Disney Legends

The Disney Legends Awards were established in 1987 as an official Hall of Fame to honor people who have contributed to the Walt Disney Studios and made a significant impact to its legacy. The first inductee was actor Fred MacMurray whom Walt always cast in roles that he most identified with himself. In 1989 the Disney Legends Awards became an annual event recognizing many of the people Walt had collaborated with when he was alive. Blue ribbon award winners are the figures who have posthumously received the award. The awards used to be held annually until 2009 (coincidentally the year Roy Disney, Jr passed away?) and now they're awarded every other year. In recent years, the Disney Legends Awards moved away from people who've actually contributed to Walt Disney History and began to include figures who'd contributed to the franchises Bob Iger acquired. The Awards also began being used as a publicity stunt of the latest stars or projects rather than focusing on Walt Disney history as intended. There are many people who were instrumental in building the Walt Disney Studios when Walt was alive or afterward that have never been honored as an official Disney Legend yet Marvel and Star Wars stars have as well as the cast of The View. Recipients also used to be inducted with their number into this Hall of Fame but in 2022 that practice was abandoned with all inductees of the year being assigned the same number because of "equity." This is symbolic of what the awards have become as a whole. In 2017 Muppeteer Steve Whitmire alleged that when the Walt Disney Company fired him they offered to honor him as a Disney Legend in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement to which he declined. Since then, others have speculated that some Disney Legends inductees are only made because of this same bargain to silence them on Disney history. When the Disney Channel started they always aired a regular segment between films called Dateline Disney that focused on the latest events happening with the Walt Disney Company. This segment is about the 1992 award inductees. Below is a list of all of the inductees from 1987 through 2024. Class of 1987 Fred MacMurray, Film Class of 1988 Virginia Davis - Animation Norman Palmer - Film Class of 1989 Les Clark, Animation Blue ribbon Marc Davis, Animation & Imagineering Ub Iwerks, Animation & Imagineering Blue ribbon Ollie Johnston, Animation Milt Kahl, Animation Blue ribbon Ward Kimball, Animation & Imagineering Eric Larson, Animation Blue ribbon John Lounsbery, Animation Blue ribbon Wolfgang Reitherman, Animation Blue ribbon Frank Thomas, Animation Class of 1990 Roger Broggie, Imagineering Joe Fowler, Attractions John Hench, Animation & Imagineering Richard Irvine, Imagineering Blue ribbon Herb Ryman, Imagineering Blue ribbon Sherman Brothers, Music Class of 1991 Ken Anderson, Animation & Imagineering Julie Andrews, Film Carl Barks, Animation & Publishing Mary Blair, Animation & Imagineering Blue ribbon Claude Coats, Animation & Imagineering Don DaGradi, Animation & Film Sterling Holloway, Animation—Voice Fess Parker, Film & Television Bill Walsh, Film & Television Blue ribbon Class of 1992 Jimmie Dodd, Television Blue ribbon Bill Evans, Imagineering Annette Funicello, Film & Television Joe Grant, Animation Jack Hannah, Animation Winston Hibler, Film Blue ribbon Ken O'Connor, Animation & Imagineering Roy Williams, Animation & Television Blue ribbon Class of 1993 Pinto Colvig, Animation—Voice Blue ribbon Buddy Ebsen, Film & Television Peter Ellenshaw, Film Blaine Gibson, Animation & Imagineering Harper Goff, Film & Imagineering Irving Ludwig, Film Jimmy MacDonald, Animation—Voice Blue ribbon Clarence Nash, Animation—Voice Blue ribbon Donn Tatum, Administration Card Walker, Administration Class of 1994 Adriana Caselotti, Animation—Voice Bill Cottrell, Animation & Imagineering Marvin Davis, Film & Imagineering Van France, Attractions David Hand, Animation Blue ribbon Jack Lindquist, Attractions Bill Martin, Imagineering Paul J. Smith, Music Blue ribbon Frank Wells, Administration Blue ribbon Class of 1995 Wally Boag, Attractions Fulton Burley, Attractions Dean Jones, Film Angela Lansbury, Film Edward Meck, Attractions Blue ribbon Fred Moore, Animation Blue ribbon Thurl Ravenscroft, Animation—Voice Wathel Rogers, Imagineering Betty Taylor, Attractions Class of 1996 Bob Allen, Attractions Blue ribbon Rex Allen, Film & Television X Atencio, Animation & Imagineering Betty Lou Gerson, Animation—Voice Bill Justice, Animation & Imagineering Bob Matheison, Attractions Sam McKim, Imagineering Bob Moore, Animation & Film Bill Peet, Animation—Story Class of 1997 Lucien Adés, Music Blue ribbon Angel Angelopoulos, Publishing Blue ribbon Antonio Bertini, Character Merchandise Armand Bigle, Character Merchandise Gaudenzio Capelli, Publishing Roberto de Leonardis, Film Blue ribbon Cyril Edgar, Film Blue ribbon