Hal Ambro is my 87th pick to be honored as a Disney Legend.
His animation credits at Disney included Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, the "Johnny Appleseed" segment
of Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Song of the South, Cinderella, (Ambro animated many ot the scenes with the fairy godmother), So Dear to My Heart, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Melody, Lady and the
Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone,
Mary Poppins, Melody and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
Ambro became Hanna-Barbera's supervising animator for
"Heidi's Song" before he left in 1982. The next year, Ambro began
teaching character animation at the California Institute of the Arts in
Valencia.
Background artist Tom Codrick takes the 86th slot on my picks for the Disney Legend honor. He was a layout artist, art director and background specialist for some of the best loved Disney films. He was a key layout man for Disney Studios for 35 years. Films such as Peter Pan, Bambi, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Victory Through Air Power, Fantasia, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Sleeping Beauty, Melody Time and Alice in Wonderland were heavily influenced by Codrick's style and vision. He was the layout artist for five episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and he appeared in one episode of the show.
Charles Philippi is my 85th pick for this Disney Hall of fame. He was an animator who worked on some of the most memorable Disney classics and shorts during the heyday of the 1930s and 1940s.
Dallas McKennon is my 84th choice for the Disney Legend honor.
He performed many character voices for Disney. His
distinctive voice can be heard in movies such as Melody Time (as Johnny
Appleseed’s angel), Lady and the Tramp (as Pedro, Tuffy, the Hyena and the
Professor), Sleeping Beauty (as the owl), Donald Duck and His Friends, One
Hundred and One Dalmatians (as barking dogs), Mary Poppins (as the fox, a
hunting horse, a penguin, a reporter and the carousel keeper) and Bedknobs and
Broomsticks (as a bear). He provided the voice of Cal McNab in Paul Bunyan.
He also did voices for several Disney Attractions, such as
the famous Big Thunder Mountain Railroad safety spiel - “Howdy, folks! Please
keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the train, and remain seated at all
times. (Laugh) Now then, hang onto them hats and glasses, ’cause this here’s
the wildest ride in the wilderness!” He can be heard as the laughing hyenas in
It's a Small World, Ben Franklin in Epcot's The American Adventure, and Zeke in
Country Bear Jamboree. He has been the voice of Andrew Jackson in the Hall of Presidents attraction. He narrated the defunct Disneyland attraction Mine Train
Through Nature's Wonderland and is Deaf Old Man in the Haunted Mansion.
He also played as Charlie Cooney in the 1978 live-action
Disney film, The Cat from Outer Space, a juror in Son of Flubber and a
detective in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones. He was a musical performer in
Bedknobs and Broomsticks taking part in the song “Blow the Man Down.” He was the narrator on the vinyl album The Story of Treasure Island produced by the Disney Company.
Don Griffith started working at Disney when he was 19 years old (in
1937) when the Studio was still on Hyperion. He started out as an inker and
worked his way into doing Background and Layout. He didn't have any training as
an artist before he started working for Disney which is why he thought anyone
could learn how to draw. He worked at the Studio for almost 50 years (until
1984).
Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was an English film and
television actor who provided the narration for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also voiced Bagheera in The Jungle Book, and Sir Ector in The Sword in the Stone, and voiced
Claude in The Enchanted Tiki Room, at Walt Disney World. He also played
Johnathan Lyte in the 1957 live-action film, Johnny Tremain. He narrated a couple of specials for Walt Disney’s Wonderful
World of Color - One Day on Beetle Rock (1967) and One Day at Teton Marsh
(1964) and played the role of Bissonette in Westward Ho, The Wagons (1956). He
had the role of Judge Vasca in the TV series Zorro.
He not only served as the narrator for the film version of Winnie the Pooh, but also as the narrator on the vinyl album Walt Disney Presents Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.
