The Walt Disney Co. Celebrates 75thAnniversary.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 1998--

Roy Disney and 18 Others Receive Disney Legends Award;

Company Dedicates New Frank G. Wells Building;

Disney Launches Weekend of Worldwide Volunteerism

The Walt Disney Co. celebrated its 75th anniversary Friday

In commemoration of the occasion, the company also launched the Disney VoluntEARS Global Celebration of Children, a weekend of worldwide volunteerism.

In a surprise presentation made at the newly unveiled Disney Legends Plaza at the company's headquarters, Disney Chairman and CEO Michael D. Eisner presented Disney Vice Chairman Roy E. Disney with the prestigious Disney Legends Award. The annual award, established in 1987, honors individuals whose work has made a significant and lasting impact on the Disney legacy.

"It's a real pleasure to recognize the important and meaningful work of Roy Disney with our company's highest honor -- the Disney Legends Award," Eisner said. "It's an especially exciting way to celebrate our company's 75th anniversary and kick-off the Disney VoluntEARS Global Celebration of Children, our corporate commitment to helping needy children around the world."

"It's hard to believe it has been 75 years since my uncle and my dad, Walt and Roy Disney, opened their little cartoon studio," said Disney. "Their dreams, their dedication, their hard work, along with the collaboration of thousands of artists and artisans, have created a very special world in which the child in each of us can be amused, entertained and, above all, comforted."

The two-foot-tall sculpted bronze Disney Legends Award signifies imagination, creativity and magic. Friday's award recipients included: Actors Kathryn Beaumont ("Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan"), Virginia Davis (at the age of 4 1/2, Davis was Disney's first star in the "Alice Comedies"), Dick Van Dyke ("Mary Poppins"), Glynis Johns ("Mary Poppins"), Hayley Mills ("Pollyana," "Summer Magic," the original "Parent Trap") and Kurt Russell ("Follow Me Boys," "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes," "The Barefoot Executive").

Awards were also presented to animation and film editors Lloyd Richardson and Norman Palmer; former corporate treasurer Don Escen; motion picture directors Larry Lansburgh and Paul Kenworthy; and Buddy Baker (composer of more than 200 film, television and theme park scores).

Posthumous Legends Awards were presented to James Algar, producer-writer-director of the Academy Award-winning "True Life Adventures"; Vladimir "Bill" Tytla, animator; Wilfred Jackson, animation director; Al and Elma Milotte, wildlife photographers; Ben Sharpsteen, production supervisor; and Kay Kamen, licensing and merchandise tie-ins creator.

All attending honorees placed their hand prints and signatures in a special mold that will be bronzed for display in the new Disney Legends Plaza at The Walt Disney Studios. The plaza also features a 14-foot enlargement of the bronze award sculpted by former Imagineer Andrea Favilli in Pietrasanta, Italy.

Ninety-one Disney Legends Awards have been presented since the program's inception in 1987. Previous honorees attending this year's ceremony included X Atencio, Wally Boag, Fulton Burley, Marc Davis, Peter Ellenshaw, Van France, Annette Funicello, Betty Lou Gerson, Blaine Gibson, Joe Grant, John Hench, Ollie Johnston, Dean Jones, Ward Kimball, Angela Lansbury, Jack Linquist, Irving Ludwig, Bill Martin, Sam McKim, Bob Moore, Fess Parker, Richard Sherman, Robert Sherman, Betty Taylor-Brewer, Frank Thomas and Card Walker.

In a separate ceremony, Eisner and Luanne Wells, widow of former Disney president Frank G. Wells, dedicated the new Frank G. Wells Building. The building was designed by world-renowned architect Robert Venturi.

In honor of the 75th anniversary, Disney Channel will cablecast the rarely seen early works of Walt Disney. Before Mickey Mouse made his splash on the silver screen with 1928's "Steamboat Willie," Walt Disney created a cartoon series called the "Alice Comedies." When Walt signed the contract to produce the Alice cartoons on Oct. 16, 1923, he officially established The Disney Brothers Studios, which evolved into The Walt Disney Co.

Disney's longtime commitment to volunteerism will broaden this weekend to include Disney's theme parks and resorts and more than 233 of the company's offices and stores in 20 countries on five continents around the globe. More than 17,800 participants in the Disney VoluntEARS Global Celebration of Children plan to reach 75,000 needy children by hosting and supporting volunteer and fund-raising projects in their local communities.