Disney In Memoriam 2019 – A Look Back
The Walt Disney Company employs more than 200,000 people and touches all aspects of the entertainment industry. Over the past year, some beloved celebrities died, and a few of them were recognizable for their work with Disney. Here’s our In Memoriam for recognizable Disney figures in 2019.
René Auberjonois
“Hee hee hee. Haw haw haw. With the cleaver, I hack them in two.”
These lyrics don’t sound very Disney, at least until you realize that the singer is referencing fish, not people. The song is Les Poissons from The Little Mermaid, and the actor who performs it is the late René Auberjonois.
He is best known for his work on television series like Benson, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Boston Legal. However, to Disney fans, he will always be Chef Louis. Sadly, he passed away from lung cancer at the age of 79.
Cameron Boyce
According to Google Trends, Americans showed more interest in the death of Cameron Boyce than any other celebrity. Presumably, shock value plays a part here, as people assume the worst when a 20-year-old dies.
Sadly, genetics were what shortened Boyce’s life. The former Disney child star suffered from epilepsy, and an autopsy confirmed that he died from a seizure.
Still, Boyce left a remarkable Disney legacy in a short time. He starred in The Descendants and Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything after co-starring in Jessie.
Tim Conway
Few television comedians can claim even a fraction of the storied career of Tim Conway. He appeared in McHale’s Navy before becoming an icon on The Carol Burnett Show.
At roughly the same time, Conway joined with Don Knotts in a dream pairing. They created a series of buddy comedies, the first two of which were Disney releases.
The Apple Dumpling Gang became a box office hit. It justified a quick, albeit poorly planned sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. You can watch them both on Disney+, although you’re also fine stopping after the first one.
Conway lived until he was 85, but he did suffer from dementia and other health issues in his last years. After fighting for a while, he died from complications of fluid buildup in his major organs.
Robert Forster
Quentin Tarantino respected Robert Forster’s work so much in the 1970s that the director single-handedly returned the actor to fame. Tarantino cast Forster in Jackie Brown, a role for which the actor earned an Academy Award nomination.
However, Disney fans (possibly) know Forster for a different reason. Back in 1979, the head of Walt Disney’s studio division, a man we’ll discuss later in the piece, coveted something. He wanted a Disney version of Star Wars, decades before the company acquired Lucasfilm.
Disney’s Black Hole became the output of that desire. It’s a largely forgotten science-fiction film. But Disney’s box office team is quick to point out that it earned more relative to investment than Star Trek The Motion Picture, which came out two weeks earlier.
Given that Star Trek earned more than twice as much, I’ve never bought this argument. But Bob Iger and others still say it to this day, partially because everyone loved the actor who played Captain Dan Holland in that film. Everyone adored Robert Forster, a pro’s pro and someone even the CEO of Disney admired.
Tough guy until the end, Forster died of brain cancer at 78. He gave publicity-based interviews for his projects up until a few days before his death.
Afterward, journalists expressed amazement that Forster had been so warm and engaging despite being gravely ill. Fittingly, his most famous work in recent memory reminded people of his greatness after he died. The Breaking Bad movie, El Camino, aired the same day he died.
Gabe Khouth
I recognize that you probably don’t know this name, which will happen a few more times on the list. However, I’m guessing that you watched at least a few episodes of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, a series I stuck with until the bitter end.
Khouth portrayed one of the Seven Dwarfs on the show. As Sneezy/Mr. Clark, he appeared in 43 episodes.
Tragically, Khouth experienced cardiac arrest while driving his motorcycle. Technically, he died in a car accident. Still, there’s a suspicion that he either had already passed away or would have anyway due to the cardiac arrest.
Peter Mayhew
I’ve written about Hollywood celebrities for more than 20 years now. I say with complete sincerity that Peter Mayhew is one of the few about whom I never heard a negative story.
The actor who portrayed Chewbacca in many Star Wars movies understood how fortunate he was and acted the part of a man living out a dream.
The 7’2” actor tirelessly dedicated himself to charitable endeavors and acts of kindness for Star Wars fans. The universe rewarded him by allowing him to live until the age of 74, an extremely advanced age for someone that tall. Alas, Mayhew suffered a heart
Ron Miller
Only six people have ever claimed the title of CEO for Disney. Ron Miller came by the title honestly, as his kids had Walt and Lillian Disney for grandparents. Miller famously played professional football back when the sport claimed more knockouts than boxing.
Once, after watching his son-in-law get wrecked by a future Hall of Famer, Uncle Walt politely but firmly offered Miller a job. He would become a Disney employee immediately, an idea that his father-in-law vastly preferred to the idea of having to raise his grandchildren as his own.
