in love with this thing that we're doing," Chris says. "There's just something about the pact between the audience and Disney that is really different, and it's something that's very special."
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| Ellen Pompeo Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2022 |
Playing a beloved television character for 19 seasons is no easy feat—but Ellen Pompeo has accomplished that, and so much more, in her nearly 22-year career in Hollywood.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Ellen eventually made the move to New York City, and then to Los Angeles. After making her TV debut in 1996, higher profile roles soon arrived, including a turn on Friends and several films: Catch Me If You Can (2002), a breakout role in Touchstone Pictures' Moonlight Mile (2002), Old School (2003), and 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment's Daredevil (2003).
In 2005, Ellen was cast as Dr. Meredith Grey, a surgical intern starting her residency at the fictitious Seattle Grace Hospital, on the new ABC medical drama, Grey's Anatomy.
She has played the title role on Grey's Anatomy—the longest-running primetime TV medical drama of all time—for its entire run. Ellen has also been nominated for a Golden Globe® Award and won three People's Choice Awards. Additionally, Ellen has risen through the ranks to become an executive producer on Grey's and has directed several episodes. She is additionally a producer on the Grey's spinoff, Station 19.
Grey's has inspired countless people to pursue a career in medicine. Ellen herself has used social media platforms to advocate for healthcare workers and equity in the healthcare space. In 2021, she co-founded Betr Remedies, an over-the-counter medicine company whose mission is to improve medication access in America. For every single product purchased, Betr Remedies donates a medication for an American in need.
From its very first season in 2005, Grey's Anatomy has been a cultural juggernaut, delivering heartfelt storytelling week after week to millions of homes around the globe. The series has been licensed in more than 200 territories across the world and has been translated into more than 60 languages. All told, it should come as no surprise that the time spent on such a monumentally groundbreaking series has been, for Ellen, nothing short of extraordinary. "Grey's Anatomy makes people feel, and it makes people think," she has said. "We're able to touch and move people, and all these years later, that's incredible."
In that spirit, Ellen created the podcast "Tell Me with Ellen Pompeo," where she engages with some of today's brightest minds and most creative thinkers to continue on her mission of understanding how people think and feel. Next up, Ellen will star in and executive produce an eight-episode Hulu Original limited series currently known as Untitled Orphan Project through her production banner Calamity Jane, which she launched in 2011.
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| Tracee Ellis Ross Legends Award Category: Television Year Inducted: 2022 |
Actress. Producer. CEO. Creative. Tracee Ellis Ross has forged a unique path in Hollywood.
After appearing in 1996's Far Harbor, she landed her first studio film role in Hanging Up (2000). That year would prove to be her breakthrough—not only did she became a regular on the MTV series The Lyricist Lounge Show, a hip-hop variety show mixing music and sketch comedy, but she also landed her first major network role as Joan Clayton on the long-running sitcom Girlfriends—which garnered her a whopping eight NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, including two wins. Additionally, she received a nomination in the Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series category for Girlfriends in 2009. Over the years, she's also guest-starred in CSI and Portlandia; co-starred in HBO's LIFE Support with Queen Latifah; and appeared in feature films Daddy's Little Girls (2007) and The High Note (2020).
But it was her performance as Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson in ABC's black-ish, beginning in 2014, that cemented her in the pop-culture lexicon. Unafraid to tackle serious topics with bold humor, the series examined current events through the lens of the Johnson family— led by anesthesiologist Bow and advertising-exec husband Andre "Dre" (fellow 2022 Disney Legend inductee Anthony Anderson). "This show is sort of pulling apart the myth of the 'Black experience,'" she once said. "It's not monolithic. Differences in experience, points of view, and opinions aren't what pulls us apart. It's what brings us together." During the show's incredible eight-year run, Tracee was nominated five times for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy® Awards; twice for the Critics Choice Awards; and won the Golden Globe® Award for Best Actress in a TV Comedy in 2017, marking the first time a Black woman took home the trophy since Debbie Allen in 1983. The role also earned her yet another eight NAACP Image Award nominations, with four wins. Earlier this year, black-ish ended its monumental run to both critical and audience acclaim.