Wally Feignoux, Film Blue ribbon Didier Fouret, Publishing Blue ribbon Mario Gentilini, Publishing Blue ribbon Cyril James, Film & Merchandise Blue ribbon Horst Koblischek, Character Merchandise Gunnar Mansson, Character Merchandise Arnoldo Mondadori, Publishing Blue ribbon Armand Palivoda, Film Blue ribbon Poul Brahe Pedersen, Publishing Blue ribbon Joe Potter, Attractions Blue ribbon André Vanneste, Character Merchandise Blue ribbon Paul Winkler, Character Merchandise Blue ribbon Class of 1998 James Algar, Animation & Film Buddy Baker, Music Kathryn Beaumont, Animation—Voice Virginia Davis, Animation Roy E. Disney, Film, Animation & Administration Don Escen, Administration Wilfred Jackson, Animation Blue ribbon Glynis Johns, Film Kay Kamen, Character Merchandise Blue ribonn Paul Kenworthy, Film Larry Lansburgh, Film & Television Hayley Mills, Film Al Milotte and Elma Milotte, Film Blue ribbon Norman "Stormy" Palmer, Film Lloyd Richardson, Film Kurt Russell, Film Ben Sharpsteen, Animation & Film Blue ribbon Masatomo Takahashi, Administration Vladimir (Bill) Tytla, Animation Blue ribbon Dick Van Dyke, Film Matsuo Yokoyama, Character Merchandise Class of 1999 Tim Allen, Television, Film & Animation—Voice Mary Costa, Animation—Voice Norm Ferguson, Animation Blue ribbon Bill Garity, Film Blue ribbon Yale Gracey, Animation & Imagineering Blue ribbon Al Konetzni, Character Merchandise Hamilton Luske, Animation Blue ribbon Dick Nunis, Attractions Charlie Ridgway, Attractions Class of 2000 Grace Bailey, Animation Blue ribbon Harriet Burns, Imagineering Joyce Carlson, Animation & Imagineering Ron Dominguez, Parks & Resorts Cliff Edwards, Animation—Voice Blue ribbon Becky Fallberg, Animation Dick Jones, Animation—Voice Dodie Roberts, Animation Retta Scott, Animation Blue ribbon Ruthie Tompson, Animation Class of 2001 Howard Ashman, Music Blue ribbon Bob Broughton, Film George Bruns, Music Blue ribbon Frank Churchill, Music Blue ribbon Leigh Harline, Music Blue ribbon Fred Joerger, Imagineering Alan Menken, Music Martin Sklar, Imagineering Ned Washington, Music Blue ribbon Tyrus Wong, Animation Class of 2002 Ken Annakin, Film Hugh Attwooll, Film Maurice Chevalier, Film Blue ribbon Phil Collins, Music Sir John Mills, Film Robert Newton, Film & Television Blue ribbon Tim Rice, Music Robert Stevenson, Film Blue ribbon Richard Todd, Film & Television David Tomlinson, Film Blue ribbon Class of 2003 Neil Beckett, Merchandise Blue ribbon Tutti Camarata, Music Edna Francis Disney Blue ribbon Lillian Disney Blue ribbon Orlando Ferrante, Imagineering Richard Fleischer, Film Floyd Gottfredson, Animation Blue ribbon Buddy Hackett, Film & Television Blue ribbon Harrison "Buzz" Price, Research Economist Al Taliaferro, Cartoonist Blue ribbon Ilene Woods, Music—Voice Class of 2004 Bill Anderson, Film & Television Blue ribbon Tim Conway, Film Rolly Crump, Imagineering Alice Davis, Imagineering Karen Dotrice, Film & Television Matthew Garber, Film Blue ribbon Leonard H. Goldenson, Television Blue ribbon Bob Gurr, Imagineering Ralph Kent, Imagineering & Attractions Irwin Kostal, Music Blue ribbon Mel Shaw, Animation Class of 2005 Chuck Abbott, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Milt Albright, Parks & Resorts Hideo Amemiya, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Hideo Aramaki, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Charles Boyer, Parks & Resorts Randy Bright, Imagineering Blue ribbon James Cora, Parks & Resorts Robert Jani, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Mary Jones, Parks & Resorts Art Linkletter, Parks & Resorts Mary Anne Mang, Parks & Resorts Steve Martin, Parks & Resorts Tom Nabbe, Parks & Resorts Jack Olsen, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Cicely Rigdon, Parks & Resorts William Sullivan, Parks & Resorts Jack Wagner, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Vesey Walker, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Class of 2006 Tim Considine, Television & Film Kevin Corcoran, Television & Film Al Dempster, Animation Blue ribbon Don Edgren, Imagineering Paul Frees, Television, Film & Parks Blue ribbon Peter Jennings, Television Blue ribbon Elton John, Music Jimmy Johnson, Music Blue ribbon Tommy Kirk, Television & Film Joe Ranft, Animation Blue ribbon David Stollery, Television & Film Ginny Tyler, Television & Film Class of 2007 Roone Arledge, Television Blue ribbon Art Babbitt, Animation Blue ribbon Carl Bongirno, Imagineering Marge Champion, Animation Dick Huemer, Animation Blue ribbon Ron Logan, Parks & Resorts Lucille Martin, Administration Tom Murphy, Administration Randy Newman, Music Floyd Norman, Animation Bob Schiffer, Film Production Dave Smith, Archives Class of 2008 Wayne Allwine, Animation—Voice Bob Booth, Attractions Neil Gallagher, Attractions Frank Gifford, Television Toshio Kagami, Parks and Resorts Burny Mattinson, Animation Ian McGuinness, Television