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Buddy Hackett, Edna and Lillian Disney & Richard Fleischer Become Disney Legends

The Walt Disney Co. recognized 11 honorees as 2003 Disney Legends for their "creativity and imagination" in a ceremony held Oct. 16 at Disney Legends Plaza on the studio lot in Burbank. Disney vice chairman Roy Disney presided over the induction ceremony, which has honored 163 individual talents since 1987, beginning with actor Fred MacMurray.

The 2003 Disney Legends honorees are as follows:

* Tutti Camarata - Music -- Tutti supervised recordings of more than 300 Disneyland Record albums, including those featuring Disney stars, such as Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, for whom he developed her distinctive "Annette" sound. He joined Disney in 1956 when Walt Disney decided to create an in-house label. Camarata helped co-found Disneyland Records, better known today as Walt Disney Records, and while there first began experimenting with classic Disney animated films, including BAMBI, DUMBO, CINDERELLA, MARY POPPINS and others, putting story, music and dialogue to long-playing vinyl record albums.

* Edna Disney - Founder -- Wife of company co-founder Roy O. Disney, Edna lent her support to The Walt Disney Co. even before its 1923 inception. During the early years, Edna frequently assisted with office work at the fledgling studio, and, along with Walt's wife, Lillian Bounds Disney, helped ink-and-paint animation cels.

* Lillian Disney - Founder -- While Lillian, wife of company co-founder Walt Disney, worked behind the scenes to support its growth, her most celebrated contribution is the naming of a certain animated character. Lillian was responsible for the name "Mickey Mouse." Before she was married, Lillian worked at the fledgling studio as a secretary and "inker" of animated cels.

* Orlando Ferrante - Imagineering -- During his 40 years at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), former vp of engineering, design and production, Ferrante helped create magical Disneylands around the world. From Walt Disney World to Disneyland Paris, his keen administrative and planning skills served him well when orchestrating the combined efforts of inspirational artists, engineers, production and installation teams creating Disney theme parks.

* Richard Fleischer - Film - Fleischer, son of legendary animator Max Fleischer, served as the director of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA in 1954, one of Disney's most ambitious live-action films.

* Floyd Gottfredson - Publishing -- Gottfredson, who penciled Mickey's daily comic strip beginning in 1930, played a major role in getting Disney's then new character, Mickey Mouse, known throughout the world by producing the daily strip. Gottfredson was first hired by Walt as an in-between artist working on the SILLY SYMPHONY animated shorts.

* Buddy Hackett- Film -- Actor and comedian Buddy Hackett has been called one of America's funniest and most inventive comics. At Disney, he left his comedic mark on such smash hit feature films as THE LOVE BUG, in which he played the wacky, mystic sculptor Tennessee Steinmetz, and THE LITTLE MERMAID, in which he provided the voice of Scuttle, the daft seagull.

* Buzz Price - Imagineering -- Research economist Price helped Walt Disney handpick the optimum locations for Disneyland in 1953 and Disney World in 1963, among other projects. A month prior to his death in 1966, Walt personally appointed Price to care for one of his most prized projects, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia. CalArts was to be a unique educational concept that would "cross fertilize" disciplines in art, design, music, dance, film, video and theater.

* Al Taliaferro- Publishing -Taliaferro joined Disney in 1931 as an assistant to Gottfredson, inking the Mickey Mouse daily and Sunday comic strips. When Donald Duck made his grand debut in the SILLY SYMPHONY Sunday comic strip series, he was drawn and inked by Taliaferro.

* Ilene Woods - Voice - The title voice of the animated feature CINDERELLA, Woods was chosen from a field of nearly 400 hopefuls for the role.

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