"Working for Disney opened so many doors for me," she explains, "and it also afforded me another long TV sitcom run. Because of my role on black-ish, I've now enjoyed playing a character for eight years on network television for a second time—which is extremely rare."
Tracee stayed with both ABC and the Johnsons for a concurrent project—creating, executive producing, and narrating mixed-ish (2019–2021), a prequel to black-ish that explored Bow's experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the 1980s. Within the worlds of Disney, she's also made several appearances on the black-ish sequel, Freeform's grown-ish, and has popped up on ABC's Private Practice and FX Productions' The Premise.
Connecting with people outside of screens large and small is equally as important to Tracee, who's worked with many notable organizations over the years, including The Big Brother Big Sister Program; additionally, she launched her own website, traceeellisross.com, in 2012, and frequently connects with her more than 10 million social media followers to join her quest for inclusivity and equity. She's also proud to be the CEO and founder of Pattern—a haircare brand she created for "the curly, coily, and tight-textured masses" which supports organizations and programs that empower women and people of color. In February 2021, Ross signed on with ULTA Beauty as its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisor, formalizing an already existing dialogue and partnership with ULTA Beauty's then-CEO Mary Dillon in an effort to ensure foundational change for customers and employees alike.
Accolades include the Fierce and Fearless award from the 2016 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood luncheon; the "Volunteer of the Year" from The Los Angeles Urban League; the Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film; and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from her alma mater, Brown University.
Now, she adds Disney Legend to that illustrious list. "What an impressive group to be a part of," admits Tracee. "Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, all four 'Golden Girls', Robin Williams, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler… It's incredible that my name and work will join the ranks of such icons, and I'm thrilled to receive this honor alongside my TV husband."
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| August 11, 2024 |
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| Colleen Atwood, Costume Design |
For Colleen Atwood, designing costumes for movies both fantastical and fabulous is like creating her own Wonderland. This prolific costume designer has been nominated for an Academy Award® a dozen times and has won four Oscars, including for her visually evocative work in Alice in Wonderland (2010).
Born in Ellensburgh, Washington, Colleen briefly studied painting at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Working in high fashion retail at designer boutiques, her strong sense of visual style enabled her start as a fashion advisor. Through that world, Colleen was offered an unexpected opportunity to be a production assistant in the art department on Ragtime (1981). In New York, she was fortunate enough to align with many filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, Michael Apted, and Michael Mann.
Colleen was then introduced to filmmaker Tim Burton—and soon would be Burton's "go to" costume designer. Their first film together, Edward Scissorhands, was the first of 12 Burton movies she designed costumes for, including Disney's live-action reimagining of Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Dumbo (2019). The upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) will mark the creative duo's 13th collaboration.
For the over 50 films and TV series she's costumed, many of them center on visually stunning imaginary environments that call for a lot of world-building. It's Colleen's ability to cross and blend genres in her approach to character costuming that has enabled her work in such fantastic films as Planet of the Apes (2001), Into the Woods (2014), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Lady and the Tramp (2019), and The Little Mermaid (2023).
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| Angela Bassett, Film & Television |
It takes a strong woman to portray a strong female character, and Angela Bassett fits the bill. From her breakout role as single mother Reva Devereaux in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood (1991), to her portrayal of fierce Queen Ramonda of Wakanda in Marvel's Black Panther films, Angela's unmistakable voice, signature delivery, and grand presence command immediate attention.
Born in New York City, Angela lived in North Carolina until the age of four, when her family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. The first Black student attending Boca Ciega High School to be admitted to the National Honors Society, Angela went on to Yale, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in African American Studies in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in 1983. In 1988, she moved to Los Angeles.
