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May 15
1908:
Illustrator/writer & Disney Legend Joe Grant is born in New York City. He will become interested in drawing while watching his father (an art director for William Randolph Hearst's newspapers) illustrate. In 1933, Walt Disney will discover Grant through his celebrity caricatures in the Los Angeles Record and invite him to design the movie star caricatures in the cartoon Mickey's Gala Premiere. Grant will go on to work on such classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo and Pocahontas.
1952:
Actor Chazz Palminteri, the voice of Buster in Disney's 2001 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, is born in New York City.
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May 16
1872:
Actor Taylor Holmes - the voice of King Stefan in Disney's 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty - is born in Newark, New Jersey.
1961:
Kevin McDonald, the voice of Pleakley in Disney's 2002 Lilo & Stitch, is born Montreal, Canada. He also appears in the 2005 live-action feature Sky High, as Mr. Medulla. (Comedy fans may remember him as a member of the Canadian troupe - Kids In The Hall.)
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May 17
1950:
Howard Ashman - award-winning lyricist for the Disney films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin - is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1955:
Actor Bill Paxton, the director of Disney's 2005 The Greatest Game Ever Played, is born in Fort Worth, Texas.
2005:
Walt Disney Records releases "Best of The Muppets featuring The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" from the upcoming The Muppets' Wizard of Oz television movie. (This is the Muppets' first major album release since the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004.)
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May 18
1941:
Miriam Margolyes - the voice of the Matchmaker in Disney's 1998 Mulan and The Glowworm/Aunt Sponge in Disney's 1996 James and the Giant Peach - is born in England. (She also lent her voice to films like Babe: Pig in the City and Cats & Dogs.)
2004:
"Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" - a collection of Mickey Mouse statues first displayed in Walt Disney World last November 2003 - begins a U.S. tour.
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May 19
1906:
Voice actor/sound effects man & creator of hundreds of one-of-a-kind gadgets and props, James Macdonald is born in Dundee, Scotland. (Yes, he spells his last name with a small "d"!) While playing drums and percussion with a band for the Dollar Steamship Lines in 1934, Macdonald will be called to the Disney Studios to record music for a Mickey Mouse cartoon. His impeccable timing and talent will earn him a permanent position to form the sound department at the studio. In 1946, Walt Disney will personally select Macdonald to take over the voice of Mickey Mouse. His many Disney credits will include Mickey and the Beanstalk and the TV series House of Mouse as well as the animated classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland.
1941:
Mouseketeer Bobby Burgess is born in Long Beach, California. He will audition 5 times before finally being chosen as a member of The Mickey Mouse Club. Fans of The Lawrence Welk Show will recognize him as half the dancing duo Bobby & Barbara.
2006:
The first Star Wars Weekend of the 2006 season kicks off at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.
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May 20
1949:
Actor/writer Dave Thomas - the voice of Tuke in Disney's Brother Bear and Brother Bear II - is born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. (Comedy fans will remember him from Second City TV.)
1958:
Actress Judy Kuhn - the singing voice of Pocahontas in Pocahontas and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World - is born in New York City.
1960:
Actor Tony Goldwyn - the voice of Tarzan in Tarzan and Tarzan Untamed - is born in Los Angeles, California.
2005:
The first of four Star Wars Weekends takes place at Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios theme park.
The Wonderful World of Disney airs "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" on ABC-TV.
The U.S. Postal Service issues a 37-cent stamp featuring Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Hall (the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic). The stamp is part of a series titled "Masterworks of Modern Architecture."
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May 21
1928:
Walt Disney's trademark application for "Mickey Mouse" is filed with the United States Patent Office.
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May 22
1915:
Writer, cartoonist & animator George Baker is born in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1937, Baker will go out to Hollywood to work for Disney. For the next 4 years, he will work on virtually all of Disney's well-known pictures, including Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo. In June 1941 he will be inducted into the army where he'll create the comic strip "The Sad Sack." (At the end of the war, the U.S. Army will create an advertising campaign with the phrase: "Don't be a Sad Sack, re-enlist in the Regular Army.") After the war Baker will transform the Sad Sack army cartoon into a syndicated comic strip and a long-lived comic book series.