As a leader at Disney, Miller helmed several projects. Most notably, he was responsible for the creation of Touchstone Pictures and the Disney Channel. Despite these successes, the film division mostly floundered under Miller. His struggles led his wife’s cousin, Roy E. Disney, to support Michael Eisner as the new CEO.
In the years that followed, Miller and Diane Disney retired to Napa Valley to start a vineyard. They largely remained out of the public limelight, although many of their wine-making practices became industry standards for solid environmental practices.
Miller died of congestive heart failure at the age of 85. Diane had preceded him by six years.
Karen Pendleton
During the early days of The Mickey Mouse Club, fans knew all of the Mouseketeers by name. Disney executives had carefully selected the kids to cover all age demographics.
Karen Pendleton was one of the youngest cast members that Disney selected for the program. Impressively, she stayed in the group through the entire run of the first version, one of only nine children who could claim that honor.
From 1955 through 1959, ABC viewers would tune each week to watch Pendleton perform. She even started the closing song (“See you real soon…”) at the end of the episodes.
While she’ll remain an eight-year-old girl in the hearts of many fans of the Mouseketeers, Pendleton lived to 73. She died of a heart attack in October.
Dave Smith
When you hear about Disney historians, what you’re really doing is celebrating the life of Dave Smith. Disney gave him the proverbial keys to the kingdom by playing him in charge of the entire Disney archive.
Smith joined Disney four years after Uncle Walt’s death. No one inside the company had wanted to touch the belongings of their beloved boss. So, it fell to Smith to bring order to a bunch of dusty boxes overstuffed with Disney history.
Smith performed his job so impressively that he became a Disney Legend. More importantly, others viewed him as the final authority on all Disney matters. He died at the age of 78 after a multi-year health struggle.
Russi Taylor
Any animation fan knows who Russi Taylor is. She’s voiced some of the most iconic characters in cartoon history. Perhaps her most prestigious assignment came in 1986 when she became the voice of Minnie Mouse.
Taylor held this title for more than 30 years, and Disney has respectfully not named a successor since her death in July. Of course, the best part of this story is that life imitated art for Taylor.
The woman behind Minnie Mouse fell in love with and eventually married Wayne Allwine, who voiced Mickey Mouse until the actor’s death in 2009. The duo fittingly became Disney Legends during the same induction ceremony in 2008. Taylor died of colon cancer this past July; she was 75. And this Simpsons fanatic will really miss her as Martin Prince.
Rip Torn
Had Rip Torn not existed, Hollywood would have had to create him. We’re talking about an industry icon with such an unusual attitude that he was once deemed too dangerous for the making of Easy Rider. Jack Nicholson replaced him after Dennis Hopper threatened Torn with a knife.
Throughout the years of his career, Torn developed a reputation as a fearless, rugged take-no-prisoners man who was either a dependable friend or a terrifying enemy. His character on The Larry Sanders Show always seemed a bit too realistic to some. But Disney happily worked with him on multiple occasions.
Most famously, Torn provided the voice of Zeus in Hercules. Given his stately, commanding voice, Torn proved himself the perfect choice for the role.
Despite all of the reefer jokes involving Torn from his counterculture filmmaking days, he lived to the age of 88. Nobody would have taken that bet in 1970.
Richard Williams – Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Okay, you almost certainly don’t know this person by name…unless you’re an animator. Richard Williams embodies everything noble about the profession. He’s largely unknown outside the industry, but he was a legend up until his death at the age of 86.
Richard Williams didn’t frame Roger Rabbit. He created the character instead. More impressively, he entirely invented the look and style of Jessica Rabbit. He wanted her to embody every ridiculous male fantasy, effectively identifying the concept of the Male Gaze decades before it became a societal talking point.
Animators revered Williams so much that he earned a final title worthy of his track record. He became an artist in residence at Aardman Animation toward the end. After Williams had died of cancer, his co-workers spoke with admiration about how he worked until the very end. In fact, his daughter said that he was still drawing at 6 p.m. on the day that he ended.
Do some research on Richard Williams, animation fans. You’ll love this man.
Finally, I should acknowledge that these lists always have some debate. For example, Luke Perry once voiced a character on a Disney cartoon, Pepper Ann.
Award-winning writer and voice of a generation, Toni Morrison, provided the source material for a Disney movie, Beloved, and famously penned a New York Times article entitled On to Disneyland and the Real Unreality.
Another consideration was Shelley Morrison of Will & Grace fame. The actress voiced Mrs. Portillo in Handy Manny. I could have included any of them and several others. Most long-term actors have some connection to Disney.