Jack Kirby and Stan Lee join Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Oprah Winfrey and more as Disney Legends.
Every two years, at the biennial D23 Expo, The Walt Disney Company honors the most remarkable contributors to the Disney legacy, recognizing them as official Disney Legends. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Disney Legends Awards. The first Disney Legend was Fred MacMurray (The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire), who was honored in 1987. Today Disney proudly announced the names of the nine gifted individuals who will be joining past Disney Legends such as Julie Andrews, George Lucas, Alan Menken, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Walters and Robin Williams.
Founding fathers of the Marvel Universe Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were honored this past weekend along with the following honorees of this year’s Legends Award: Carrie Fisher, Clyde “Gerry” Geronimi, Manuel Gonzales, Mark Hamill, Garry Marshall, Julie Taymor, and Oprah Winfrey.
Pioneering comic creator Jack Kirby, known as “the King,” created new characters who leapt from the page and defined the Marvel comic style. His son, Neal, represented his late father and said he “didn’t create super heroes or super humans. He created super people.” Neal accepted the Disney Legends Award at the D23 Expo on his father’s behalf. Watch the video above.
Stan Lee was honored for his remarkable accomplishments over his enduring career with a Disney Legends Award at D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA. Watch Stan accept his Legends Award below.
A visibly moved Stan Lee shared with the crowd how much it meant to him to save up to buy the book The Art of Walt Disney. He explained, “I loved Walt Disney. He was more than a man, he was an inspiration. He was something to reach for, to be like him. To think that today I’m standing here in the house that Disney built, that paid tribute to Jack [Kirby] and all things Disney—it is so thrilling, I can’t tell you.”
For more information about the Disney Legends and D23 Expo, visit D23expo.com.
via Marvel.com
