Billy Bletcher is my 65th choice to be named a Disney Legend. He is most famous as the original voice of Pete. According to the Disney Wiki:
Walt Disney shares a laugh with Billy Bletcher
His notable Disney roles included the original voices of
Pete and Big Bad Wolf, Horace Horsecollar in Mickey's Mellerdrammer, Friday in
Mickey's Man Friday, King Midas in The Golden Touch, Dirty Bill in The Robber
Kitten, Judge Owl in Who Killed Cock Robin?, the Cat Prosecutor in Pluto's
Judgement Day, Captain Katt in Three Blind Mouseketeers, the Robot Butler in
Modern Inventions, the bass singer and villain on radio in Donald's Ostrich,
the short member of the Lonesome Ghosts in Lonesome Ghosts, the Bull in
Farmyard Symphony, the Security Guard in The Autograph Hound, the Magic Lamp in
Pluto's Dream House, a clown in Dumbo, the dogcatcher in Canine Casanova, Detective
Hennessey in Duck Pimples, Donald's boss in Old Sequoia, the motel proprietor
in Wide Open Spaces and the music store proprietor in Pluto's Blue Note.
Some other works he voiced for Disney Studios were Mr. Gator in the Happy Amigos, Peewee Pete in Canvas Black Duck, Al Muldoon in How to be a Detective, Pierre in Timber, and a Nazi in Der Fuhrer's Face.
Otto Englander is my 64th choice to be named a Disney Legend. Englander was a Storyman on animated films for 22 years; he was story
director on Dumbo, Pinocchio, Fantasia,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Fox Hunt, Goofy and Wilbur, The Polar Trappers,
Don Donald, The Fur Trappers, Three Blind Mouseketeers, Broken Toys, Moving Day, Mickey Cuts
Up and other Disney Studio features.
He was also a screenwriter for several episodes of the television show Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Ferdinand Horvath worked at the Disney Studios on everything from advertising
to illustrations for a pop-up book to painting backgrounds and doing layouts to
constructing three dimensional models (such as making a windmill for study for
"The Old Mill") to character designs and gags for over fifty Silly
Symphonies and Mickey Mouse shorts. His work can be seen in the following short
films: MICKEY MOUSE SHORTS: "Mickey's Man Friday," "The Band
Concert," "Mickey's Service Station," "Mickey's
Garden," "Mickey's Circus," "Mickey's Rival,"
"Moose Hunters," "Boat Builders," "Clock
Cleaners," "Brave Little Tailor," "The Fox Hunt,"
"Alpine Climbers," "Polar Trappers," "Lonesome
Ghosts," "Mickey's Trailer," "Society Dog Show,"
"Mickey's Follies" and "Magician Mickey."
SILLY SYMPHONIES: "Father Noah's Ark," "Old
King Cole," "Lullaby Land," "The Pied Piper,"
"Cookie Carnival," "Timid Elmer," "Three Little
Wolves," "Broken Toys," "Three Blind Mouseketeers,"
"The Country Cousin," "Woodland Café," "The Old
Mill," "Little Hiawatha," "The Moth and the Flame",
"The Worm Turns," "The Practical Pig," "Farmyard
Symphony," "Merbabies," "The Ugly Duckling" and
"Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood." Much of this information is from Jim Hill Media website.
Cubby O'Brien is my 62nd choice as a Disney Legend.
O'Brien, like Annette Funicello, was personally selected to
audition for The Mickey Mouse Club by Walt Disney, in the spring of 1955.
Disney had been alerted to him by a staff member, who caught his live
performance at a charity gala.
Though he had little prior experience in singing or dancing,
O'Brien was placed on The Mickey Mouse Club's first-string "Red Team"
right from the start. He quickly picked up enough dance skills to perform in
musical numbers, though his solo performances remained centered around his
drums. He remained with the show for all three seasons (1955–1958) of original
programming, and after filming stopped, went on live-performance tours with
other Mouseketeers to Australia in 1959 and 1960.
