Richard Irvine

Until his retirement in 1973, Dick headed design and planning for all Disneyland attractions, ranging from Haunted Mansion to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Joe Fowler

During the 1960s and ‘70s, Joe was charged with the Herculean task of planning and building Walt Disney World.

Herb Ryman

Herb had an uncanny knack for translating Walt’s ideas into drawings. Perhaps this was because, like Walt, he was a child at heart.

John Hench

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.

Marc Davis

When once asked to choose a favorite among his bevy of grand Disney dames, Marc Davis replied, “Each of my women characters has her own unique style; I love them all in different ways.”

Wolfgang Reitherman

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.”

Ollie Johnston

Ollie 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.

Milt Kahl

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 the Prince from Sleeping Beauty.

Les Clark

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 …

John Lounsbery

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 …