Disney In Memoriam 2023

As The Lion King beautifully demonstrated, the circle of life drives us forward but comes with a bittersweet element.

Often, we aren’t ready to say goodbye to those we love.

Instead, the best we can do is pay tribute to them and then try to live our lives in a way that befits their memories.

For Disney fans, each year witnesses the loss of several beloved contributors. This past one included some of the greatest.

Here’s our annual in memoriam for the Disney icons we lost in 2023.

Joss Ackland

You might not know the late Joss Ackland by name, but the 95-year-old had worked on several popular Disney projects.

Most notably, Ackland portrayed King Arthur in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court in 1995.

In The Mighty Ducks franchise, he also portrayed Hans, Emilio Estevez’s character’s mentor and friend.

Alan Arkin

Screen legend Alan Arkin won countless awards for his acting.

However, Arkin’s greatest achievement wouldn’t come until he was 72.

That’s when he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Little Miss Sunshine.

Disney frequently cast Arkin in roles in movies like The Rocketeer, Million Dollar Arm, and The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Claus.

Arkin lived a rich, full life and finally died at 89.

Earl Boen

If you’re like me, you’ve watched every episode of Kim Possible MANY times.

During the show’s earliest days, the adorable Senor Senior Jr. struggled to earn the respect of his father, Senor Senior Sr.

At the time, Khan himself, Ricardo Montalban, voiced the character. After a time, he grew old. Boen replaced him as the voice of Senor Senior Sr.

In 2023, Boen died at the age of 81. And if you didn’t watch Kim Possible – shame on you! – I guarantee you knew him.

Boen memorably portrayed the psychologist in the first three films of The Terminator franchise.

Tony Bennett

Obviously, the singer’s reputation has little to do with Disney. He was an icon for decades, with or without The Mouse.

Still, Bennett bears mention here because he did occasionally perform with The Muppets, which was always a treat to watch.

Bennett died at 96…and was still touring at that age!

Seriously, people had concert tickets to see a 96-year-old Tony Bennett play when he died.

Let’s all aspire to live a long, fulfilling life like Tony Bennett.

Jamie Christopher

Marvel suffered a loss this year Jamie Christopher died rather suddenly at the age of 52.

The respected assistant director worked on many of your favorites, like Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

He also worked on Star Wars: The Last Jedi for Disney.

Andre Braugher

Speaking of legendary actors, Andre Braugher embodied the best of the profession.

He was one of the few people with a rightful claim as one of the finest performers in the world.

While Braugher’s Disney connections weren’t significant – he starred in an ABC series called The Last Resort in 2012 – his impact was long-lasting.

Braugher won multiple Emmys and likely would have won more if he hadn’t contracted cancer this year. He died too young, at 61.

Carole Cook

In 2023, Comedy legend Carole Cook passed away at the remarkable age of 98.

To a certain extent, time had left her behind in that she mostly retired from the industry roughly 20 years ago.

However, the former co-star of I Love Lucy (and real-life best friend of Lucille Ball) made an exception for a less heralded Disney animated film, 2006’s Home on the Range.

Personally, I will love her forever for her role as Bessie Limpet in The Incredible Mr. Limpet, but John Hughes fans will remember her as Grandma Helen in Sixteen Candles.

Also, if you grew up with the TBS generation in the 1980s, she was a constant presence on many sitcoms and dramas. This actress worked!

Sergio Calderon

Mexican actor Sergio Calderon worked for decades in his home country before Disney hired him for his most memorable role.

Calderon portrayed the flamboyant Captain Eduardo Villaneuva in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

He passed away at the age of 77 due to complications from pneumonia.

Rolly Crump

For Disney diehards, two names on this list will hurt more than the rest.

One of them is Rolly Crump, arguably the most famous living Imagineer at the time of his death.

Crump anchored Disney’s work at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, which became the basis of the company’s theme park dominance afterward.

Every day, EPCOT fans enjoy his brilliance as they explore The Land pavilion, which Crump created. It’s but one of dozens of touches of Crump throughout the parks.

Sadly, the author of It’s Kind of a Cute Story died in his home. He lived a meaningful life for 93 years, and Disney parks will carry his legacy for generations.

Randy Fullmer

Disney owes Don Bluth a lot, as the company’s former illustrator started his own company.