Walter Peregoy, Animation Dorothea Redmond, Designer Russi Taylor, Animation—Voice Barbara Walters, Television Oliver Wallace, Music Blue ribbon Class of 2009 Tony Anselmo, Animation—Voice Harry Archinal, Administration Beatrice Arthur, Film & Television Blue ribbon Bill Farmer, Animation—Voice Estelle Getty, Film & Television Blue ribbon Don Iwerks, Film[ Rue McClanahan, Film & Television Leota Toombs Thomas, Attractions Blue ribbon Betty White, Film & Television Robin Williams, Film & Animation—Voice Class of 2011 Regis Philbin, Television Jim Henson, Film & Television Blue ribbon Jodi Benson, Animation—Voice Paige O'Hara, Animation—Voice Lea Salonga, Animation—Voice Linda Larkin, Animation—Voice Anika Noni Rose, Animation—Voice Jack Wrather, Parks & Resorts Blue ribbon Bonita Wrather, Film Blue ribbon Guy Williams, Television Blue ribbon Bo Boyd, Consumer Products Raymond Watson, Administration Class of 2013 Tony Baxter, Imagineering Collin Campbell, Imagineering Blue ribbon Dick Clark, Television Blue ribbon Billy Crystal, Film & Animation—Voice John Goodman, Film & Animation—Voice Steve Jobs, Animation Blue ribbon Glen Keane, Animation Ed Wynn, Film & Animation—Voice Blue ribbon Class of 2015 George Bodenheimer, Administration & Television Andreas Deja, Animation Johnny Depp, Film Eyvind Earle, Animation Blue ribbon Danny Elfman, Music George Lucas, Film & Parks and Resorts Susan Lucci, Television Julie Reihm Casaletto, Parks and Resorts Carson Van Osten, Consumer Products Class of 2017 Carrie Fisher, Film Blue ribbon Clyde Geronimi, Animation Blue ribbon Whoopi Goldberg, Film & Television Manuel Gonzales, Animation Blue ribbon Mark Hamill, Film Wayne Jackson, Imagineering Jack Kirby, Publishing Blue ribbon Stan Lee, Film & Publishing Garry Marshall, Film & Television Blue ribbon Julie Taymor, Theatrical Oprah Winfrey, Film & Television Class of 2019 Christina Aguilera, Music & Television Wing T. Chao, Parks & Resorts Robert Downey Jr., Film James Earl Jones, Film Jon Favreau, Film Bette Midler, Film Kenny Ortega, Film & Television Barnette Ricci, Parks & Resorts Robin Roberts, Television Diane Sawyer, Television Ming-Na Wen, Film, Television & Animation—Voice Hans Zimmer, Music Class of 2022 Anthony Anderson, Film & Television Kristen Bell, Film & Animation—Voice Chadwick Boseman, Film Blue ribbon Film Rob't Coltrin, Parks & Resorts Patrick Dempsey, Film & Television Robert Price "Bob" Foster, Administration Blue ribbon Josh Gad, Film & Animation—Voice Jonathan Groff, Film & Animation—Voice Don Hahn, Animation Doris Hardoon, Imagineering Idina Menzel, Film & Animation—Voice Chris Montan, Music Ellen Pompeo, Television Tracee Ellis Ross, Television Class of 2024 Colleen Atwood, Costume Design Angela Bassett, Film & Television Martha Blanding, Parks & Resorts James L. Brooks, Television James Cameron, Film Jamie Lee Curtis, Film Miley Cyrus, Television & Music Steve Ditko Blue ribbon, Publishing Harrison Ford, Film Mark Henn, Animation Frank Oz, Film & Television Kelly Ripa, Television Joe Rohde, Imagineering John Williams, Music Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Virginia Davis is Walt's first star. When Walt started the Alice Comedies film series in Kansas City, Virginia was a local child model who was hired to be in the pilot film. Later, when Walt sold the series to distributor Margaret Winkler, he sent for Davis and her family to move to Hollywood. She would star in 15 total of the 57 Alice Comedies, her favorite being Alice's Wild West Show. When she left the Disney Bros Studio, Virginia continued acting on stage and in film over the next twenty years, often being billed as Mary Daily. She was considered for the speaking role of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs ultimately losing to Adrianna Caselotti but did provide voices in some of Walt's other films including Pinocchio. She also did some live action reference for several Disney cartoons and worked in the Ink & Paint Dept for a time. In 1943 she married and got out of show business. She and her husband had two daughters and resided across the country over the next 59 years, Virginia sometimes worked as a real estate agent. Virginia Davis was made a Disney Legend in 1988 and was the first woman to be named one. She passed away in 2009. All of the surviving Alice Comedies are collected on this Rumble channel archive. