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NINE NEW DISNEY LEGENDS TO BE HONORED DURING
D23 EXPO 2017 IN ANAHEIM ON JULY 14
Oprah
Winfrey, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Stan Lee, Julie Taymor, and Other Incredible
Talents to be Honored at a Special 30th Anniversary Awards Ceremony Hosted by
Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger
BURBANK, Calif. (April 6, 2017) – Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Stan
Lee, Julie Taymor, and other remarkable contributors to the Disney legacy will
be honored as official Disney Legends during D23 Expo 2017. Hosted by Disney
Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, the Disney Legends Award ceremony will be held at 10
a.m. on Friday, July 14, in Hall D23 of the Anaheim Convention Center.
This year marks the
30th anniversary of the Disney Legends Awards. The first Disney Legend was Fred
MacMurray (The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire), who was
honored in 1987.
“The Disney Legends
Award is the highest honor our company can bestow on an individual, reserved
for those few who have truly made an indelible mark on the history of The Walt
Disney Company,” said Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger. “It’s a celebration of
talent, a recognition of achievement, and an expression of gratitude to the men
and women whose work has significantly contributed to Disney’s enduring
reputation for creative excellence.”
The awards ceremony
is just one of the dozens of spectacular events that Disney fans can enjoy
during the three-day D23 Expo.
The 2017 Disney Legends
Award honorees (listed alphabetically) are:
CARRIE FISHER became an overnight sensation in 1977 with her iconic performance as
Princess Leia in Star Wars. But
throughout her career, Carrie took on many roles—as an actress, author,
playwright, screenwriter, and outspoken advocate for mental health awareness.
For Disney, Carrie appeared in Scream 3
(2000) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
(2001) for Dimension Films, and, in 2015, she returned to the role that made
her famous, starring as General Leia Organa in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She reprised the role for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which will be
released in December.
CLYDE “GERRY” GERONIMI joined the Disney Studio in 1931. His first
assignments as an animator were for several memorable Mickey Mouse, Silly
Symphony, and Pluto cartoons, and he eventually contributed to more than 50 of
the Studio’s shorts. Gerry made the leap to sequence director with 1943’s Victory Through Air Power, and he
subsequently contributed to The Three
Caballeros, The Adventures of Ichabod
and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. He also directed segments for
television’s Mickey Mouse Club and
contributed to episodes of Walt Disney’s Wonderful
World of Color. The apex of his Disney career came when he served as
supervising director for the 1959 masterpiece Sleeping Beauty.
MANUEL GONZALES was one of 33 artists selected from thousands of applicants to join
Disney in 1936. In 1938, he took over penciling duties on the Sunday Mickey Mouse comic strip from Disney Legend
Floyd Gottfredson. He brought Mickey Mouse to newspapers nationwide for nearly 40
years. At its peak, his Mickey-starring comic strip appeared in 120 newspapers
around the world with a collective circulation of more than 20 million readers
each week. Manuel was presented a “Mousecar” award by Walt Disney in 1966.
MARK HAMILL
began his career in 1970, appearing in numerous television series guest-roles
and several TV movies, including a recurring role on ABC’s General Hospital and starring in MTM's acclaimed The Texas Wheelers. He achieved
worldwide attention as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, which included The Empire Strikes Back and Return
of the Jedi. He returned as Luke in The
Force Awakens and will appear in the upcoming The Last Jedi. His stage career includes Broadway shows and the
first national tour of Amadeus
directed by Sir Peter Hall. A prolific voice-over actor, he has performed in
countless animated television shows, feature films, documentaries, and video
games. He appears on Disney’s Miles from
Tomorrowland and Milo Murphy’s Law,
and has also provided the voice of The Joker in the Batman animated series, a role that recently earned him a BAFTA
Award.
WAYNE JACKSON began his career as a Walt Disney Imagineer in October 1965, and in the
decades that followed he would put his technical skills and know-how to great
use in the development and installation of Disney attractions around the world.
Originally trained in aircraft tooling, he began as a technician and machinist
assigned to rebuild the shows from the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair that were
slated for installation at Disneyland. Instrumental in the early development of
Audio-Animatronics®
technology, Wayne would go on to help bring Pirates
of the Caribbean and the Haunted
Mansion to Disneyland. He went on to work on the construction and installation
of attractions and show systems at Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disney
Resort, and Disneyland Paris.
