Walt Disney Animation Studios: July 2023

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The Disney Legends

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Les Clark (1907–1979), Animation (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.

"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, 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), Animation & Imagineering (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.

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), Animation & Imagineering (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.

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), Animation (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.

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), Animation (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!"

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), Animation & Imagineering (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.

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), Animation (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.

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), Animation (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."

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 "Woolie" Reitherman (1909–1985), Animation (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.

"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), Animation (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:

"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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John Hench (1908–2004), Animation & Imagineering (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), Imagineering (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), Imagineering (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, Music (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."

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Robert Sherman (1925–2012), Music (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.

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.

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.

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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Ken Anderson (1909–1993), Animation & Imagineering (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, Film (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), Animation & Publishing (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), Animation & Imagineering (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), Animation & Imagineering (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), Animation & Film (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), Animation—Voice (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.

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), Film & Television (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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Jimmie Dodd (1910–1964), Television (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), Imagineering (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), Film & Television (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), Animation (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), Animation (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), Film (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), Animation & Imagineering (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), Animation & Television (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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Pinto Colvig (1892–1967), Animation—Voice (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), Film & Television (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), Film (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), Animation & Imagineering (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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Jimmy MacDonald (1906–1991), Animation—Voice (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), Animation—Voice (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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Card Walker (1916–2005), Administration (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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Adriana Caselotti (1916–1997), Animation—Voice (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), Animation & Imagineering (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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David Hand (1900–1986), Animation (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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Paul J. Smith (1906–1985), Music (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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Wally Boag (1920–2011), Attractions (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), Attractions (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), Film (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, Film (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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Fred Moore (1911–1952), Animation (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.

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), Animation—Voice (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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Betty Taylor (1919–2011), Attractions (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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Xavier Atencio (1919–2017), Animation & Imagineering (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), Animation—Voice (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), Animation & Imagineering (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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Sam McKim (1924–2004), Imagineering (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), Animation & Film (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), Animation—Story (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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James Algar (1912–1998), Animation & Film (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), Music (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, Animation—Voice (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), Animation (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), Film, Animation & Administration (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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Wilfred Jackson (1906–1988), Animation (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, Film (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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Al Milotte (1905–1989) and Elma Milotte (1907–1989), Film (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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Ben Sharpsteen (1895–1980), Animation & Film (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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Vladimir (Bill) Tytla (1904–1968), Animation (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:

"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, Film (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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Mary Costa, Animation—Voice (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.

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), Animation (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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Yale Gracey (1910–1983), Animation & Imagineering (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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Hamilton Luske (1903–1968), Animation (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, Attractions (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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Grace Bailey (1904–1983), Animation (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), Imagineering (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), Animation & Imagineering (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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Cliff Edwards (1895–1971), Animation—Voice (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), Animation (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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Dickie Jones (1927–2014), Animation—Voice (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), Animation (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), Animation (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, Animation (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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Howard Ashman (1950–1991), Music (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), Film (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), Music (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), Music (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), Music (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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Alan Menken, Music (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), Imagineering (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), Music (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), Animation (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.

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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Ken Annakin (1914–2009), Film (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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Phil Collins, Music (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 Tim Rice, Music (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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David Tomlinson (1917–2000), Film (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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Edna Francis Disney (1890–1984), Family (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), Family (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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Richard Fleischer (1916–2006), Film (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), Animation (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), Film & Television (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), Research Economist (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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Ilene Woods (1929–2010), Music—Voice (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!'"

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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Rolly Crump, Imagineering (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, Imagineering (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, Film & Television (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), Film (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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Bob Gurr, Imagineering (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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Irwin Kostal (1911–1994), Music (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), Animation (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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Randy Bright (1938–1990), Imagineering (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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Art Linkletter (1912–2010), Parks & Resorts (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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Kevin Corcoran (1949–2015), Television & Film (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), Animation (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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Sir Elton John, Music (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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Joe Ranft (1960–2005), Animation (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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Ginny Tyler (1925–2012), Television & Film (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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Art Babbitt (1907–1992), Animation (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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Marge Champion, Animation (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."

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), Animation (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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Randy Newman, Music (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, Animation (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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Dave Smith (1940–2019), Archives (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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Wayne Allwine (1947–2009), Animation—Voice (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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Burny Mattinson (1935–2023), Animation (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, Mulan. and especially, the Tinker Bell film franchise (2009–2016). 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 passed away Monday, February 27, 2023, at Canoga Park, California. He was 87 years old.

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Walt Peregoy (1925–2015), Animation (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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Russi Taylor (1944–2019), Animation—Voice (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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Oliver Wallace (1887–1963), Music (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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Tony Anselmo, Animation—Voice (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 protégé 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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Bill Farmer, Animation—Voice (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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Don Iwerks, Film (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.

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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Robin Williams (1951–2014), Film & Animation—Voice (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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Jodi Benson, Animation—Voice (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!"

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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Jim Henson (1936–1990), Film & Television (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 animation 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 2013.

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, Animation—Voice (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, Animation—Voice (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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Anika Noni Rose, Animation—Voice (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, Animation—Voice (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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Tony Baxter, Imagineering (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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Billy Crystal, Film & Animation—Voice (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, Film & Animation—Voice (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), Animation (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, Animation (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), Film & Animation—Voice (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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Andreas Deja, Animation (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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Eyvind Earle (1916–2000), Animation (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, Music (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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Clyde Geronimi (1901–1989), Animation (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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Manuel Gonzales (1913–1993), Animation (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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Stan Lee (1922–2018), Film & Publishing (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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Oprah Winfrey, Film & Television (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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Ming-Na Wen, Film, Television & Animation—Voice (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.

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, and on television's House of Mouse and Sofia the First.

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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Walt Disney Animation Studios

Sunday, July 30, 2023

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