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Ub Iwerks is the Nikola Tesla of animation and special effects. He may be the most important collaborator Walt Disney ever had. They met and worked together on Walt's earliest films in Kansas City. Shortly after Walt sold his first major film series, the Alice Series, to a distributor, he sent for Ub. Ub was co-creator of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, and the Silly Symphonies. He singlehandedly animated many cartoons including the first several Mickey Mouse cartoons and several Silly Symphonies. Ub left the studio after having a falling out with Walt and established his own shortly after but Ub was no Walt Disney. After several years of producing his own cartoons, Ub's studio folded and closed shop. A mutual friend brought Ub and Walt together to reconcile and Walt hired Ub back at the Walt Disney Studios to improve anything he could in the process. He improved the multiplane camera, perfected blending live action and animation together in technicolor film sequences, and developed what became blue/green screen just to name a few. When the studio strike happened in 1941, Ub crossed the picket lines continuing to work for Walt. This gesture deeply moved Walt and led to reconciliation between the two childhood friends. For the rest of his career, Ub tinkered and invented dozens of inventions that allowed Walt to have an edge in both animation and live action film production as well as special effects. Ub also applied his ingenuity in making the special effects on Walt's Disneyland attractions more believable. He was also loaned out to Alfred Hitchcock to collaborate on the special effects on films like The Birds. Ub's son, Don, also joined his father in working at the Walt Disney Studios. After Walt passed away, Ub helped Walt's brother Roy push forward on Walt Disney World. Ub's final project was the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World. he passed away shortly after. Ub's inventions and innovations are still used in the film and theme park industries today. If it wasn't for Ub's genius, Walt wouldn't have been able to achieve the majority of the accomplishments he's known for. When Disney artist Blaine Gibson sculpted statues of Walt Disney and his brother Roy to be installed in the Disney parks, he secretly made a bust of Ub because he knew it was the collaboration of these three men that made the Walt Disney Studios what it was. Ub's son Don was presented with this bust. Ub Iwerks was made a Disney Legend in 1989. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Freddy Moore was hailed by Walt Disney's Nine Old Men as the most master animator who ever lived. He was hired as a teenager as a mostly self-taught natural animator, but Walt supplied him with formal art training, as he did with all of his artists. Freddy perfected or invented many of the animation techniques that the previous generation of animators had developed and then taught the up-and-coming animators what he'd learned. Those animators would eventually surpass Moore in abilities, but he was still revered by all of them. Freddy Moore is the artist who's most responsible for developing what we think of as the Walt Disney design style. He worked on such breakthrough films as the Three Little Pigs, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and others. He also redesigned Mickey Mouse from Ub Iwerks' pie-eye design to the Mickey Mouse we know today. Around the studio Fred was known for his pinup drawings of young women referred to as "Freddy Moore Girls." Many of the female characters in the Walt Disney cartoons of the 1940's and early 1950's are inspired by Moore's approach to the feminine form. He can be seen in the film the Reluctant Dragon. In the 1940's, when Moore became an alcoholic, many of the animators covered for him by doing his animation in Moore's place. When Walt finally let him go over his alcoholism, Moore found work at other studios where he redesigned other characters like Woody Woodpeck and Andy Panda just as he'd redesigned Mickey Mouse. After a few years Walt hired Moore back where he continued to animate in Ward Kimball's unit until he died in a car accident in 1952 at age 41. (His wife was driving the car making a U-turn when a truck hit them.) Without Freddy Moore, the look and personality we think of as a Walt Disney character animation may look very different from what we know. It's Moore's updated Mickey Mouse design first used for Fantasia that's the Mickey we still know today. His animation principles and fundamentals are also still used in GOOD CGI animation. Freddy Moore was made a Disney Legend in 1995. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Mary Blair is the artist who's color and design style most influenced Walt Disney's films in the 1940's through the early 1950's. In the 1930's, she had come from the Midwest to California to join the flourishing watercolor movement there. She started at the studio after her husband, Lee Blair, got a job there. She invited herself on the Latin America trip Walt was sent on by the US Federal Government in 1941 where Walt discovered her sense of style and color. Mary discovered her unique artistic style on that trip. She quickly became one of Walt's top artists. Her influence dominates Walt's films from here after. Walt sent her on a several week trip through the American south to do paintings that