2024 Disney Legends include Joe Rohde, John Williams, Angela Bassett, and Harrison Ford

The 2024 Disney Legends ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2024, the final day of D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, Calif. Ryan Seacrest will host the ceremony, which will feature tributes to each of the honorees, as well as special guests and performances.

What is a Disney Legend?

The Disney Legends Awards is a 37-year Disney tradition, with the first award bestowed on Fred MacMurray (“The Shaggy Dog,” “The Absent-Minded Professor,” “The Happiest Millionaire”) in 1987.

The Disney Legends Award honors artists and visionaries throughout the company’s history who have pushed the envelope of creativity challenged conventional wisdom and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.

“To be named a Disney Legend is the highest honor our company can bestow on anyone, reserved for those whose talent and achievement have earned them an enduring place in our history,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “The fourteen individuals to be honored as Disney Legends this year have each made extraordinary creative contributions across the worlds of Disney and we look forward to celebrating them at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.”

Including this year’s honorees, 318 Disney Legends have been named. Past Disney Legends include Dame Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman, Annette Funicello, Sir Elton John, Dame Angela Lansbury, George Lucas, Alan Menken, Marty Sklar, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, and Robin Williams, among many others.

The 2024 Disney Legends Award honorees (listed alphabetically) are:

Costume designer Colleen Atwood has been nominated for a dozen Academy Awards and won four Oscars, including for her work on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” (2010).

Born in Ellensburg, Wash., Colleen briefly studied painting, but her strong visual style enabled her to get a job as a fashion advisor in high fashion retail at designer boutiques. Through that world, Colleen was offered an unexpected opportunity to be a production assistant in the art department on “Ragtime” (1981). In New York, Colleen was fortunate enough to align with many New York filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, Michael Apted, and Michael Mann. Colleen was introduced to filmmaker Tim Burton—and soon would be Burton’s go-to costume designer. Their first film together, “Edward Scissorhands,” was the first of 12 Burton movies she designed costumes for, including Disney’s live-action reimagining of “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) and “Dumbo” (2019). The upcoming “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024) will mark the creative duo’s 13th collaboration. Many of the 50+ films and TV series she has costumed center on visually stunning imaginary environments that call for “world-building,” and Colleen’s ability to blend genres in character costuming has enabled her work in such fantastic films as “Planet of the Apes” (2001), “Into the Woods” (2014), “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (2016), “Lady and the Tramp” (2019), and “The Little Mermaid” (2023).

Actor Angela Bassett has commanded the screen, from her breakout role as single mother Reva Devereaux in John Singleton’s “Boyz n the Hood” (1991) to her portrayal of fierce Queen Ramonda of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther films.

Born in New York City, Angela she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in African American Studies from Yale in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in 1983. In 1988, she moved to Los Angeles. Angela has portrayed many real-life characters, including Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks; however, it was her powerful portrayal of Tina Turner in Touchstone Pictures’ “What’s Love Got to Do with It” (1993) that earned her numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actress, making her the first Black performer to win in this category. She received two Emmy nominations for outstanding narrator for National Geographic’s “The Flood” (2018) and the Disney+ docuseries “The Imagineering Story” (2019), and was nominated for her second Academy Award, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category, for the role of Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022). She is also the star and executive producer of the hit drama 9-1-1, voiced Dorothea Williams in Disney and Pixar’s Academy Award-winning animated feature “Soul” (2020), and received an Honorary Academy Award in 2024.

As the first permanent full-time Black Tour Guide, Martha Blanding personifies Walt Disney’s philosophy of creating happiness for others while embodying the principles of hospitality and courtesy he sought to establish for Disneyland Cast Members.