2001:
Six cast members from the New York City production of The Lion Kingtake part in the grand dedication ceremony for Walt Disney World's newest resort, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (which opened April 16). The cast performs the musical's signature song, "Circle of Life'' in the grand lobby of the African-themed hotel.
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May 23
1911:
Paula Winslowe, the voice of Bambi's Mother in the 1942 Disney classic Bambi, is born.
1969:
At Disneyland, 100 Volkswagen Beetles parade down Main Street to celebrate Love Bug Day.
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May 24
1991:
Disney's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, starring Gabrielle Anwar and Cliff Roberston, is released.
1998:
Sixties teen idol Peter Noone performs at Epcot - for the first of a two-day engagement - as part of the Flower Power concert series.
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May 25
1908:
Actress Barbara Luddy, the voice of many Disney animated characters - such as Kanga in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty and Lady in Lady and the Tramp - is born in Great Falls, Montana.
1944:
Puppeteer, actor and film director Frank Oz is born Richard Frank Oznowicz in Hereford, England. He is the voice of Fungus in the 2001 animated release Monsters, Inc. (Star Wars fans will know him as the Jedi Master Yoda.)
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May 26
1915:
Character actor Sam Edwards is born in Macon, Georgia. His Disney voice credits include adult Thumper for the animated feature Bambi and Ollie the Owl for the America Sings attraction. Edwards also appears in the live-action film Escape to Witch Mountain and various episodes of the Disneyland television series.
1920:
Singing legend Peggy Lee, the voice of many of the characters in Disney's 1955 animated feature Lady and the Tramp, is born in Jamestown, North Dakota.
1962:
Comedian Bob Goldthwait, the voice of Pain in Disney's 1997 feature Hercules and the TV series House of Mouse, is born in Syracuse, New York.
2006:
Disney/Pixar's Cars stages its world premiere at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip, and others from the voice cast of the film are joined by a host of stars from the racing world.
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May 27
1879:
Actress Lucile Watson - Miss Doshy in Disney's 1946 Song of the South - is born in Quebec, Canada.
1911:
Legendary actor & writer Vincent Price - the voice of Professor Ratigan in Disney's 1986 release The Great Mouse Detective - is born in St. Louis, Missouri.
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May 28
2005:
The Disney Magic is welcomed to the west coast during a ceremony at San Pedro, California.
2006:
Ashley Brown gives her final performance as Belle in Disney's Broadway hit Beauty and the Beast. She has been cast in the title role of the forthcoming Disney/Cameron Mackintosh musical Mary Poppins.
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May 29
1889:
Don Brodie - the voice of Barker in the 1940 Disney classic Pinocchio - is born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1903:
Legendary comedian-actor and entertainer Bob Hope is born in England. In 1965, he will appear on the television special Jack Benny Visits Walt Disney. In 1971 Hope will take part in NBC-TV's Grand Opening of Walt Disney World spouting such comedic quips as: "This is the biggest vacation-entertainment complex in the world. And to think it all started with a gentle mouse, a bad-tempered duck and seven mixed-up dwarfs. It's a fantastic achievement. They took a swamp and turned it into a Magic Kingdom. It wasn't easy. Have you ever tried to relocate 8,000 angry alligators?" He will later be a guest on NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of WDW. Bwana Bob's a small, freestanding store in Walt Disney World's Adventureland (originally called the Adventureland Kiosk) is a tribute to Hope.
1906:
Author Terence Hanbury White (also known as T. H. White) is born in Bombay, India. One of his most memorable stories "The Sword in the Stone" will be the inspiration for Disney's 1963 animated feature The Sword in the Stone.
1953:
Composer Danny Elfman is born in Amarillo, Texas. His unqiue music can be heard in such Disney-related films as the 1997 Flubber, the 1993 Nightmare Before Christmas, and the 1990 Di ck Tracy.