STAN LEE got
a job as an office assistant at a comic publisher in 1939 called Timely Comics—forerunner
of the powerhouse we all know as Marvel. Stan made his debut with a Captain
America story in 1941, and by the next year, at the age of just 18, he was
promoted to editor. In 1961, Stan teamed up with Jack “King” Kirby to create
the Fantastic Four and ushered in a spectacular new age of comics. Stan
co-created an enormous roster of Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Hulk,
Thor, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the X-Men, Daredevil, and Falcon. He became
Marvel’s editorial director and publisher in 1972, and eventually was named
chairman emeritus. His well-known cameos in Marvel films began with 1989’s
telefilm The Trial of the Incredible Hulk,
and since the release of X-Men in
2000 he has appeared in nearly every Marvel film project. Outside the
super-hero realm, he has even popped up as a wedding guest in Disney’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
GARRY MARSHALL began his career in Los Angeles writing for a number of hit shows,
including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show. But his big break came in
1970, when he produced The Odd Couple
for ABC, the first of many big hits he created for the network. Beginning with Happy Days in 1974, he developed a
shared universe of spinoffs including Laverne
& Shirley, Mork & Mindy,
and Joanie Loves Chachi. His other
ABC sitcoms during these years included Angie,
The New Odd Couple, and Blansky’s Beauties. Garry was also a successful
movie director, with 18 films to his credit. At Disney, he made stars of two
young actresses: Julia Roberts, in Pretty
Woman, and Anne Hathaway in The
Princess Diaries. He directed Bette Midler in Beaches, as well as in The
Lottery, a short film that for years was a fixture of the Backstage Tour at
the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park. Garry was known for his acting, as well, and
he appeared in Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain,
Chicken Little, and as the Devil in Hocus Pocus.
JULIE TAYMOR is a Tony®-, Emmy®-, and Grammy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated filmmaker who has changed the face of Broadway with her
innovative direction. Her adaptation of The Lion King debuted
in 1997, becoming the most successful stage musical of all time; 24 global
productions have been seen by more than 90 million people. The show has played in
more than 100 cities in 19 countries. It
received 11 Tony Award nominations, earning Julie Best Director, Costume
Designer, and Best Musical for the show.
Her production of The Magic Flute is currently
in repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Her
films include A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Titus, The
Tempest, the Golden Globe-nominated Across
the Universe, and the Oscar-winning Frida. Taymor is a
recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and an inductee into the Theater
Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement. She is currently directing M. Butterfly on Broadway, opening Fall
2017.
OPRAH WINFREY is a renowned award-winning producer, actress, talk show host, and
philanthropist. For 25 years she was the host of the award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran for 25
seasons on hundreds of stations domestically and in more than 100 countries
around the world. Oprah is also an Academy Award®-nominated actress
for her role in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 hit The
Color Purple. In 1998, she starred in Beloved
for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, a film that she also produced. Oprah also
produced and starred in ABC’s 1989 limited series The Women of Brewster Place, and would go on to produce many films
for ABC, including Tuesdays with Morrie,
Before Women Had Wings, and Their
Eyes Were Watching God under the “Oprah Winfrey Presents” banner. She
performed as Eudora in Disney’s The
Princess and the Frog in 2009 and will co-star as Mrs. Which in Disney’s
2018 film A Wrinkle in Time.
Honorees
receive a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture that signifies the
imagination, creativity, and magic they have brought to the Company. Disney
Legends Award recipients will also participate in a handprint ceremony at the
end of the event, and their bronzed prints will be displayed in the Disney
Legends Plaza at the Company’s Burbank headquarters.
Admission
to the ceremony will be on a first-come, first-served basis and is included in
the price of a ticket to D23 Expo 2017.
Including this year’s
honorees, a total of 276 Disney Legends have been named. Past Disney Legends
include Tim Allen, Julie Andrews, Beatrice Arthur, Howard Ashman, Regis
Philbin, Annette Funicello, Peter Jennings, Johnny Depp, Estelle Getty, George
Lucas, Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, Rue McClanahan, Alan Menken, Hayley
Mills, Fess Parker, Sir Tim Rice, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Walters, Betty White,
and Robin Williams. Beginning with the inaugural D23 Expo in 2009, thousands of
Disney fans have been able to enjoy the Legends Awards ceremony live.
Ticketsfor D23 Expo 2017 are available for $81 for one-day adult admission and $59 for children 3–9. Membersof D23: The Official Disney Fan Club can purchase tickets for $72 for a one-day adult admission and $53 for children 3–9. Multi-day tickets are also available. For more information on tickets and D23 Expo 2017, visit D23Expo.com.
About D23 Expo 2017
D23
Expo—The Ultimate Disney Fan Event—brings together all the worlds of Disney
under one roof for three packed days of presentations, pavilions, experiences,
concerts, sneak peeks, shopping, and more. The event provides fans with
unprecedented access to Disney films, television, games, theme parks, and
celebrities. For the latest D23 Expo 2017 news, visit
D23expo.com. Presentations,
talent, and schedule subject to change. To join the
D23 Expo conversation, be sure to follow DisneyD23 on Twitter, Facebook,
Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube, and use the hashtag #D23Expo.
About D23
The name “D23” pays homage to the exciting journey that began in 1923 when Walt Disney opened his first studio in Hollywood. D23 is the first official club for fans in Disney’s 90-plus-year history. It gives its members a greater connection to the entire world of Disney by placing them in the middle of the magic through its quarterly publication, Disney twenty-three; a rich website at D23.com with members-only content; member-exclusive discounts; and special events for D23 Members throughout the year.