set the tone of Song of the South. Many woke academics today smear her for collaborating on this film. Films like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan are especially hailed for Mary's influence on their look. At the time, some Disney artists were jealous of Mary's influence, and some claim her husband even became an alcoholic resenting how his wife was outshining him. Some biographers also allege him of enabling Mary becoming an alcoholic herself to sabotage her career. In the late 1940's Lee moved the family to New York City where he started his own studio. Mary continued working remotely for Walt, providing some of her most influential work, until she resigned in the early 1950's to focus on her family. Mary continued to take on freelance work, fashion design, stage set designs, and book illustrations. Her children's books and greeting cards were especially popular with many at the time. In the early 1960's Walt sent for Mary to help develop Small World for the New Your 1964/65 World's Fair. This was when she became close friends with Alice Davis, wife of Disney animator and one of the Nine Old Man, Marc Davis. Alice developed the costumes for the attraction while Mary focused on the color and design. Walt brought in Mary having recalled her charming children designs she'd done for the Las Posadas sequence from The Three Caballeros. After that, Walt had her work on several murals for Disneyland and other places that had hired his studio to install doing the same. When Walt died, like many of Walt's favorites, Mary was shut out from the studio. She worked on the color design for the film based on the Broadway film How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying which was directed by another friend from her Walt Disney days, David Swift. After that, Mary continued to work on freelance work and ad campaigns. Mary's alcoholism and issues with her family are credited with destroying her style (Alice Davis said she was alarmed at what happened to her friend in her later days citing her colors became muddy) and she died at age 66 due to complications from her alcoholism. Mary Blair is such an influential artist that her style is imitated in the CGI animated films and many children's books to this day. Although she's been praised as one of the top female artists of the field, post modernists have been trying to tear her down in recent years over her association with Walt Disney. They also accuse her of cultural appropriation. The Walt Disney Company also changed her focus on the Children of the World in Small World when it inserted Disney characters into the ride. Fortunately, we can see this attraction as it existed in the vintage footage from the time. Mary Blair was made a Disney Legend in 1991. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

John Hench was the longest continuously employed Walt Disney employee of all time employed with the company in various capacities for over 65 years. He started with the studio in 1939 hoping to work on Fantasia. He worked on several animated films in story, animation, effects, art direction, and more. Recognizing that Hench was one of the studios most talented artists, Walt teamed him with famed artist Salvador Dali on a film called Destino. While the film was not completed at the time, decades later Roy Disney Jr revived the project and with Hench completed a version of it in 2003. Hench continued working in the animation dept until Cinderella. From there, he found himself in the live action special effects unit where he helped to perfect the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Eventually he became one of the first Imagineers designing Disneyland and other attractions. From there he helped on 1960 Winter Olympics where he redesigned the Olympic Torch, a design all subsequent torches are based on. He worked on the 1964/64 New York World's Fair and was instrumental in designing Walt Disney World and EPCOT Center. He was also Mickey Mouse's official portrait artist, supplying paintings of him for every milestone. Hench continued working on attractions for the Walt Disney Company for the rest of his life. His motto was "Art is what makes us human." John Hench was made a Disney Legend in 1990. He passed away in 2004. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