Cliff Nordberg was an animator for the Disney Studios
through the 1940s into the 1970s. You can read more about at the blog 50 MostInfluential Disney Animators. Here is a sampling of Nordberg’s work for Disney:
Hockey Homicide - Animator
Make Mine Music- Animator on All the Cats Join In and Casey
at the Bat
All the Cats Join In - animator
Casey at the Bat - animator
Song of the South- Animator on Minor Characters
Pecos Bill - animator
Melody Time- Animator on Pecos Bill
Cinderella- Animator on Mice, King, and Duke
Alice in Wonderland- Animator on Mad Hatter and March Hare
Susie the Little Blue Coupe - animator
Peter Pan- Animator on Indians
Ben and Me - animator
Lady and the Tramp- Animator on Pound Dogs
Donald in Mathmagic Land - animator
Sleeping Beauty- Animator on Malificent’s Minions and Crow
A Cowboy Needs A Horse - animator
One Hundred and One Dalmatians- Animator on Sgt. Tibbs,
Horace and Jasper
Sword in the Stone- Animator
Robin Hood- Animator
Mary Poppins - animator
Rescuers- Animator on Crocodiles, Dragon Fly, and Swam
Critters
Pete's Dragon - animator
Small One- Supervising Animator
Fox and the Hound- Supervising Animator on Woodpecker and
Bird
Harvey Toombs was an animator who worked on many classic films for the Disney Studios. His animation credits at Disney included Pinocchio, the
"Dance of the Hours" segment of
Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, Dumbo, Bambi, Saludos Amigos, Victory Through
Air Power, Home Defense, Donald's Off Day, the "Cold-Blooded
Penguin" segment of The Three
Caballeros, Donald's Crime, Make Mine Music, Song of the South, Fun and Fancy
Free, the "Once Upon a Wintertime", "Bumble Boogie",
"Johnny Appleseed" and "Blame It on the Samba" segments of Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Tomorrow We Diet!,
Alice in Wonderland, Teachers are People, Peter Pan, Melody, Ben and Me, Lady
and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Donald in Mathmagic Land and How to Have an Accident at Work.
He was married to Imagineer and Disney Legend Leota Toombs
and the father of Imagineer Kim Irvine.
Tom Sito is my 79th choice to be named a Disney Legend. The
following information was gathered at his own website and his Wikipedia
page:
Sito has been called a "key figure in the Disney
Renaissance", and one of the One Hundred Most Important People in
Animation. Sito assisted retired Disney animator Shamus Culhane on one of his
final projects, a 1977 education short entitled Protection in the Nuclear Age. Tom
Sito was summoned by his old mentor Richard Williams in 1987 to
animate on Disney/Amblin's Academy Award-winning hit film Who Framed Roger
Rabbit?. Returning to Los Angeles in 1988, Sito became a mainstay of the Disney
Feature Animation division, contributing to the classic films The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Fantasia 2000, and
Dinosaur. In 2010, Tom Sito was awarded the June Foray Award at
ASIFA-Hollywood's Annie Awards for a lifetime of service to the animation
community.
Layout Artist Victor Haboush is my 78th pick as a Disney Legend. Much of the information here can be found on the Cartoon Brew site.
He attended Art Center College of Design on the G.I. Bill
where he studied extensively with Lorser Feitelson.
On the recommendation of his Art Center classmate and Disney
Legend Eyvind Earle, he was hired at Disney in 1952 to help finish layout on
Peter Pan. His first association with Disney came earlier, when he helped Earle
draw this Golden Book adaptation of Peter Pan. He built up an impressive list
of credits at the studio including assistant art direction on Melody and Toot
Whistle Plunk and Boom, and layout on Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and
101 Dalmatians.
Vic was one of Tom Oreb’s closest colleagues during the
1950s and they worked together as a team, especially in Disney’s TV commercial
unit.
When Oreb left Disney
to work at John Sutherland Productions, Vic followed. They both soon returned
to Disney to finish Sleeping Beauty, where Vic played a key role in designing
the “Thorn Forest” sequence.
The video below is a non-Disney commercial directed by Haboush.
My 77th choice Hal King was an American animator.
He was notable for his work at the Walt Disney
Studios. Hal King started out like many of his
contemporaries as an inbetweener on shorts in the late 1930s. His first break
into feature animation was on the Three Caballeros, a Latin American-influenced
film made in 1944.
