Disney Legend Don Iwerks died the evening of July 9 at age 96, closing a career that tied Disney film technology to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, EPCOT, Captain EO, and Star Tours.
Iwerks joined Walt Disney Productions in 1950 and moved into the Studio Machine Shop in 1953 after military service. His Disney work later included camera systems, projection systems, technical engineering, and large-format film equipment.
Circle-Vision and Disney Parks
Iwerks helped develop the 360-degree Circle-Vision camera first used for Circarama, U.S.A. when Disneyland opened in 1955. America the Beautiful later played at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, with later Circle-Vision 360 versions appearing at EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.
His attraction work also reached Captain EO and Star Tours. Iwerks engineered 3-D film and theater effects for Captain EO and built the projection system for the first Star Tours attraction.
Disney Legend and Main Street Window
Iwerks received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Gordon E. Sawyer Award in 1997 for motion-picture technology work. Disney named him a Disney Legend at the inaugural D23 Expo in 2009.
Don and his father, Ub Iwerks, also share a Main Street, U.S.A. window at Magic Kingdom. The window reads "Iwerks-Iwerks Stereoscopic Cameras," a small Florida tribute to a family that helped define Disney animation, film, and attraction technology.
Source: The Walt Disney Company remembrance of Don Iwerks.
Images: The Walt Disney Company.