Angela has portrayed many real-life characters, including Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks, but it was her powerful portrayal of Tina Turner in Touchstone's What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) that earned her numerous accolades, including an Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe® for Best Actress, making her the first Black performer to win this category. She received two Emmy nominations for outstanding narrator for National Geographic's The Flood (2018) and the Disney+ docuseries The Imagineering Story (2019), and was nominated for her second Academy Award, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category, for the role of Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She is also the star and executive producer of the hit ABC drama 9-1-1; voiced Dorothea Williams in Disney and Pixar's Oscar-winning animated feature Soul (2020); and received an Honorary Academy Award in 2024.
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| Martha Blanding, Parks & Resorts |
Martha Blanding helped put the "happy" in The Happiest Place on Earth. As the first-ever full-time Black Tour Guide, Martha personified the philosophy of creating happiness for others while embodying the principles of hospitality and courtesy Walt Disney sought to establish for Disneyland cast members.
A proud native of South Central Los Angeles, Martha was studying to become a teacher when she decided to take a chance working at Disneyland in 1971. Hired as a Tour Guide, she quickly attained full-time status and, within a year, climbed the ladder to become a VIP Hostess—touring such notables as Diana Ross, Elton John (who would later become a Disney Legend), Olivia Newton-John, Cary Grant, and Cher, plus domestic and international government officials, including a delegation from the USSR.
Martha later became the first-ever Black female in management at Disneyland (and one of the first Black management members at The Walt Disney Company), as an expert merchandise, candy, and film buyer for nine years, and eventually as the senior manager of Disneyland Resort Merchandise Special Events. In this role, she worked with world-renowned artisans, celebrities, and Disney Legends. She also became a pioneering producer of the Official Disneyana Convention, a forerunner of today's D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
A co-founder of PULSE, an employee resource group for Black cast members, Martha routinely served as a trusted mentor to fellow employees. Adding to her many "firsts" during her groundbreaking career before retiring in 2022, Martha also became the first Black employee to commemorate 50 years with The Walt Disney Company—and now she becomes the first Black Disney Parks employee designated a Disney Legend.
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| James L. Brooks, Television |
Acclaimed for character-driven, writer-centric projects that deftly combine comedy and poignancy—such as 20th Century's Broadcast News (1987)—James L. Brooks is a TV and film icon responsible for some of the most beloved entertainment projects of all time. Jim made one of the most impressive directorial debuts in film history with Terms of Endearment (1983), for which the multi-hyphenate took home three Oscars® for writing, producing, and directing.
Growing up in New Jersey, Jim's career trajectory kicked-off as a writer for CBS News in New York. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1965, a chance meeting with established writer Allan Burns led to his writing for television comedies—and before long, he created the groundbreaking ABC series Room 222 in 1969 and Taxi in 1978.
In 1986, Jim founded his production company, Gracie Films, where he and his team are trailblazers in the world of television. At Jim's invitation, Matt Groening created animated interstitials for the company's The Tracey Ullman Show featuring a dysfunctional family that led to a full-fledged animated series—the first since the 1960s: The Simpsons, in 1989. The longest-running primetime scripted show in television history, The Simpsons quickly exploded into a cultural phenomenon.
Currently in its 35th season, The Simpsons has won 37 Emmy® Awards. Jim also co-produced and co-wrote The Simpsons Movie in 2007. He continues to serve as executive producer of the misadventures of the animated citizens of Springfield, and maintains that the series has not outlived its popularity—especially now with it streaming on Disney+. He's currently working on his next feature film for 20th Century Studios, Ella McCay.
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| James Cameron, Film |
James Cameron is an acclaimed filmmaker, ocean explorer, and environmental advocate. As director, writer, and producer, he's responsible for some of the world's most memorable films—including The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009), and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), the latter three being among the four highest-grossing films of all time. Titanic alone won 11 Oscars®, including James' for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. He is currently in post-production on Avatar 3, and in pre-production on Avatar 4 and 5.
