August 13 - Tony Jay

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On this day, in 2006, Tony Jay passed away in Los Angeles, California. Born in London, England on February 2, 1933, Tony was always a little theatrical as a kid but he made a conscious choice to go into the real estate business because he believed it was far more financially stable. He did a stint with the Royal Air Force right out of high school, and upon his discharge in 1953, began building a realty company. He would occasionally appear in local amateur productions, but strictly as a hobby. In the mid Sixties, Tony moved his company to South Africa after hearing about the burgeoning market there. The opportunities he found there turned out to have nothing to do with buying and selling property. 

Within a couple of months after arriving on the southern tip of the African continent, Tony and his distinctive voice had been talked into making appearances in South African radio dramas. One of his longest running characters was a blind FBI agent he played on Sounds of Darkness from 1967-1972. The early success of that role convinced Tony to give up real estate and go into acting full time. He began writing and directing scripts as well as acting in them, producing several plays for Springbok Radio, a part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Another role he became famous for was that of New York City cab driver Red Kowalski in Taxi!, which he played from 1969-1972 in South Africa and reprised for three more years starting in 1975, after returning to England. Tony’s final major project in South Africa was directing the first several months of a radio adaptation of a British television series, The Avengers. Part of his adaptation was to create a narrator part to help move the visual series into a world of only sound. The addition worked well enough that the radio show ran for over two years.

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In 1973, Tony returned to his native land and began making appearances on television. He made the usual rounds of BBC mainstays of the time, doing episodes of The Professionals, BBC Shakespeare and played the role of Tsar Nicholas III in the miniseries Fall of Eagles, during which he began his friendship with Patrick Stewart who played Lenin. Tony’s career also expanded onto the stage and the silver screen during this period. He was part of the ensemble in Woody Allen’s Love and Death and had agreed to play a role in a space-opera being developed by George Lucas. Lucas ultimately went with Alec Guinness, though, and Tony missed being Obi Wan Kenobi by that much (he would, however, get to be the voice behind the commercials for Kenner Toys associated with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, not the same but still fun). His stage credits from this period include Chekov’s The Three Sisters, Great Expectations and The Merchant of Venice. He ended his run in Britain as Victor Crummles in an eight and a half hour long Royal Shakespeare production of Nicholas Nickleby.

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Nicholas Nickleby was so well received, that a tour of America was put together for the rarely produced (at over eight hours in length is it any wonder why) show. Tony hinted to his friends that if he didn’t have to come back to England, he wouldn’t. He almost got his wish. His performance in Nickleby earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination during the limited time the show spent on Broadway and accolades in the New York Times. While he did have to return to Britain briefly after the tour ended, he was soon called back to the US for auditions and did indeed relocate permanently.

The project that Tony initially moved for, a pilot for a series called Circus, didn’t make it into actual production, but that didn’t slow his career down. He is perhaps most well known as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mentor, Professor Werner, in Twins but he began to gain traction elsewhere as well. He spent the Eighties and Nineties making guest appearances on television shows like The Golden Girls, Newhart, Murphy Brown and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He enjoyed recurring roles over the years as Paracelcus on CBS’s drama Beauty and the Beast, Dougie Milford on Twin Peaks, and Nigel St. John on Lois and Clark. His career virtually exploded when it came to doing voice work, however.

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What began as an uncredited appearance on The Smurfs, became the bread and butter of Tony’s existence. His mellifluous voice began popping up in all kinds of productions. He was heard in everything from Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates to Evangelical Christian Radio’s Adventures in Odyssey. His recurring roles included Cynan and Baron Alric on The Legend of Prince Valiant, the Chief on 2 Stupid Dogs, Virgil and Norman’s Dad on Mighty Max, Golden Skull on Skeleton Warriors, Galactus and Terrax on Fantastic Four, Lord Dregg during the last two seasons of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chairface Chippendale on The Tick, Overlord on The Savage Dragon, Megabyte on ReBoot and, his final role, Spiderus on Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends, which earned him an Annie Award nomination. And none of that includes his one offs nor have we gotten to his Disney repertoire yet.

