Disney kicked off is big D23 Expo last weekend with the special Disney Legends Awards ceremony. The biennial award ceremony honors Disney employees that have made a lasting impact on the company in a variety of areas — from Parks and Resorts to Animation to Music to Administration. This year, the pre-announced list of Legends Award recipients were officially inducted, including Disney Animators Eyvind Earle and Andreas Deja, Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas, and Disneyland’s original ambassador, Julie Reihm. The ceremony ended with a big surprise inductee, famous for his roles as Captain Jack Sparrow and The Mad Hatter.
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We’ve got a full recap of D23 Expo’s Disney Legends Awards ceremony for you today, so let’s get started!
| Disney Legends Ceremony |
Disney kicked off this year’s Expo on Friday morning with the Disney Legends Ceremony, honoring nine individuals for their contributions to the Walt Disney Company.
The Disney Legends Ceremony got underway at 10 a.m. Friday morning with a sizzle reel showcasing every corner of the Walt Disney Company. Following the sizzle reel, Disney CEO Bob Iger welcomed guests to the 2015 D23 Expo, despite thousands of guests outside still struggling to get into the convention center.
Iger went on to say he has the “happiest job on earth” before noting highlights from previous D23 Expos and recent projects from around the company from Disneyland’s 60th to Shanghai Disneyland to Star Wars and more.
Igor continued by discussing the significance of the Disney Legends Awards program, leading into a highlight reel recapping previous Legend Award recipients.
PARKS AND RESORTS
A biography video of each Legends Award recipient was played before they were welcomed on stage to receive their award. The first Disney Legends inductee of 2015 was Miss Disneyland Tencennial herself, Julie Reihm Casaletto. Selected by Walt Disney to be the public face of Disneyland during its 10th anniversary celebration in 1965, Casaletto went on to be the founding member of the Disneyland Ambassador Program, a tradition that now exists at every Disney Resort worldwide.
Casaletto noted that she originally applied at Disneyland merely looking for a summer job but when Walt offered her the job of being Miss Disneyland Tencennial, she knew it was an “E-Ticket ride” she couldn’t pass up.
Casaletto said that she knows Walt Disney is “pleased and proud” to see what the Walt Disney Company has become today
Following Casaletto’s award, Iger returned to stage and invited “the man who saved Mr. Banks,” Disney Legend Richard Sherman up to discuss the song he wrote for Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary, “A Kiss Goodnight.” Sherman noted Walt’s wish to have Disneyland’s fireworks be the “kiss goodnight” to end the day at Disneyland. He then began to play the song before Broadway star Ashley Brown came on stage to perform the song live for the audience.
After the ceremony, Legend Award recipients signed their names and made their handprints on their plaques, which will be permanently installed at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California.
ADMINISTRATION AND TELEVISION
Next up, George Brodenheimer from ESPN was inducted. Brodenheimer noted how ESPN went from a relatively modest operation to a major player once Disney acquired the sports network saying it “really changed the game.”
ANIMATION
Leading into the next Legend Award recipient, Peta Murgatroyd and Val Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars performed to “Once Upon a Dream” from Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty.
The performance segued into the award for the late legendary Disney animator Eyvind Earle, who developed the style for Sleeping Beauty and made an major impact on Disney’s early animation history. Iger said it is “impossible” to think of Disney animation today without the contributions of Earle. Earle’s daughter accepted the award on his behalf.
TELEVISION
Next, daytime television star Susan Lucci was awarded for her 41-year career on ABC’s “All My Children.” Gucci said it was her dream to be an actress and Disney made that dream come true. Lucci said she was once asked what a theme park ride of her life would be and she joked “It would be a lot of husbands & definitely a rollercoaster!”
Lucci making her handprints.
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Following Lucci, Carson Van Osten was honored for his contributions at Disney where he worked in Disney comics since the late 1960s. Osten says the day he was offered a full time position drawing Mickey Mouse at Disney was the happiest day of his life.
Handprints
Next, Disney honored recently deceased Disney Legends in an In Memoriam video montage. The montage was joined by a live performance of “You’ll Be In My Hearth” by star of Broadway’s Tarzan, Josh Strickland.
The In Memoriam montage ended with Disney Legend Robin Williams and the audience erupted in applause for the late actor. Strickland’s performance led into a special performance by R&B artist Ne-Yo of “Friend Like Me” from Disney’s Aladdin.
ANIMATION
Ne-Yo’s performance led to the next award for Disney animator Andreas Deja who Iger noted has an impressive list of credits including The Black Cauldron, The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, Princess and the Frog, and more. Iger went on to say Deja is “one of the greatest animators of his generation.”
Deja noted that seeing the Jungle Book in Germany changed his life forever as a child and was what made him want to be a Disney animator. Deja said the Jungle Book was a phenomenon in Germany and urged Iger to build a Jungle Book ride at Disneyland Pari, insisting that “the Germans will come in droves!”
Deja got teary-eyed when he recounted a story of a young artist telling him “Thanks for drawing my childhood.”
MUSIC
Composer Danny Elfman was next but before giving Elfman his award, Iger welcomed Broadway star James Monroe Inglehart to the stage to perform “Oogie Boogie’s Song,” written by Elfman for The Nightmare Before Christmas.
James Monroe Inglehart performing.
Elfin finally came up on stage to receive his award and praised Disney for being such a great place to work. Elfin said working for Disney today is what it must have felt like to work during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Elfman also noted that he had just returned from Shanghai where he is composing the music for that park’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland attraction.
FILM AND PARKS & RESORTS
Finally, the grand finale of the morning’s ceremony — filmmaker George Lucas. When Lucas’ biography montage ended and he was invited to come on stage, the audience erupted. Iger credited Lucas for “ushering in a new era of filmmaking” with Star Wars. Iger continued by noting the impact Lucas’ work has made on Disney’s theme parks from Star Tours to Indiana Jones Adventure and Captain EO. Iger also noted Lucas’ involvement in founding Pixar Animation Studios.
Lucas said “Disney has always given me a great deal of inspiration,” and noted that Goofy was the inspiration for Jar Jar Binks. Lucas went on to say, “In the end, I think Disney has given me much more than I’ve given Disney.”
Lucas joked he’s been trying for years to get Disney to add more of his characters to the parks and the only way he could think to do it was “to get Bob to buy the company.”
FILM AND PARKS & RESORTS
Following George Lucas, Iger returned to the stage and said there was one more surprise that morning and announced Johnny Depp would also be receiving a Disney Legends Award. Iger’s announcement was followed promptly by a biography reel for Depp, who Iger then welcomed to the stage: “It’s wonderful to work with such a great talent. … And today Johnny becomes a Disney Legend!”
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as Depp made his way up and once on stage Depp said “I don’t know why I’m here, I really don’t. But it’s a great honor!”
Depp continued by thanking his fans for his success and the “great opportunity to basically do stupid stuff for a living.”
Depp said it was a great honor to be among the likes of other great Disney Legends such as Dick Van Dyke and George Lucas.
Iger concluded the Disney Legends Awards by thanking the new Legends and all of the fans in the audience.
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| Weekly Theme Park Hours August 17-23, 2015 |
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| OK, that’s it for today’s installment in our ongoing D23 Expo coverage. What did you think of the Legends line-up this year? Did George Lucas or Johnny Depp really deserve Legends Awards? And what about the remaining Mouseketeers? Why weren’t they honored? It is their 60th anniversary, after all! Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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