2024 “Disney Legends” Inductees Announced

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

March 19, 2024

 

Every once in a while, when I look at the list of the hundreds of Disney Legends, I’m taken off guard by who is on — and not on — the list.  This is one of those years that you would’ve assumed some of these illustrious nominees had achieved this honor long before some of the newer celebrities and magic makers with shorter Disney resumes.

Disney has just announced the list of the 14 men and women who will be inducted into this year’s class of Disney Legends.  For those who don’t know what this honor is, becoming a “Disney Legend” is the equivalent of Disney’s Hall of Fame, and Burbank is their Cooperstown.  At the Disney headquarters, there are rows upon rows of plaques detailing the contributions these creatives have brought to the Disney company during its history.  The Legends program has been honoring Disney creatives for 37 years.

Disney explains, “The Disney Legends Award honors artists and visionaries throughout the company’s history who have pushed the envelope of creativity, challenged conventional wisdom, and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.”

 
The inductees will receive their awards at the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony during the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California (August 9-11, 2024).

Among those who should have been inducted eons ago is Harrison Ford.  Why wasn’t Indy brought in before this, considering the enormity of the body of work that he’s brought to Disney?  (By the way, many of Han Solo’s Star Wars cohorts, including  Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and George Lucas, are already Legends.) James Cameron got an entire Pandora land gifted to him at Disney before becoming a Legend, all movie-making skills aside.  And Joe Rohde?  Lordy, he is probably the most influential creative force behind Animal Kingdom, not to mention his  myriad other accomplishments as a Disney Imagineer.  (OK, we’ll overlook the whole “Disco Yeti” thing.) He’s the reason guests enjoyed The Adventurers Club at Pleasure Island for so many years, and still mourn its demise.  Frank Oz gave voice to Yoda, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and a host of other Disney characters…. How was he not inducted years ago? John Williams?  Disney itself says, “The unforgettable music of John Williams is the soundtrack of our lives.”  What more needs to be said to that?  The man created the music for more than 100 movies, including the Star Wars films and the Indiana Jones franchise, and has five Academy Awards to his name. Disney even lauds him as the “Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most-nominated person in the history of the Oscars, a number second only to Walt Disney.”

A hearty congratulations to each of them, for achieving what fans have celebrated all along – the amazing depth of creativity that this year’s class brought to the world. What took the Legends committee so long to catch up with the rest of us?

 
If you’d like to see a more detailed biography of this year’s honorees, you can go to Disney’s media website.

The complete list of 2024 honorees includes: 

• Colleen Atwood (costume designer)

•  Angela Bassett (actress)

• Martha Blanding (Parks & Resorts/cast member)

• James L. Brooks (producer/director)

• James Cameron (filmmaker/director)

• Jamie Lee Curtis (actress)

• Miley Cyrus (singer)

• Steve Ditko (comic book artist/writer)

• Harrison Ford (actor)

• Mark Henn (animator)

• Frank Oz (director/Muppeteer)

• Kelly Ripa (actress/talk show host)

• Joe Rohde (Imagineer)

• John Williams (composer)

 
Ryan Seacrest will be hosting the Legends Ceremony at 5:00 p.m. on August 11, and it will take place at the Honda Center. The show always pays tribute to the honorees and their accomplishments, but there are typically additional performances and guest appearances as well.

   
Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, added, “To be named a Disney Legend is the highest honor our company can bestow on anyone, reserved for those whose talent and achievement have earned them an enduring place in our history. The fourteen individuals to be honored as Disney Legends this year have each made extraordinary creative contributions across the worlds of Disney and we look forward to celebrating them at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.”

Actor Fred MacMurray (The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor) was the first Disney personality to be given Disney Legend status in 1987. Since then, 318 recipients have placed their handprints in bronze in the Disney Legends Plaza, and received the two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture that “signifies the imagination, creativity, and magic they have brought to the company.”  Previous inductees have included Mark Hamill; Carrie Fisher; Robin Williams; Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman; Wayne Allwine; ; Robert Downey Jr.; Annette Funicello; Angela Lansbury;  George Lucas; Tony Baxter; Jim Henson; Steve Martin; Alan Menken; Jon Favreau; James Earl Jones; Stan Lee; Marty Sklar; Josh Gad;  Johnny Depp; Danny Elfman; Steve Jobs; Dick Van Dyke; Barbara Walters; Betty White; Bob Gurr; Rolly Crump; Yale Gracey; Lillian Disney; Roy E. Disney; X Atencio; Thurl Ravenscroft; the Sherman Brothers; John Hench; Marc Davis; and Tim Allen, among the more than 300.

 

Tickets to the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event go on sale March 23.  Details can be found at D23.

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

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