One of Bluth’s early hires was Randy Fullmer, who would work on the video game classics Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace.

Disney would hire Fullmer for a limited time on a small part of an upcoming release.

Fullmer created something called Toon Town for a movie called Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Maybe you’ve heard of both…

Not coincidentally, Disney hired Fullmer full-time, and the animator worked on projects like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and the criminally underrated Chicken Little.

Fullmer died of cancer at the age of 73.

Steve Harwell

The musical group Smash Mouth has had several hit singles, most notably All-Star and Walkin’ on the Sun.

Disney fans know them well, as Smash Mouth has become a regular act at various EPCOT festivals like the Eat to the Beat concert series.

Lead singer Steve Harwell battled demons throughout the band’s tenure and eventually had to retire due to health issues caused by lifelong alcoholism.

In 2023, Harwell succumbed to liver failure. He was 56 then but had been in rough shape for nearly a decade.

Dave Hollis

Here’s one that truly bums me out.

As many of you know, I built my reputation as a film and box office analyst.

During my early days, Chuck Viane performed all of Disney’s interviews and quotes regarding the studio’s box office.

Once Viane retired, Dave Hollis took over those duties in 2011.

Since he shared a last name with my wife, a recognized box office analyst, we were sometimes asked whether we were related. (We weren’t.)

Hollis unexpectedly retired from Disney while he was still in his 40s, which was quite young for someone earning millions.

Hollis and his wife, Rachel, became popular online influencers, and the rest of the story, well, it gets really sad. There’s a detailed Wall Street Journal article, too.

TRIGGER WARNING for Next Sentence

Hollis accidentally overdosed at the age of 47.

Apropos of nothing, I feel the need to state that Hollis was very good at his job at Disney. Not everyone in this business is, but he really was.

Barry Humphries

Multiple generations of Americans will remember Australian comedian Barry Humphries for his iconic character, Dame Eda.

To Disney fans, Humphries played a somehow more significant role, though.

The actor voiced the memorable Pixar villain, Bruce the Shark, in Finding Nemo.

Even though Humphries died at the age of 89, EPCOT fans can still hear him daily on The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

That thought should make you smile.

Charles Kimbrough

Best known for his work in Murphy Brown, Kimbrough delighted Disney fans with his work as Victor, one of the three gargoyles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Kimbrough’s unforgettable vocal inflection made the character lovable.

Alas, the performer died at 86, but at least he got to appear in the Murphy Brown reboot first.

Coco Lee

I can’t sugarcoat the situation. Some of these are grim, as is the nature of death, especially when it occurs at a young age.

Coco Lee, who voiced the Cantonese version of Mulan, is one such instance from this past year.

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The actress and singer took her own life at the age of 48.

Robert Lieberman

Director Robert Lieberman earned his first gig in 1978 and would work steadily in Hollywood into the 2010s.

While none of his feature films ever tore up the box office, he did create a cult classic, Fire in the Sky.

More importantly, Disney fans know Lieberman for directing D3: The Mighty Ducks. He died of cancer at the age of 75.

Jeniene Mapp-Testa

Here’s a sad update from just last month.

Jeniene Mapp-Testa died after a prolonged illness which she had chronicled on social media.

During the 1990s, she hosted Saturday Disney and later helped launch the Disney Channel in her native Australia.

She succumbed to kidney failure at the age of 49.

Burnett “Burny” Mattinson

Disney Legend almost doesn’t feel like a strong enough emphasis for what Burny Mattinson meant to the company.

If you love the animation of Maleficent or, well, the entirety of Mickey’s Christmas Carol, you have Mattinson to thank.

The storyteller worked as an apprentice to Walt Disney and eventually became the link connecting future Imagineers to the company’s founder.

Mattinson died at 87, but Disney found a way to provide us with one final lasting memory of him.

Here’s the video of Once Upon a Studio:

That’s Mattinson in the first scene.

Stephan Mikes

Many of the people we’re discussing here are almost theoretical. While their contributions enriched your lives, you probably never met them.

Then, we have Stefan Mikes, whom you might have spoken with during a park visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

At a minimum, you probably danced and swayed while listening to him.

Mikes played the sitar during many live musical performances at the park. And his musical instrument was somehow every bit as long as him.

Sadly, the musician suffered a medical emergency from which he couldn’t recover. He died at 69.