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Tony joined the Disney family in 1990 as the new voice of Shere Khan, at that point specifically for the animated series TaleSpin. He would go on to play the villainous tiger in a multitude of other projects, including The Jungle Book 2, episodes of House of Mouse (where he also voiced the Magic Mirror) and several video games. He then popped up on the big screen as Monsieur D’Arque, the creepy asylum owner, in Beauty and the Beast. Tony’s most famous role with Disney is undoubtedly Frollo, the villainous (noticing a pattern here?) judge, in 1996’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His last theatrically released role for the company was as the Narrator in Treasure Planet, but he also made dozens of smaller appearances in Disney television shows including episodes of Darkwing Duck, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Gargoyles, Recess, Timon and Pumbaa, Mickey Mouse Works, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Lloyd in Space, The Legend of Tarzan and 21 episodes as Wraith on The Mighty Ducks.

Tony continued working steadily right on into the 21^st Century, showing no signs of stopping until a tumor was discovered in a lung in April of 2006. Luckily, the biopsy revealed it to be non-cancerous. Unluckily, he suffered complications from its removal and became critically ill as a result of the surgery. The man with the internationally acclaimed golden voice would never recover again and died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center that August. He was 73.

April 25 - Ron Clements

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On this day, in 1953, Ronald Francis Clements was born in Sioux City, Iowa. After graduating from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School, Ron hightailed it to Southern California to become a student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His professional career actually began in 1974 at Hanna-Barbera, but he was only there a few months before getting word that he'd been accepted into Disney's Talent Development Program. At that point, it was goodbye Scooby Doo, hello Mickey Mouse (even though not much animation was being produced with Mickey at that point) and he's never looked back.

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Ron came to Disney at a perfect time. For his first two years, he apprenticed under none other than Frank Thomas, the last of Walt's Nine Old Men to still officially haunt the studios. His first work, totally uncredited of course, made it into Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too. By 1977, Ron was working on his own as a Character Animator, contributing to both Pete's Dragon and The Rescuers. For The Fox and the Hound, he'd been promoted to Supervising Animator and worked with John Musker, a Character Animator on the film, for the first time. Ron and John really hit it off, and became writing collaborators on Disney's next project, The Black Cauldron.

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The Black Cauldron's production process is notorious for its controversies within the company. A growing number of animators were horribly unhappy with the direction the project was taking, Ron and John among them. Only a few years before, Don Bluth had led a walkout of a whole group of employees over the same kind of complaints. Not wanting another mass exodus, Ron and John proposed to then head of the studio Ron Miller that an adaptation of the children's book series Basil of Baker Street be added to the production slate as an 'alternate' movie for staff to work on if they could no longer stomach Cauldron. Miller agreed, putting Jon and and famed storyboard artist Burny Mattinson in the director's chairs and giving Ron the task of adapting the story. When schedules shifted and became a whole lot tighter (mainly after Cauldron tanked), Burny was moved into more of a producer role and Ron became co-director for the first time.

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The Great Mouse Detective opened to positive reviews and financial success. Coming only one year after the disastrous Cauldron, Ron and John's little-movie-that-could literally saved the animation department by convincing the powers that be that they could still generate income (in spite of the fact that they let Vincent Price sing). As Detective was wrapping up production, the new bosses, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, held a meeting with all the animators to generate new ideas for films. Ron brought a two page synopsis of an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid and a quick concept piece about setting Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in space. Eisner rejected both. Within days, however, Katzenberg quietly asked Ron to expand on his treatment of Mermaid, eventually giving Ron and John the green light to write and direct it.

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When The Little Mermaid opened on November 17, 1989, it was a smash hit, earning over $200 million in worldwide box office receipts and ushered in the era that became known as the Disney Renaissance. It also cemented the partnership between Ron and John as a co-directing powerhouse. For their follow-up film, they reworked and resubmitted their idea for a space themed Treasure Island. It was rejected again. Instead they were given the helm of an adaptation of a story from 1001 Arabian Nights called Aladdin.

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The duo struck gold again in November 1992, as Aladdin went on to become the first animated picture to gross over $500 million. For a third time they submitted what was now being called Treasure Planet as their next film and, for the third time, the studio said no, thanks, why don't you two direct this Greek mythology project we're developing. They said fine, but when the time came to sign new contracts during the production of Hercules, they made sure that one of the stipulations was that their science fiction adventure flick was guaranteed to be their next project. Despite mostly positive reviews (and near universal acclaim for James Woods' performance as Hades), Hercules failed to score at the box office like its predecessors, taking in a paltry $253 million. While still a moneymaker, the Disney Renaissance was starting to wind down.