Teaming up with Walt Disney Imagineering in 2011, he helped to steer the creation of an Avatar-inspired area of Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The result, Pandora – The World of Avatar, is an area which immerses guests in an interactive environment that brings the world of the film series to life, and features the popular attractions Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey.
Under his Earthship Productions banner, James has produced 12 documentaries, including six about Titanic, as well as three other deep ocean exploration films—most in partnership with National Geographic. He executive produces National Geographic's Secrets series, including the Emmy® Award-winning Secrets of the Whales and Emmy-nominated Secrets of the Elephants, with Octopus launching on Earth Day 2024. He also executive produced the OceanXplorers series, due in fall 2024 from National Geographic.
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| Jamie Lee Curtis, Film |
Born in Santa Monica, California, to Hollywood power couple Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis excelled as a performer early on—winning people over with her exuberant personality. Originally planning to major in law enforcement, an acting manager suggested Jamie Lee try auditioning. To her surprise, she was signed to a contract at Universal, one of the last performers to be so engaged. She was later cast as iconic "Scream Queen" Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's thrilling classic Halloween (1978), establishing her trajectory as a bona fide movie star.
The Oscar® winner has demonstrated her versatility with a variety of captivating roles over her career, including suburban housewife-turned-international-spy Helen Tasker in True Lies (1994), and no-nonsense mom Tess Coleman in Disney's remake of the classic body-swap comedy Freaky Friday (2003). In 2023, Jamie Lee returned to both Disney and the macabre genre to portray the legendary Madame Leota in Haunted Mansion, inspired by the classic Disneyland theme park attraction. The author of 13 best-selling books, all exploring core childhood issues, she is also the founder and CEO of My Hand In Yours™—a charitable organization that offers comfort and celebratory gifts where 100% of every sale is donated directly to Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
For her many performances, Jamie Lee has received a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globes®, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy® and a Grammy®. Most recently, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
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| Miley Cyrus, Television & Music |
Miley Cyrus is an award-winning superstar singer, songwriter, and actress, who first rose to fame as a Disney Channel sensation.
Miley started her acting career at 8 years old—and at 13, she auditioned for the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. The series premiered in March 2006 to the largest audience for a Disney Channel Original Series, drawing an average of 4.4 million viewers per episode. A 2007 episode of the series still ranks as the highest-rated basic cable series telecast ever, with 10.7 million total viewers.
She embarked on her wildly popular "Best of Both Worlds Tour" in 2007, and in 2008, she voiced the character of Penny in Walt Disney Animation Studios' feature Bolt. For the film, Miley earned a Golden Globe® Award nomination for Best Original Song ("I Thought I Lost You"). The following year, she would take center stage once again as the lead in Hannah Montana: The Movie, which included the hit song "The Climb."
2023 saw the release of Miley's new album, Endless Summer Vacation, which inspired the documentary concert special Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), airing on Disney+. At the 66th Annual Grammy® Awards in 2024, Miley was honored with her first-ever wins for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. At just 31 years old, Miley is now the youngest honoree ever to be named a Disney Legend.
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| Steve Ditko (1927–2018), Publishing |
Originally hailing from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Steve Ditko's love for comics began at a young age. After serving in the U.S. Army, where he drew comics for the Army newsletter, one of his idols, Batman artist Jerry Robinson, became his mentor. By the early 1950s, Steve's first work appeared in print, and shortly thereafter he made his way to Atlas Comics—the precursor of Marvel Comics.
The artist would quickly leave his mark, leading Stan Lee to rechristen Amazing Adventures as Amazing Adult Fantasy (later Amazing Fantasy) to showcase Steve's talents. In 1962, that collaboration led to one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. The introduction of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 stands as one of the landmarks of both Steve's career and Marvel history.