After being hired as a Tour Guide, Martha quickly climbed the ladder to become a VIP Hostess and became the first-ever Black woman in management at Disneyland, first as an expert merchandise, candy, and film buyer for 16 years and later as the senior manager of Disneyland Resort Merchandise Special Events, a role in which she worked with world-renowned artisans, celebrities, and Disney Legends. Martha was considered among the few pioneering producers of the Official Disneyana Convention, a forerunner of today’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. A co-founder of PULSE, a business employee resource group for Black Disneyland Cast Members, Martha was a trusted mentor to fellow employees. Adding to the many “firsts” during her career before retiring in 2022, Martha was the first Black Cast Member to commemorate 50 years with the Disneyland Resort and now becomes the first Black Disney Parks employee designated a Disney Legend.

Acclaimed for character-driven, writer-centric projects that combine comedy and poignancy, filmmaker James L. Brooks is responsible for some of the most beloved television shows and movies of all time, including “Terms of Endearment” (1983), his directorial debut for which he won three Oscars for writing, producing, and directing.

Growing up in New Jersey, James began his career as a writer for CBS News in New York. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1965, a chance meeting with established writer Allan Burns led to his writing for television comedies, and before long, James created the groundbreaking ABC series “Room 222”in 1969, followed by “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1970 and “Taxi” in 1978. In 1986, James founded Gracie Films, where his team are trailblazers in television. At James’ invitation, Matt Groening created animated “bumpers” for “The Tracey Ullman Show” featuring a dysfunctional family, which led to a full-fledged animated series—the first since the 1960s—”The Simpsons,” in 1989. The longest-running primetime scripted show in television history, “The Simpsons” is currently in its 35th season and has won 37 Emmy Awards. James also co-produced and co-wrote “The Simpsons Movie” in 2007 and continues to serve as executive producer of the series. Brooks is currently working on his next feature film “Ella McCay,” with an all-star cast that includes fellow 2024 Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis.

Acclaimed filmmaker, ocean explorer, and environmental advocate James Cameron is responsible for some of the world’s most memorable films, including “The Terminator” (1984), “Aliens” (1986), “Titanic” (1997), “Avatar” (2009), and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022). The latter three are among the four highest-grossing films of all time.

Teaming with Walt Disney Imagineering in 2011, James helped steer the creation of Pandora – The World of Avatar in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The result is an area that immerses guests in an interactive environment and brings the world of the film series to life, including through the Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. Under his Earthship Productions banner, James has produced 12 documentaries, including six about Titanic and three other deep ocean exploration films, most in partnership with National Geographic. He also executive produces National Geographic’s Secrets series, including the Emmy Award-winning “Secrets of the Whales”and Emmy-nominated “Secrets of the Elephants,” with “Octopus”launching on Earth Day 2024. He also executive produced the OceanXplorers series, due in Fall 2024, from National Geographic. James is currently in post-production on the third Avatar movie and pre-production on the 4^th and 5^th.

From “Halloween” scream queen to “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis has a career spanning over four decades.

Born in Santa Monica, Calif., to Hollywood stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis planned a career in law enforcement until an acting manager suggested she try auditioning. To her surprise, she was signed to a contract at Universal, one of the last performers to be so engaged. She was later cast as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s classic “Halloween” (1978), followed by a variety of roles, including suburban housewife-turned-international-spy Helen Tasker in “True Lies” (1994) and no-nonsense mom Tess Coleman in Disney’s remake of the classic body-swap comedy “Freaky Friday” (2003). In 2023, Jamie Lee returned to both Disney and the macabre genre to portray the legendary Madame Leota in “Haunted Mansion,” inspired by the classic Disneyland attraction. For her many performances, Jamie Lee has received a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globes, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy and a Grammy. Most recently, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022).

Award-winning superstar singer, songwriter, and actress Miley Cyrus rose to fame on the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana,” which premiered in March 2006 to the largest audience for a Disney Channel Original Series. A 2007 episode still ranks as the highest-rated basic cable series telecast ever, with 10.7 million viewers.

Miley embarked on her wildly popular Best of Both Worlds Tour in 2007, and in 2008, she voiced the character of Penny in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ feature“Bolt,” for which Miley also earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song (“I Thought I Lost You”). The following year, she starred in “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” which included the hit song “The Climb.” 2023 saw the release of Miley’s album Endless Summer Vacation, which inspired the documentary concert special “Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions),” streaming on Disney+. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, Miley was honored with her first-ever wins for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. At just 31 years old, Miley is the youngest honoree ever named a Disney Legend.

