There are Disney names everyone knows. Walt, obviously. Then there are the names that built the magic from behind the curtain, and this week we lost one of the biggest.
Don Iwerks passed away on the evening of July 9 at the age of 96. Disney confirmed the news the following day, and honestly, it hit harder than I expected. If you’ve ever stood in the middle of a Circle-Vision theater and felt like the whole world was wrapping around you, that was Don.
Yes, That Iwerks
Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first. If the last name rings a bell, it’s because his dad was Ub Iwerks, the animator who helped create Mickey Mouse. Talk about growing up with big shoes to fill.
But Don didn’t try to be his father. He found his own lane. He joined Disney in 1950 as a technician, put his career on pause for two years to serve in the Army during the Korean War, then came back and basically never stopped building things. By 1953, he was working in the studio’s Machine Shop, and one of his first big projects was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Not a bad way to start.
He would end up spending 35 years at Disney, eventually running the entire Technical Engineering and Manufacturing Division. The man was the definition of a company legend, and eventually Disney made it official by naming him a Disney Legend at the very first D23 Expo back in 2009.
The Disney Attraction You’ve Definitely Experienced
Here’s where it gets personal for parks fans. Don helped develop the Circle-Vision camera system, the 360 degree film technology that debuted at Disneyland on opening day in 1955 under the name Circarama. The first film was shot on eleven synchronized 16mm cameras, which is a wild feat of engineering for the 1950s.
That technology went on to have a long, beautiful life. America the Beautiful played at Disneyland for 17 years. Updated versions of Circle-Vision 360 landed at EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Next time you’re in World Showcase catching the films in the China or Canada pavilions, take a second and think of Don. His work also touched Captain EO, the projection system for Star Tours, and the 1964 World’s Fair.
He always said EPCOT and the World’s Fair were the proudest moments of his career. Considering everything he did, that says a lot about how special those projects were.
Oh, and He Helped Make Mary Poppins Possible
As if the park’s resume wasn’t enough, Don worked alongside his father to refine the sodium vapor process, the camera trickery that let Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke dance through animated worlds in Mary Poppins. That jolly holiday with Mary? Don helped make it real. Or as real as dancing with cartoon penguins can be.
The film industry noticed too. In 1997 the Academy gave him the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for his contributions to film technology.
A Disney Legacy Written in Windows
My favorite detail in all of this is that Don and his father share a window on Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom. It reads Iwerks-Iwerks Stereoscopic Cameras. Two generations of Disney magic, honored side by side. Their handprints sit together at Legends Plaza in Burbank, too.
Don is survived by Betty, his wife of 54 years, his sons John and Larry, and his daughter Leslie Iwerks, the documentary filmmaker who has spent her own career telling Disney stories. He was preceded in death by his daughter Tamara.
Rest easy, Don. The world you helped build still surrounds us, literally, in 360 degrees.