Steve went on to co-create most of Spider-Man's now-infamous rogues' gallery and re-envisioned many of Marvel's iconic characters to what we know today. He redesigned Iron Man's armor into the popular red-and-gold design, and in the Hulk comics, he codified Bruce Banner's transformations to be a function of his anger. It is perhaps with Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, that Steve truly expressed his visionary impulses—the early stories in Strange Tales could only have come from the mind of Steve Ditko. He left Marvel to pursue other work in 1966 but returned in 1979. In the 1990s, Steve helped to co-create all-new characters, including Speedball and Squirrel Girl.
One of the greatest artist-writer talents in comic book history, Steve's imagination and creative vision changed the comics industry and super hero storytelling forever.
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| Harrison Ford, Film |
Harrison Ford has portrayed some of the most iconic action heroes to ever burn up the big screen. After appearing in a small but impressive role in American Graffiti (1973), directed by fellow Disney Legend George Lucas, Harrison proved to be perfect for the role of Han Solo, cynical smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). He would go on to portray Han in all three episodes of the original Star Wars trilogy. Harrison also stars as the titular character in the blockbuster Indiana Jones films.
Over his decades-long career, Harrison has been widely honored for his many contributions to the film industry, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Cecil B. DeMille Award, the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2023 was the recipient of an honorary Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival.
Some of his most notable film credits include an Oscar®-nominated performance in Witness (1985), along with Blade Runner (1982), 20th Century's Working Girl (1988), Presumed Innocent (1990), Patriot Games (1992), The Fugitive (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Sabrina (1995), Air Force One (1997), Touchstone Pictures' Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), What Lies Beneath (2000), Morning Glory (2010), 42 (2013), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and 20th Century Studios' The Call of the Wild (2020). Harrison also stars in the hit television shows 1923 and Shrinking.
More recently, Harrison returned to a couple of his most celebrated roles. For the fourth time in the film series, he portrayed Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and once again donned Indy's fedora in the fifth Indiana Jones installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Harrison will also appear as President Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in the Marvel Studios live-action adventure Captain America: Brave New World, to be released in 2025.
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| Mark Henn, Animation |
Mark Henn joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1980, where he became an assistant animator on The Fox and the Hound (1981). His first major assignment was animating Disney's most beloved character, Mickey Mouse, in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)—Mickey's first big-screen appearance in 30 years.
Mark would go on to serve as the supervising animator for five female leads, more than any one artist in the history of the studio: Ariel (supervised with fellow Disney Legend Glen Keane), Belle (supervised with James Baxter), Jasmine, Mulan, and Tiana. He also animated Simba from The Lion King (1994), the title character in Pocahontas (1995), and Giselle from Enchanted (2007). Most recently, Mark has helped a whole new generation of Disney animators bring "the illusion of life" to character animation in CG features such as Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). He was lead 2D animator on Big Hero 6 (2014) and Frozen (2013), and served as a 2D animator for "Mini Maui" in Moana (2016). In 2000, Mark brought his vast animation experience to directing with the acclaimed short, John Henry.
In 2013, he received the prestigious Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement, ASIFA's highest award in animation. And in 2018, befitting his longtime association with Mickey Mouse, Mark was commissioned to paint Mickey's official portrait for the character's 90th anniversary. From Mickey and a little mermaid to Mini Maui, the enchantment of Disney animation is personal for this animator.
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| Frank Oz, Film & Television |
Creator. Director. Producer. Performer. Writer. Actor. Icon. Superlatives all that describe the one and only Frank Oz.
As a respected director, Frank has helmed more than a dozen films—including co-directing The Dark Crystal (1982) with Jim Henson, The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Touchstone Pictures' What About Bob? (1991), In & Out (1997), Bowfinger (1999), The Score (2001), Death at a Funeral (2007), Muppet Guys Talking (2017), and others, as well as the 2021 Hulu presentation of the long-running Off-Broadway hit he also directed, Derek Del Gaudio's In & Of Itself.
A four-time Emmy® winner, Frank is the recipient of The Art Director's Guild Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award, The Comedy Awards' Creative Achievement Award, The Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award, two George Foster Peabody Awards, three Gold Records, two Platinum Records, and a host of other accolades and honors.