James Algar started at the Walt Disney Studios as an animator in the 1930's but soon became an animation director during World War II. It was Alger who perfected the way the studio would address education through entertainment on the military training films produced during the war. This was later applied to the educational and industrial films the studio would produce in the years to come as well as in the True Life Adventure Films, for which he earned several Oscars. Algar became the chief writer of all of Walt's educational content. Besides writing for the True Life Adventures, he was also responsible for the educational attractions at Disneyland to ensure accuracy. The work he did on Great Moments with Mr Lincoln and the Hall of Presidents is among his greatest works. He was also one of the mentors of Roy Disney, Jr when he joined the True Life Adventures unit in the 1950's. He retired in 1976 and passed away in 1998. Jame Algar was made a Disney Legend in 1998. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Herb Ryman is one of the primary founding fathers of Disneyland. He was the first primary illustrator of the Disneyland that was built. His roots at the Walt Disney Studios go back to the late 1930’s when he was made art director on several of Walt’s animated features. Prior to that, Herb had been an art director for many live action films at MGM where he also worked on the Wizard of Oz. Herb was one of the artists on the Federal Government Goodwill Tour Walt was sent on that resulted in the Latin American animated features. He left Walt’s studio for several years to work on live action films at 20th Century Fox and for a tour with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus where he did paintings capturing circus life. Even though Herb was away from the studio, Walt stayed in touch with him. In 1953 Walt made an urgent call to Herb begging him to help create a prospectus map of Disneyland over a weekend so Walt’s brother Roy could present it to the bankers that Monday morning. The two men worked around the clock developing Disneyland on this piece of art and with it Roy was able to secure the funding to build the park. Walt immediately hired Herb back at the company where he continued designing Disney theme park attractions until his death in 1989. Among his work included developing Disneyland, the New York City World’s Fair, Walt Disney World, EPCOT Center, Tokyo Disneyland and Euro Disneyland. He was the primary designer of both Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland and Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World. A foundation was founded in his honor to guide young artist to art school. Herb Ryman was made a Disney Legend in 1990. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Carl Barks is nicknamed the "Duck Man" for his affiliation with the Walt Disney Ducks. He started at the Walt Disney Studios in 1935 where he was assigned to Donald Duck cartoons. Barks helped refine the character from his first appearance in the Silly Symphonies cartoon The Wise Little Hen to the personality he became. Barks drew from his real life experience of working various jobs to survive and applying that to Donald. Barks also worked on shorts that established Donald's relatives such as Gus Goose and the nephews as well as refining his relationship with girlfriend Daisy. After Walt built a new animation studio for his artists with the profits from Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, the studio air conditioner system bothered Barks' sinuses and he resigned from the studio. For a few years Barks had been moonlighting as a comic book artist and this became his new career. Because of his experience with Walt Disney Productions, he began being assigned to Disney titles. His first Disney story was about Pluto and he then adapted an unproduced animated cartoon Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold into a comic book. Over the next three decades, Barks continued to refine the world and characters surrounding Donald Duck. He refined the personalities of Donald, Daisy, and the nephews for print media as well as created numerous supporting characters to support his case. There was Donald's lucky cousin Gladstone Gander, crackpot inventor rooster Gyro Gearloose, Daisy's nieces, and his most famous creation Uncle Scrooge McDuck. Uncle Scrooge quickly became a popular standout character in his own write spawning his own cast of supporting characters such as the maurading Beagle Boys, the witch Magic deSepll, second richest duck in the world Flintheart Glomgold, and others. Uncle Scrooge himself first appeared in animation for a cameo during the Mickey Mouse Club's theme song and kiddie records before getting his own animated short Scrooge McDuck & Money in 1967. Barks continued to write and illustrate Disney duck stories until his retirement in 1966. He always worked anonymously where fans knew him as "The Good Duck Artist." Once his identity became known, he became a celebrity in his later years and began doing a series of fine art paintings based on the Disney ducks. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg both credited Barks' Duck adventures for inspiring sequences in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The DuckTales animated series is inspired by many of Barks' comic book stories. Carl Barks was made a Disney Legend in 1991. He passed away in 2000 at the age of 99. Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.