Donald Iwerks, the Disney camera technician and co-founder of Iwerks entertainment, died July 9. He was 96.
‘Moana’: Lin-Manuel Miranda on Writing the Song ‘Along The Way’ in a Week and Being in the Oscar Race With Taylor SwiftIwerks spent over six deacdes on projects for The Walt Disney Company, along with his own studio, Iwerks Entertainment.
Don pioneered innovations in projection technology, 3D and large-format filmmaking, and immersive attractions that changed how audiences experience stories.
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Those original hand casts became a standard for Disney’s Audio-Animatronics figures, earning the nickname the “Iwerks Hands” and appearing on many similar figures in Disney parks around the world. Born on July 24, 1929, Iwerks grew up in Southern California in a family where imagination and invention were woven into everyday life. As the eldest son of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks and Mildred Iwerks, he inherited his father’s inventive spirit. In 1952, he transferred to the famed Studio Machine Shop.
There, working alongside his father, the self-taught engineer helped develop cameras, optical printers, special effects systems, and innovations that would shape Disney films, attractions, and theme parks for generations, from the original Circle-Vision camera system, refinements to the sodium traveling matte process used in “Mary Poppins” and numerous projection technologies for Disney attractions around the world. He co-founded Iwerks Entertainment with former Disney executive Stan Kinsey.
Under his technical leadership, the company became a global pioneer in giant-screen theaters, motion simulators, and immersive 3D experiences installed in nearly 300 venues across 38 countries, introducing millions of people to new ways of experiencing stories. His work earned Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ honorary Gordon E. Sawyer Award Oscar, a Academy Scientific and Technical Award, the Themed Entertainment Association Lifetime Achievement Award, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and recognition as a Disney Legend in 2009.
He and his father were further honored with a dedicated Main Street, U.S.A. window at in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort, celebrating their lasting contributions to Disney storytelling and innovation.
In 2007, Diane Disney Miller entrusted him with restoring many of Disney’s historic camera systems for exhibition at The Walt Disney Family Museum, including the Multiplane camera, the original Circle-Vision camera rig, the underwater cameras from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and the optical printer and Technicolor camera used to combine live-action and animation inAt age 90, he wrote the biography, “Walt Disney’s Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks,” published by Disney Editions in 2019, preserving his father’s legacy as the co-creator of Mickey Mouse and one of motion picture history’s greatest technical innovators.
Iwerks is survived by his beloved wife of 54 years, Betty; his sons, Larry, John and wife Chris, and his daughter, Leslie and great nephew Mike. George MacKay on Learning to Fish With Callum Turner for Time Travel Movie ‘Rose of Nevada’ and Why He’d Rather Play a Bond Villain: You ‘Get the Best Scenes and Then Get Killed! ’
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