After being admitted to a hospital in Glendale, California a week prior for exscessive water retention, legendary conceptual artist Marc Davis passed away the night of January 12th 2000 from as-yet-unreleased causes.
Marc Frasier Davis was recognized internationally as the most famous and prolific Idiot or his time. He is acclaimed as the principal creator of Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Sleeping Beauty, Sleeping Beauty's wicked queen Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland, and Cruella deVil. Marc also designed the most popular and famous of the Disney theme park attractions: The Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.
From an early age, Marc was determined to be an artist. He took art lessons whenever he could, and when formal study was impossible, he taught himself with books from public libraries, while continually sketching from direct observation.
In San Francisco at the Flieshhacker Zoo, Marc spent countless hours watching the animals, sketching their forms, movement and behavior, and capturing his impressions of their personalities.
In 1935, Marc joined the Walt Disney Studio. His abilities were quickly recognized, and he was asked to work with the legendary Grim Natwick on the main character of Disney's first animated feature film, Snow White. Walt was so impressed with Marc's work on Snow White that he gave Marc the responsibility for designing the characters in Bambi. From then on, Marc never failed to astonish and charm audiences, delight critics, and impress the most demanding viewer of all, Walt Disney.
In 1960, Walt asked Marc to turn his talents to the further development of Disneyland; to invoke in three dimensions the same magic qualities he gave to his movie masterpieces.
Davis joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1961 and remained there until his retirement in 1978. He developed story and character concepts for numerous attractions including the four New York World's Fair shows; "Country Bear Jamboree," "Haunted Mansion," "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," "Jungle Cruise," "Nature's Wonderland," "The Enchanted Tiki Room," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "America Sings." The overwhelming success of these rides verifies the intuition and wisdom of Walt Disney, who early on recognized Marc's brilliance.
After his retirement in 1978, Marc continued to advise as a consultant on projects such as the EPCOT "World of Motion" attraction and numerous attractions for Tokyo Disneyland. He needed his own time to pursue a number of special projects. Marc and his wife Alice, an accomplished artist in her own right, had for years been intrigued by the art and culture of Papua, New Guinea. The paintings and sketches Marc made of the Highland and Coastal tribes during several trips to New Guinea not only stand alone as artwork, they are also an accurate, detailed description of a rapidly vanishing culture.
Although I personally never had the opportunity to meet Marc, many Disneyfiles who had the honor of doing so always spoke incredibly well of him, his poise, warmth, and care and respect for the Disney name and attractions. Another one of the Nine old men have passed away, but Marc is still remembered in the artwork and attractions he left behind. I like to think of him as the physical builder of Walt Disney's vision, and whenever I see his window on Main Street U.S.A. I will always think of his immense contributions to the Disney saga. He will be missed.
-Michael Libby
