Susan Egan - my 456th choice to be given the Disney Legend designation

Susan Egan is my 456th choice to be given the Disney Legend designation.

In 1997, Egan made her first appearance in a Disney film as the feisty Megara from Disney's Hercules. This brought her critical acclaim and recognition for her voice acting skills. She later reprised the role in most of the character's subsequent appearances including the episode "Hercules and the Aetolian Amphora" from the television series, House of Mouse, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III.

In 2001, Egan made her second appearance in a Disney film, this time providing only the singing voice of Angel in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.

She also voiced Madame Gina in Porco Rosso and Lin in Spirited Away and played Heather Bartlett in Gotta Kick It Up!.

Stage

Egan gained international theater recognition as a Broadway actress for becoming the first actress to portray Belle on Broadway in the stage production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast in 1994.

Music

Apart from acting, Egan has a frequent career in music. She recorded "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" during her role as Megara for the Hercules soundtrack, and garnered critical acclaim for her singing for her role as Belle on Broadway.

Later, she provided the singing voice of Angel in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, in which she recorded "Always There" alongside Roger Bart, Jeff Bennett, and returning Disney icon Jodi Benson.

Samuel E Wright - my 390th choice to be named a Disney Legend

Actor Samuel E Wright is my 390th pick to be chosen as a Disney Legend. He is best known as the voice of Sebastian in Disney's The Little Mermaid, for which he provided the main vocals to "Under the Sea", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Wright also played the part of Mufasa in the original cast of The Lion King on Broadway and voiced Kron the Iguanodon in Disney's 2000 CGI film Dinosaur. Wright has performed and recorded several songs for the Walt Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, as Sebastian the Crab, and is most known for the songs "Under the Sea", and "Kiss the Girl". He has voiced Sebastian in numerous other productions including the television show, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning and Disney's House of Mouse.

Jonathan Freeman - my 206th pick to be named a Disney Legend

Jonathan Freeman, voice actor For Disney, he's known for voicing Jafar voicing Jafar in Disney's Aladdin franchise, as well as the Kingdom Hearts franchise and the 2011 Aladdin Broadway musical, and Ding from the Aladdin franchise. He is yet another example of a classic Disney villain voice who should be named a legend, like Cruella Deville's voice Betty Lou Gerson, who has been named a Legend. Freeman is my 206th pick to be named a Disney Legend.


He also played Grimsby in The Little Mermaid musical and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, and is currently reprising Jafar for the Aladdin stage musical on Broadway. Also for Disney, he is known for voicing Eli Excelsior Pandarus and Jack Frost in the Disney Channel animated series American Dragon: Jake Long

He has voiced Jafar in several Disney Television shows including House of Mouse, . He added his voice to a character in the Hercules television show as well as Lilo and Stitch: the Series.

Bob Iger - my 170th choice to be named a Disney Legend

I really like focusing in on the overlooked people on this blog, but at some point I have the name the obvious ones, and Bob Iger will one day be named a Disney Legend, barring any unforeseen scandal. He is my reluctant 170th pick to be given this honor. He will probably be named shortly after he retires, which he said will be in 2019, but has since changed his mind

From his Wikipedia page:

He is chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. Before Disney, Iger served as the president of ABC Television from 1994 to 1995 and the president and chief operating officer (COO) of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. from 1995 until Disney's acquisition of the company in 1996.He was named president and COO of Disney in 2000, and later succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005, after a successful effort by Roy E. Disney to shake up the management of the company. As part of his yearly compensation, Iger earned $44.9 million in 2015.

During Iger’s tenure, Disney broadened the company's roster of intellectual properties and its presence in international markets; Iger oversaw the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, and Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, as well as the expansion of the company's theme park resorts in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively. Iger was also a driving force behind the reinvigoration of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the branded-release strategy of its film studio's output. Under Iger's control, Disney has experienced increases in revenue across its various divisions, with the company's market capitalization value increasing from $48.4 billion to $163 billion over a period of eleven years. As a result, Disney has been recognized as one of the "World's Most Reputable Companies" by Forbes (2006–2015), one of "America's Most Admired Companies" by Fortune Magazine (2009–2015), one of the “World's Most Respected Companies" by Barron’s (2009–2014), a “Best Place to Launch a Career” by BusinessWeek Magazine (2006–2010), and a "Company of the Year" by Yahoo Finance (2013).

Eleven Disney Legends announced - only three of them were on my list

The Disney Company recently announced their 2017 Disney Legends. They are:

• Mark Hamill || Luke Skywalker in Star Wars 
• Carrie Fisher* || Princess Leia in Star Wars 
• Stan Lee || Marvel Publisher 
• Wayne Jackson || Walt Disney Imagineer (Audio-Animatronics and construction) 
• Clyde “Gerry ” Geronimi* || Animator, 1931-1959; Supervising Director of Sleeping Beauty 
• Manuel Gonzales* || Animator and Comics Artist, 1936-1981 
• Garry Marshall* || Film Director (Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries) 
• Julie Taymor || The Lion King Broadway Director 
• Oprah Winfrey || Because why not?

*deceased at the time of the announcement

UPDATE - Later additions were made to this list and they include actress Whoopi Goldberg and Marvel creator and writer Jack Kirby. Goldberg was on this list at the time of the announcement. Kirby was not, but he was on my radar. He is a great pick to go in with Stan Lee.

The names marked in red are the only names I have included on my list thus far. I had anticipated in including Manuel Gonzales and Wayne Jackson in the top 250. I do have a list of nearly 10,000 names I put together as I put together this blog. All of these names were on the the "Big List." I am going to leave Stan Lee and Gerry Geronimi and just edit them to include the fact they have been "chosen." It will be interesting to see once I get my 250 done, how many get chosen over the years. I will not be including Gonzales or Jackson in the blog now however.