Comic artist Steve Ditko co-created most of Spider-Man’s now-infamous rogues’ gallery and re-envisioned many of Marvel’s iconic characters to what we know today.

Originally hailing from Johnstown, Penn., Steve’s love for comics began at a young age. After serving in the U.S. Army, where he drew comics for the Army newsletter, one of his idols, Batman artist Jerry Robinson, became his mentor. By the early 1950s, his first work appeared in print, and soon after, he made his way to Atlas Comics, the precursor of Marvel Comics. The artist would quickly leave his mark, leading Disney Legend Stan Lee to rechristen Amazing Adventures as Amazing Adult Fantasy (later Amazing Fantasy) to showcase Steve’s talents. In 1962, that collaboration led to one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. The introduction of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy#15 is a landmark in Marvel history. In addition, Steve redesigned Iron Man’s armor to the popular red and gold design and codified Bruce Banner’s transformations in the Hulk comics to be a function of his anger; however, it’s with Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, that Steve truly expressed his visionary impulses. Steve left Marvel in 1966 to pursue other work but returned in 1979, and in the 1990s, helped to co-create all-new characters, including Speedball and Squirrel Girl.

Harrison Ford has portrayed some of the most iconic action heroes to grace the big screen, including Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

After appearing a small but memorable role in “American Graffiti” (1973), directed by fellow Disney Legend George Lucas, Harrison was cast as the cynical smuggler – and captain of the Millennium Falcon – Han Solo in “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977), a role he would continue in all three episodes of the original Star Wars trilogy as well as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015) and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). Harrison also stars in all five blockbuster Indiana Jones films, most recently “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (2023). Some of his most notable film credits include an Oscar-nominated performance in “Witness” (1985), along with “Blade Runner” (1982); “Working Girl” (1988); “Presumed Innocent” (1990); “Patriot Games” (1992); “The Fugitive” (1993); “Clear and Present Danger” (1994); “Sabrina” (1995); “Air Force One” (1997); “Six Days, Seven Nights” (1998); “What Lies Beneath” (2000); “Morning Glory” (2010); “42” (2013); “Blade Runner 2049” (2017); and “The Call of the Wild” (2020). Harrison will also appear as President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the Marvel Studios live-action adventure “Captain America: Brave New World,” to be released in 2025. Over his decades-long career, Harrison received many honors, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2023 an honorary Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival.

Disney animator Mark Henn‘s first major assignment was animating Disney’s most beloved character in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” (1983), which marked Mickey’s first big-screen appearance in 30 years.

Mark joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1980, becoming an assistant animator on “The Fox and the Hound”(1981). He would later be the supervising animator for five female leads, more than any artist in the studio’s history: Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, and Tiana. He also animated Simba from “The Lion King” (1994), the title character in “Pocahontas” (1995), and Giselle from “Enchanted” (2007). More recently, Mark was the lead 2D animator on “Big Hero 6” (2014) and “Frozen” (2013) and served as a 2D animator for “Mini Maui” in “Moana” (2016). In 2000, Mark directed the acclaimed short “John Henry;” in 2013, he received the prestigious Winsor McCay award for lifetime achievement, ASIFA’s highest award in animation. In 2018 – and befitting his longtime association with Mickey Mouse – Mark was commissioned to paint Mickey’s official 90th anniversary portrait.

Creator, director, producer, performer, writer, and actor Frank Oz may be best known as the original performer of beloved “Sesame Street” characters Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster as well as Fozzie, Sam Eagle, Animal, and of course, Miss Piggy on “The Muppet Show.”