Judy Nugent

We must go back a while to appreciate Judy Nugent’s Disney presence.

During the 1950s, the actress appeared on Walt Disney Presents: Annette, which was serial programming for The Mickey Mouse Club.

Nugent died on her Montana ranch at the age of 83.

Jansen Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere’s younger brother worked as a Disney kid for many years.

The actor’s work included Tiger Cruise (with his sister) and Even Stevens, among others.

He also performed on several Nickelodeon shows, plus Blues Clues.

Sadly, Panettiere developed an enlarged heart and died at the age of 28.

Paul Reubens

The beloved star known as Pee-Wee Herman died in 2023. He was 70 at the time and had suffered from cancer for quite some time.

To Disney fans, Reubens had voiced the character of Lock in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Reubens was actually a frequent contributor of Burton’s, which makes perfect sense for two incredibly creative people.

John Romita Sr.

Long before Disney purchased Marvel, John Romita Sr. had anchored the comic book company.

The elder Romita created unforgettable characters like Mary Jane Watson, Wolverine, the Kingpin, Luke Cage, and the Punisher.

So, most of the comic book fans of the 21^st century have Romita to thank.

He died at the age of 93, but his legacy continues through his equally prolific son, John Romita Jr., who is in his late 60s.

The Romita family has contributed mightily to the Marvel brand.

Park Soo-Ryun

Here’s one of the most tragic deaths of 2023.

K-drama fans spent 2022 falling in love with Snowfall on Disney+ fans.

Park Soo-Ryun played one of the students at the dormitory but then died when she fell down a stairwell. She was 29 years old.

Tommy Smothers

Here’s the latest entry to our list.

Comedian Tommy Smothers, the older of the Smothers Brothers, passed away at the age of 86.

Smothers shares a Disney connection thanks to his appearance in Wonderful World of Disney’s Once Upon a Mattress.

Anecdotally, my wife purchased a stunning red record player as a housing decoration when we moved into our new home.

The first album she purchased for it was a Smothers Brothers album. Their humor definitely stands the test of time.

Ray Stevenson

This one hurt me greatly, as I adored actor Ray Stevenson for his work on HBO’s Rome, which some jokingly called the Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus Road Show.

Stevenson portrayed Pullo, the violent but unexpectedly wise and witty soldier/thug.

Over the years, Stevenson worked in many projects, but he’ll be remembered the most for Rome and his final two projects.

One of them was 2022’s global sensation, RRR. The other was what proved to be a posthumous role as Baylan Skoll on Ahsoka.

Stevenson suddenly required hospitalization during filming in Italy and never recovered. He was 58.

Marc Thorpe

Fans of classic Star Wars films have Marc Thrope to thank for some of the highlights.

The special effects wizard worked on Lucasfilm’s Holy Trilogy as well as the early Indiana Jones films.

He died from the effects of Parkinson’s Disease this year. He was 77.

Shawna Trpic

New episodes of Ahsoka proved oddly somber for some viewers.

I just mentioned Ray Stevenson, but he wasn’t the only person whose work aired posthumously.

Respected costume designer Shawna Trpic recently earned an Emmy nomination for her work on The Mandalorian.

Disney had also hired her for two of its most important Disney+ Star Wars series, Boba Fett and Ahsoka.

During the week that the final Ahsoka episode aired, Trpic died suddenly at 56.

While Joss Whedon has proven problematic, Trpic’s work on his projects merits mention.

She created costumes for Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, and Much Ado About Nothing.

One of the other Whedonverse talents also hired her as the costume designer for The Cabin in the Woods.

We lost a rock star talent in Trpic.

Annie Wersching

Here’s one that broke my heart.

Actress Annie Wersching worked frequently in Hollywood, as she had a hard-earned reputation as a pro’s pro.

In recent years, she has appeared in popular series like Bosch, The Rookie, and Star Trek: Picard.

What Wersching chose not to reveal to her Star Trek cast members was that she had developed cancer.

That role proved to be her final one, as she portrayed the Borg Queen.

I’ll always associate Wersching with her work on ABC’s The Catch and NBC’s Timeless, both of which are among my favorite programs of the past decade.

The actress held an even more significant Disney connection, though. She joined the MCU as evil parent Leslie Dean in Marvel’s Runaways.

Sadly, Wersching succumbed to cancer at the age of 45.

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