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Following the wrap of production on Hercules, Ron and John finally got to go to work on Treasure Planet, more than a decade after first coming up with the idea. In retrospect, the fact that the movie had been rejected so many times (and that they had to kind of force the studio into making it at all), should have been an omen for everyone involved. Changing the genre of established classics is not only hard but doesn't make people already familiar with the story happy. Treasure Planet opened in November 2002 to tepid reviews and dismal sales. It became the first Disney animated movie since The Black Cauldron to fail to make back its budget. It's not a bad film, but you'd also be hard pressed to call it a good film. The Renaissance was over.

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Ron and John inherited a concept called Fraidy Cat as their next project but the production was fraught with problems. When David Stainton, then president of animation, refused to green light the movie in September 2005, both of the co-directors resigned from the company in protest. The successful duo's absence wouldn't even last a year, though. By the spring of 2006, John Lasseter installed as the new chief creative officer of animation and he asked Ron and John to return to Disney to helm an adaptation of The Frog Princess.

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As the entire industry was embracing fully computer generated animation, Lasseter was willing to give traditional animation another shot. Ron and John were a perfect duo to head 2D animation's last hurrah. Their direction, along with Randy Newman's blend of zydeco and jazz, pushed The Princess and the Frog to the highest box office receipts in years, over $270 million, but still far short of what had been realized during the Renaissance. It didn't help that Princess opened a week after Avatar (Princess is clearly the superior movie, but there really is no accounting for taste). The 2009 film managed to earn four Oscar nominations (getting edged out by Up in most of them) but is, as of right now, the last film put out by a major studio using traditional techniques. Hand drawn animation is over.

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Traditional storytelling, however is not. After The Princess and the Frog, Ron and John became quite secretive about what they were working on. All they would say is yes we're working. After a couple of years of development, they finally came clean about the fact that, yes, they were moving into the realm of computer animation and their next story was inspired by Pacific Island cultures. The movie that came out in November 2016, Moana, became their biggest hit yet. With songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and overwhelmingly positive reviews, Moana brought over $643 million in box office receipts to the table. The directing team was back on top of the animation world.

Since the release of Moana, John Musker, who obviously felt like walking away a huge success was the way to go,  has retired from Disney and the animation business. Ron hasn't made that decision quite yet. Despite the fact that his long time partner in crime has folded up his directing chair, Ron may (or may not) have another epic story in him just crying out to be told. Whether he goes for it or just spends a few more years, like his old mentor Frank did, guiding the new guys at the start of their journeys, Ron has undeniably spent the last 45 years creating the highlights of two generations worth of childhoods.And for that alone, he deserves a tip of the mouse ears. Happy Birthday, Ron!

April 11 - Roscoe Lee Browne

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On this day, in 2007, Roscoe Lee Browne passed away in Los Angeles, California. Roscoe was born on May 2, 1922 in Woodbury, New Jersey (although some sources say it was 1925, Roscoe went on record at least once with the 1922 date). The fourth son of a Baptist preacher, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He served in the United States Army’s 92^nd Infantry Division during World War II, spending most of his tour in Italy. As an amateur runner, Roscoe helped organize the division’s track and field team. After an honorable discharge following the end of the war, he continued his studies at Middlebury College in Vermont and Columbia University in New York City. While he worked on his Master’s degree, he also managed to win the Amateur Athletic Union’s 1000-yard national indoor championship. Twice. From 1946 through the early Fifties, Roscoe moonlighted as a professor at his alma mater, Lincoln University, while at the same time earning a living as a wine salesman for Schenley Import Corporation. I’m not sure how he did that as they mostly dealt in bourbon, but maybe that made his next career move that much easier.

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In 1954, Joseph Papp decided New York City needed its own Shakespeare Festival and began advertising auditions. Roscoe heard about the idea and, since he both studied and taught comparative literature (and was presumably tired of shilling booze), decided he should be a part of it. His friends all decided he was crazy to leave a steady job for the world of the theater. He did it anyways. That first season of what eventually became known as Shakespeare in the Park, Roscoe landed the roles of soothsayer and Pindarus in Julius Caesar. That cemented the end of his steady salesman career and the beginning of a steady stage career.

Roscoe continued working with the Shakespeare Festival Theater and demand quickly grew for his deep, rich voice. His first film role came in 1961, as the off-screen camera man in the experimental movie The Conncection. He appeared in 30 films over the next 35 years and lent his voice to dozens more. Highlights from his big screen career include The Cowboys with John Wayne, Logan’s Run, Jumpin’ Jack Flash with Whoopie Goldberg, and both of the Babe movies (he’s the narrator). Even with such an impressive resume on film, it’s his television career that really made him a household face, if not necessarily a household name.