His animation credits at Disney included Donald's Snow Fight, Donald Gets Drafted,
The Vanishing Private, Fall Out-Fall In, The Old Army Game, Home Defense, The
Three Caballeros, Duck Pimples, Hockey Homicide, The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met segment of Make Mine Music, Wet Paint, Lighthouse
Keeping, Song of the South, Clown of the Jungle, Fun and Fancy Free, the Once Upon a Wintertime and Blame It on the Samba segments of Melody Time, So Dear to My Heart, The
Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Test Pilot Donald, Alice in
Wonderland, Susie the Little Blue Coupe, Peter Pan, Ben and Me, Lady and the
Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Goliath II, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Donald and
the Wheel, The Sword in the Stone, the Disneyland episode "Your Host, Donald Duck", the Walt Disney Presents episode "The Adventures of Chip 'n' Dale",
the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color episodes "Kids is Kids" and
"Man on Wheels", The Jungle
Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Robin Hood and Winnie the Pooh
and the Honey Tree and Winnie the
Pooh and the Blustery Day. (in which the two featurettes are later part of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,
along with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
Too!).
Lonnie was a smart, confident kid, and that persona
projected to the audience. He was the only male Mouseketeer that kids at home
considered cool. Annette also felt this way about him, and the two were an item
(a real couple, not one of the studio arranged matches) for a brief time.
Lonnie has his own web site, on which visitors can learn
about the details of his long pre- and post-MMC careers. He also has given more
published interviews than anyone but Annette on the subject of the Mickey Mouse
Club, in most of which he has been quite frank. You can read more in his 2009 memoir,
Confessions of an Accidental Mouseketeer. This sometimes brutally candid work
has engendered more than a bit of controversy since it was published.
Hugh Fraser was an animator who worked on numerous projects for the Disney Studios. He also worked for Hanna Barbera on Scooby Doo and other cartoons. In 1987 Fraser was awarded the Golden Award by the Motion
Picture Screen Cartoonists Award.
He must have been quite prolific as his name is attached to many, many films and shorts. Here is a sampling of his work.
Snow White(1937)- Animator(uncredited)
Pinocchio(1940)-Animator on Honest John and Gideon
Fantasia(1940)- Animator on Dance of the Hours
Dumbo(1941)- Animator on Gossipy Elephants
Saludos Amigos(1942)- Animator
How to Play Baseball(1942)- Animator
Pluto at the Zoo(1942)- Animator(uncredited)
Victory Through Airpower(1943)-Animator
Victory Vehicles(1943)- Animator
How to Be a Sailor(1944)- Animator
The Eyes to Have It(1945)- Animator
Canine Casanova(1945)- Animator
No Sail(1945)- Animator
Knight for a Day(1945)- Animator
Make Mine Music(1946)-Animator on Casey at the Bat
Squatter’s Rights(1946)- Animator
Frank Duck Brings ’em Alive(1946)- Animator
Double Dribble(1946)- Animator
Fun and Fancy Free(1947)-Animator
The Big Wash(1948)- Animator
Mickey and the Seal(1948)- Animator
Pluto’s Suprise Package(1949)- Animator
Pluto’s Sweater(1949)-Animator
Bubble Bee(1949)- Animator
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad(1949)- Animator on
Wind and the Willows
Hal Smith, known for his role as Otis the town drunk on the Andy Griffith Show and as Mr. Whitaker on Adventures in Odyssey also had numerous roles with the Disney Studios. He is my 74th pick for the Disney Legend honor. He did many voice roles for Disney, including Goofy (after
Pinto Colvig's death), Grumpy and Sleepy (also after Pinto Colvig's death),
Winnie the Pooh (after Sterling Holloway's retirement) and Owl in the Winnie
the Pooh franchise, Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold in DuckTales, he also voiced an older
version of Huey, Dewey and Louie in the episode of DuckTales, "Duck to the Future", the Auctioneer in The Small One and Philippe the Horse in Beauty and the Beast. He voiced Dink and
Haimish in Disney’s Fluffy Dogs. He
was Goofy and the Water Rat on Mickey’s
Christmas Carol, the slob elephant in The
Jungle Book, and Joe Magee in Talespin.
He also appeared in the live action film Son
ofFlubber as a bartender and as
a courthouse guard in The Million Dollar
Duck. He was the narrator and a few Disney albums as well.