Cubby was the only Mouseketeer allowed to play musical
instruments on camera whether this had something to do with Walt casting him or
not is unknown. Certainly Cubby never had the rumors of favoritism surrounding
him like Annette did, possibly because his skill was obvious to all. In the
show's first week, he got to play drums for Talent Round-Up day in a combo with
his father Hack and brother Warren. From then on he was given many opportunities
to play rhythm instruments, but his talent didn't end with music; he was a fine
comedic actor, and learned enough dancing on the show to fake his way through
the numbers. His singing was OK, though he wasn't called on for solos like
Karen Pendleton.
Cubby appeared in the Disney film Westward Ho, the Wagons
with Tommy Cole, Karen, and Doreen Tracey in 1956. The four Mouseketeers had
barely any lines and very few scenes in this tepid Western. As the second
season started, the Mouseketeer production numbers shifted more to emphasizing
older teen couples. Cubby still appeared in comic bits, but he was more often
solo than paired with Karen.
Imagineer Joe Rohde is my 61st choice to be named a Disney Legend.
He was named a Disney Legend in 2024.
Here are some excerpts form his Wikipedia page:
Rohde is a veteran executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, the
division of The Walt Disney Company that designs and builds Disney's theme
parks and resort hotels. Rohde's formal title is Executive Designer and Vice
President, Creative. Rohde's trademark is
a large collection of earrings he wears in his left ear, all of which are
souvenirs from decades of travel to remote corners of the world. This tradition
began when he stuck his 5 year anniversary pin into his ear. Rohde is the lead
designer of Disney's Animal Kingdom, one of four theme parks at Walt Disney
World Resort in Florida, and the principal creative force behind the park's
Expedition Everest thrill ride, which debuted in 2006. He is one of the lead
designers behind the new Disney Vacation Club property Aulani in Oʻahu, Hawaii.
He was chosen for the role because of his experience with the Island and its
native people, having grown up in Hawaii.
Rohde joined Imagineering in 1980 during the development of
Epcot as a model designer and scenic painter for the theme park's Mexico
pavilion. He later worked as a designer on the refurbishment of Fantasyland at
Disneyland, the Captain EO 3-D film attraction starring singer Michael Jackson,
the Norway pavilion at Epcot and the Adventurers Club, a 1930s-themed bar and
lounge that opened in 1989 within the Pleasure Island entertainment district at
Walt Disney World Resort.
Rohde was featured in an April 2006 Travel Channel
documentary titled Expedition Everest: Journey to Sacred Lands. The program was
produced by Discovery Networks during expeditions to China and Nepal in 2005
called Mission Himalayas. The treks were sponsored by Discovery, Disney, and
Conservation International to promote the Expedition Everest theme park
attraction and conduct scientific and cultural research in remote areas of the
Himalayas. Rohde served as the model for Harrison Hightower, the owner of the
fictional "Hightower Hotel" which houses the Tower of Terror
attraction at Tokyo DisneySea outside Tokyo, Japan.
Currently Rohde is leading the team transforming Disney
California Adventure's Tower of Terror into Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission:
Breakout!. The attraction is expected to open Summer 2017.This new project is
part of the expansion of his role as global creative leader of the Marvel
property.
Keenan Wynn is my 62nd choice as a Disney Legend. He played in several Disney Studios live action films as the bad guy you love to hate. He is most famous for playing Alonzo Hawk in the Absent Minded Professor and The Son of Flubber. According to his Disney Wiki page: Keenan Wynn was a
character actor and son of Disney legend Ed Wynn. He's famous for playing
Disney villains, mostly the villainous businessman, Alonzo Hawk. In Snowball
Express he portrays Martin Ridgeway. He also played the corrupt district
attorney John Slade in The Shaggy D.A., the sequel to classic Disney comedy,
The Shaggy Dog.
a cleanup drawing of the queen's transformation
by animators Campbell Grant and Stan Quackenbush
Stan Quackenbush is on my list simply becasue his name is is so amazing. He was an early animator for Walt Disney Studios, working on some of the better shorts the company produced. A partial list of those films are:Mickey's
Amateurs, The Old Mill, Donald's
Nephews,Wynken, Blynken and Nod, Polar Trappers,Ferdinand the Bull,The Ugly
Duckling and Beach Picnic. He is also one of the animators credited with working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He was on the team that animated the wicked witch. It is also so fitting that he helped animate early Donald Duck cartoons, with a last name like Quackenbush.