Roscoe’s first gig on the small screen was as a regular cast member for the 1964 satirical show That Was the Week That Was. A largely lost show (only audio recordings exist of most of its episodes), TW3, as it’s sometimes abbreviated, boasted a large rotating cast including Henry Fonda, Alan Alda, Henry Morgan, Gene Hackman, Woody Allen and Steve Allen. From there the sky was the limit for Roscoe. He guest starred on everything from Mannix to All in the Family to Soap to Law and Order. He also continued doing voice over work on shows like The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: The Animated Series and The Wild Thornberrys. Along the way he earned an Emmy nomination for his appearance on Barney Miller in 1976, an Emmy win for The Cosby Show in 1986, a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Falcon Crest in 1989 and a Daytime Emmy nomination for Spider-Man in 1995.

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Roscoe tried his best not to take on the kind of stereotypical roles traditionally offered to black actors and mostly succeeded. When he couldn’t find the parts he wanted, he created them himself. In 1966, he wrote and directed A Hand Is on the Gate, which was produced off-Broadway and starred Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones. Later he toured the country with Anthony Zerbe, doing a two-man show consisting of comedy bits and poetry written by Roscoe. But his biggest theatrical successes over the decades came when he took roles in the plays of August Wilson, which earned him a Tony nomination in 1992 for Two Trains Running. His smooth voice and perfect diction didn’t always serve him well, though his humor did. During the run of Two Trains, he was accused of having “too white” a voice. His reply? I’m so sorry, I had a white maid once.

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Roscoe joined the Disney family in 1973 when he was cast as Gazenga in The World’s Greatest Athlete. His next contribution wasn’t part of Disneyana at the time, but is now. In 1977, he was asked to narrate a record presenting an abridged version of a movie popular that year directed by George Lucas. The result was The Story of Star Wars and it allowed Roscoe to check 'be on a gold record' off his list. Eleven years later, he provided the voice of Francis in Oliver and Company. Roscoe's final role for the Mouse was as Mr. Arrow in 2002's Treasure Planet.

Roscoe continued to steadily work right up to the end of his life, never giving a second thought to his friends worries about his career. His final performances, on both television and film, premiered after his passing. For all his contributions to the world of theater, Roscoe had been inducted into the Black Filmmaker's Hall of Fame in 1977 and was posthumously included in the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008.

March 26 - Martin Short

On this day, in 1950, Martin Hayter Short was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Martin grew up as the youngest of five children. His mother was concertmistress of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra and encouraged her children’s creativity. His father was an executive at a Canadian steel company and had arrived in Canada as a stowaway fleeing from the Irish War of Independence. His oldest brother died in a car accident in 1962, his mother died from cancer in 1968, his father died from a stroke in 1970 and he himself graduated from McMaster University in 1971 with a degree in social work, so, naturally, Martin ended up in a career in comedy.

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It all started when Martin was cast in a production of Godspell shortly after obtaining his degree (why did he audition? He was a newly minted social worker; he probably needed the money). The list of people he got to work with on that show is impressive: Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin and Paul Schaffer. Godspell led to several roles on Canadian television and then, in 1977, a reteaming with Eugene and Dave when Martin became part of the Toronto branch of the Second City comedy troupe. When the troupe launched their television show, SCTV, Martin was first a writer then joined the on-air cast in 1982, developing characters like Irving Cohen, Jackie Rogers, Jr. and Ed Grimley. When SCTV ended its run in 1984, Martin made the jump, with his stable of characters, to Saturday Night Live for the 1984-85 season, giving the show some much needed new blood. The year on SNL in turn gave Martin some much needed exposure and helped launch a successful film career.

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His film debut had actually occurred in 1979 in Lost and Found but, apparently, if you’ve ever had the misfortune to see that picture, you know why he wasn’t in another one until 1986. Starting with Three Amigos, he enjoyed a string of mild successes, working with the likes of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (Innerspace), Danny Glover (Pure Luck) and Jack Nicholson (Mars Attacks!). He also became a frequent voice actor, doing films like The Pebble and the Penguin, The Prince of Egypt and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

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The Nineties saw Martin returning to live theater, this time on Broadway. In 1993, he took the lead in a musical version of Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl earning a Tony nomination and winning an Outer Circle Critics Award. In 1999, he lead a production of Simon’s Little Me, again getting Tony and Outer Circle Critic nods, except this time he won both.