Frank performed in hundreds of television shows and specials with The Muppets, including Muppet*Vision 3Dfor Disney Parks. Frank also originated and performed the character of Yoda in The Star Wars saga, from “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) to “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). He has acted in several live-action movies, including “The Blues Brothers” (1980) and “Knives Out” (2019), and voiced characters in “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), “Inside Out” (2015), and “Inside Out 2” (2024). As a respected director, Frank has helmed more than a dozen films, including “The Muppets Take Manhattan” (1984), “Little Shop of Horrors” (1986), “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (1988), “In & Out” (1997), “Bowfinger” (1999), “The Score” (2001), and ”Muppet Guys Talking” (2017), as well as the 2021 Hulu presentation of the long-running Off-Broadway hit he also directed, Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself. A four-time Emmy winner, Frank is also the recipient of The Art Director’s Guild Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award, The Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award, The Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award, two George Foster Peabody Awards, three Gold Records, and two Platinum Records.

With a diverse body of work both on and off camera and a career spanning over 30 years, Kelly Ripa welcomes viewers every morning as co-host and executive producer of “Live.“

Beginning her career as an actress, Kelly appeared on the soap opera “All My Children”and the sitcom “Hope & Faith.” Kelly and her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, moved behind the camera when they formed their production company, Milojo Productions, which produced the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Streak”for ESPN and the critically acclaimed documentary “Off The Rez” for TLC. Kelly has earned multiple Daytime Emmy Awards, the Excellence in Media Award from GLAAD, and Glamour’s Woman of the Year Award. She was also recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as part of the Women in Entertainment Power 100 list and the publication’s 35 Most Powerful People in Media. In September 2022, Kelly added New York Times best-selling author to her resume when her collection Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories was published. She recently launched the second season of her podcast titled Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa.

Among the significant projects of his 40-year career at Walt Disney Imagineering, Joe Rohde was the overall creative executive and supervising designer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, including the park’s Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain and Pandora – The World of Avatar expansions.

After graduating from Occidental College with a major in studio art, Joe went to work as a teacher, where at 25, he was recruited by Walt Disney Imagineering. Joe’s first assignment was as a model builder for the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot; however, his big Imagineering break came with the development of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, a celebration of animals, a passionate argument for the coexistence of conservation and communities, and a recognition of the essential role ecosystems play in our existence. Joe was instrumental in creating the Disney Conservation Fund, which has disbursed over $120 million in grants to projects worldwide. He is also well known for his intensive focus on the philosophy of narrative placemaking and experiential storytelling, which is evident in another of his projects, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaii. In 2022, Joe received the Disney Conservation Fund’s first Conservation Legacy Award and appeared in numerous documentaries about Imagineering.

With a career spanning more than six decades, composer John Williams has created music for more than 100 films, including all nine Star Wars films and all five Indiana Jones films.

John was born and raised in New York and moved to Los Angeles in 1948. Venturing back to the East Coast to attend The Julliard School, he later returned to Los Angeles to begin his career, composing the music for television films and series, including “Lost in Space.” John’s artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg – now in its 50th year – led to an introduction to George Lucas and what became the biggest film phenomenon of its time, “Star Wars” (1977). John has received five Academy Awards and 54 Oscar nominations, most recently for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (2023), making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most-nominated person in Oscars history (Walt Disney is the first). John has also received seven British Academy Awards, 26 Grammys, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

Disney Legend honorees receive a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture that signifies the imagination, creativity, and magic they have brought to the company. Disney Legends Award recipients will also participate in a hand print ceremony at the end of the event, and their bronzed prints will be displayed in the Disney Legends Plaza at the company’s Burbank headquarters.

D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event

D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is a multi-day fan experience that showcases storytelling and innovation from across the Walt Disney Company. In 2024, the event has been reimagined to be more expansive and immersive than ever, with three days of showcases with stars and storytellers, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes moments, performances, shopping, and more.

D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event will take place Aug. 9-11, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. For more information, visit ultimatefanevent.d23.com. For all the details, check out our article here:

D23 is the official club for Disney fans. General Membership is complimentary. Fans can also purchase a Gold Membership for $99.99/year or a Gold Duo Membership for  $129.99/year. For more information, visit D23.com.