Preston Blair was an animator for Disney on several classic films and shorts. He left the studios during the 1941 strike. Some of the Disney films he worked on are:
Peter Ustinov is considered by some to be Movie Royalty. He worked for the Disney Studios on more than once occasion, as both a live action actor and voice actor for animated films. He voiced Prince John and King Richard in Robin Hood and also played the title character
in Blackbeard's Ghost. He was Dr. Snodgrass in Treasure of Matecumbe, and Hnup Wan in
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing.
He also guest-starred on The Muppet Show in episode 112 and
made a cameo appearance in The Great Muppet Caper.
Robert Stokes was an animator for Disney Studios during their heyday years when they first began producing feature length animation. He is credited with helping to develop and draw the evil queen in
Drawing of Evil Queen by Robert Stokes
Snow White. His work with Disney includes the following:
1940 Fantasia
(animator - segment "The Nutcracker Suite")
1940 Pinocchio (animator - uncredited)
1939 The Autograph
Hound (Short) (animator - uncredited)
1938 Mother Goose
Goes Hollywood (Short) (animator - uncredited)
1938 Ferdinand the
Bull (Short) (animator - uncredited)
My 72nd pick for the Disney Legend honor is George Johnson, the voice of Goofy. He provided the voice for the lovable Goofy from 1939 - 1943. His voice is heard in several films including Goofy and Wilbur, How to Fish, Goofy's Glider,
Baggage Buster, The Art of Self Defense, The Nifty Nineties, How to Play
Baseball, The Olympic Champ, How to Swim, How to Fish, On Vacation, the El
Gaucho Goofy segment from Saludos Amigos and Victory Vehicles.
Mel Leven, my 69th pick for the Disney Legend honor, is most famous as the composer of the Cruella Devil song in 101 Dalmatians. He
also wrote the story and new lyrics to sixteen tunes for the film Babes in
Toyland and"When
The Buzzards Return To Hinckley Ridge" for the 1969 Disney animated short, It's Tough to Be a Bird, which went on to win the Academy Award for
Best Short Subject in 1970. He wrote the music to "Litterbug Shame on You" for the final Donald Duck short The Litterbug.
Al Bertino worked for the Disney company as an animator, story-man, writer, and imagineer. He was involved as a writer or animator in several Disney shorts including: Plutopia, Fun and Fancy Free, Make Mine Music, Californy er Bust and Private Pluto. This is an excerpt form his Wikipedia page: He was an animator for Pinocchio and Fantasia, Bertino also wrote for
the Wonderful World of Disney, and helped create a number of attractions at
Disneyland, including Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear
Jamboree, and America Sings. In 1986, he won a Golden Award (given to Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists). The
giant bear at the Country Bear Jamboree called 'Big Al' was a self-portrait.
"Bertino began work for Walt Disney in 1935.
In a 1945 Disney short, Hockey Homicide, all the
characters are named for members of the Disney staff including "Ice Box
Bertino", who, as a running gag, repeatedly gets into hockey fights with
"Fearless Ferguson" (named for Norm Ferguson)."
Albert Hurter is my 69th choice as a Disney Legend. He worked for the Studios as an inspirational sketch artist whose art provided the mood, atmosphere and setting of some famous Disney Studios films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and Peter Pan. In 1949, over 700 of his drawings were compiled in a book by
Ted Sears called "He Drew As He Pleased - A Sketchbook by Albert
Hurter", with a brief tribute from Walt Disney.
My 66th choice is Lucille La Verne, who had only one role for Disney Studios, but it was a big one. she was the voice actress for one of the greatest Disney villains of all-time, the wicked step-mother/witch in Snow White. She also provided some live action inspiration for her movements and gestures. Cari Keebuagh observed "One particularly
popular legend claims that Disney, unsatisfied with the voice of the Hag, asked
La Verne to try the scene again. She excused herself to the restroom, returned,
and performed the lines in a perfectly sinister and “hag-ish” voice. Disney,
impressed, asked what she had done in the restroom. La Verne answered him that
all she had done was remove her false teeth." You can read her article on La Verne here.
I have noticed the voices of the Disney villains do not get a lot of love from the Legends committee. Maybe it time to change that!