He originated and performed the characters of Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster for Sesame Street, along with Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Sam Eagle, and Animal for The Muppet Show, performing in hundreds of television shows and specials with The Muppets—including the memorable Muppet*Vision 3D for Disney Parks.
Frank also originated and performed the character of Yoda for George Lucas' Star Wars galaxy, first in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and followed by Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
He's also acted in several live-action movies, from The Blues Brothers (1980) to Knives Out (2019), and has voiced characters in Disney and Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (2001), Inside Out (2015), and Inside Out 2 (2024).
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| Kelly Ripa, Television |
Kelly Ripa is one of the most powerful voices in media, with a diverse body of work both on and off camera. With a career at ABC spanning over 30 years, Kelly has welcomed viewers with her sharp wit every morning as co-host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated show Live.
Beginning her career in entertainment as an actress, Kelly has starred in numerous celebrated television series—appearing on such shows as the soap opera All My Children and the sitcom Hope & Faith.
Kelly and her husband Mark Consuelos ventured into the development side of entertainment when they began their production company, Milojo Productions. Milojo produces content across multiple platforms, producing the Emmy®-nominated documentary The Streak for ESPN and the critically acclaimed documentary Off The Rez for TLC.
She's earned numerous accolades over the years, including multiple Daytime Emmy® Awards, the prestigious Excellence in Media Award from GLAAD and Glamour's Woman of the Year Award. She was also recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as part of the Women in Entertainment Power 100 list, as well as the publication's 35 Most Powerful People in Media.
In September 2022, Kelly added New York Times best-selling author to her resume, when her collection Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories was published. Additionally, she recently launched the second season of her own podcast titled Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa. She lives in New York City with Mark Consuelos, and together the couple have three children.
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| Joe Rohde, Imagineering |
Retiring in 2021 as a portfolio creative executive with 40 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, Joe Rohde was the overall creative executive and supervising designer for Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, including later expansions such as Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain and Pandora – The World of Avatar. Joe's other notable projects include The Adventurers Club (formerly a part of Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World); Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, HawaiĘ»i; and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney's California Adventure Park.
Joe grew up in Honolulu and the San Fernando Valley, creating art and theater sets, acting in school productions, and exploring film backlots with his cameraman father. He attended Occidental College, graduated with a major in studio art, and went to work as teacher—where at 25, he was recruited by Walt Disney Imagineering. His first assignment was as a model builder for the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT.
Joe's big Imagineering break came with the development of a certain animal-focused theme park for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park would prove to be a celebration of animals; a passionate argument for the coexistence of conservation and communities; and a recognition of the essential role that ecosystems play in our existence. Joe was also instrumental in creating the Disney Conservation Fund, which has disbursed over $125 million in grants to projects worldwide. He is well known for his intensive focus on the philosophy of narrative placemaking and experiential storytelling.
Joe now uses his art to raise funds for both international conservation and local community projects. In 2022 he received the Disney Conservation Fund's first Conservation Legacy Award, and he's appeared on numerous documentaries about Imagineering.
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| John Williams, Music |
The unforgettable music of John Williams is the soundtrack of our lives.
In a career spanning more than six decades, this most prolific of movie composers has created the music for more than 100 films—including all nine Star Wars saga films and all five Indiana Jones films. Born and raised in New York, John moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948. Venturing back to the East Coast to attend The Julliard School, he later returned to Los Angeles to commence his career.
Early on, Williams composed the music for more than 200 television films and numerous TV series including Lost in Space for 20th Century Fox. John's artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg, now in its 50th year, led to an introduction to fellow Disney Legend George Lucas and what became the biggest film phenomenon of its time, Star Wars (1977).
John has received five Academy Awards® and 54 Oscar® nominations—most recently for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)—making him the Academy's most-nominated living person and the second-most-nominated person in the history of the Oscars... a number second only to Walt Disney. He has also received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), 26 Grammys®, four Golden Globes®, and five Emmys®, as well as the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
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