Martin is no stranger to Disney projects. He’s done several Touchstone Pictures productions including Three Fugitives with Nick Nolte, Father of the Bride (and its sequel) with Steve Martin, Mumford with Loren Dean and Captain Ron with Kurt Russell.  Under the Walt Disney Pictures brand, he’s been in the 2012 version of Frankenweenie, Jungle 2 Jungle and The Santa Clause 3 (the last two were both with Tim Allen). Martin lent his voice to B.E.N., the robot who lost his mind, in Treasure Planet and to Lars in 101 Dalmatians II. His most enduring legacy with the company though has come through the medium of theme park attractions. For 15 years he was featured in the short film about the history of movies, CineMagique, which played in Disneyland Paris from 2002-2017. For 18 years, he starred in the movie The Making of Me, which taught guests about human reproduction in the Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot from 1989-2007. And, since 2007, he can be seen as host of the Circle-Vision movie, O Canada!, that plays in the Canadian pavilion.

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On a more serious note, Martin’s wife, Canadian actress Nancy Dolman (they met way back during Godspell and married in 1980), passed away from ovarian cancer in August 2010. Since then he has included tributes to her in his one man show (he actually does an impression of her) and actively campaigns for the Women’s Research Cancer Fund on her behalf. He’s also raised funds for Loyola High School in Los Angeles and is a member of a Canadian charity, Artists Against Racism.

In more recent years, Martin has taken to the stage again. He appeared in a Los Angeles production of The Producers as Leo Bloom, a role Mel Brooks had asked him to originate on Broadway but he ultimately had to pass on. His one man show, that utilizes many of the characters he’s created over the years, is sometimes called Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me (it also goes under the names Stroke Me Lady Luck and If I’d Saved, I Wouldn’t Be Here). It spent a year on Broadway and continues to tour the country. In his spare time, Martin also helps design commemorative Canadian coins (no really; a 2013 $3 coin featured an image of his lake house). And he has finished recording his parts for an upcoming animated movie, The Willoughbys, which will be distributed through Netflix sometime later this year.

November 27 - Treasure Planet

On this day, in 2002, Walt Disney Pictures' 43rd animated feature, Treasure Planet, opened in theaters. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, of The Little Mermaid and Moana fame, Treasure Planet is one of the few box office flops in Disney's animated catalog. On a budget of 140 million dollars, the film only managed to take in 38 million in the US and limped over 100 million worldwide. The only other modern animated Disney films to not gross at least what they cost to make are The Black Cauldron and Home on the Range. Treasure Planet, while not great, is a far superior film in my opinion than those two. So what went wrong? As it turns out, several things.

The first problem Ron and John encountered was the whole idea of the picture itself. They first pitched Planet at the same time they pitched The Little Mermaid. Their plan to move Treasure Island from the high seas into space seemed natural enough. Adventure is adventure no matter where it takes place, right? It turns out that changing the genre of an established story is really difficult. Ron also felt that the outer space of this movie had to be a warm, inviting place, containing lots of life instead of the usual cold, vacuum of most science fiction. Since space suits would get in the way of characterizations, they invented the Etherium, an atmosphere filled void, to eliminate them. All of this proved to be too much for audiences to swallow.

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Perhaps the biggest misstep Ron and John made, though, was in making Jim Hawkins older. The original story involves a young boy getting into real danger and having to match wits with adults. It's a classic trope that is still very much in use today. As one critic put it, we are much less amazed by the petulant, umimpressive teen that Jim became.

One place the studio didn't hurt themselves was the voice cast. David Hyde Pierce and Emma Thompson signed on to the project pretty early. Martin Short, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray and Laurie Metcalf all came aboard as production continued. One of the things that gives Treasure Planet its own distinction is the fact that it was the first animated film to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX formats. In the end, however, neither of these things helped.

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Not to say that all the reviews were negative. Planet enjoys a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Most critics said that, yes, the characters aren't as strong as Disney usually provides but the film is visually beautiful. Unfortunately, initial audiences clearly didn't care for it. Planet did manage to get an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in spite of that. Since its release, Treasure Planet has slowly gained a fan base and become something of a cult classic. I think it is a film worth checking out. It's probably not going to become a favorite for most people, but it definitely deserves more recognition than it gets.