Marc Davis

One of Disney's "Nine Old Men", Marc was born the only child of Harry and Mildred Davis on March 30, 1913, in Bakersfield, Calif., where his father was engaged in oil field developments. Wherever a new oil boom developed, the family moved with Harry and as a result, Marc attended more than 20 different schools across the country while growing up.

After high school, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. While studying, Marc spent hours at the zoo drawing animals, which became one of his specialties. His story drawings for "Bambi" are still considered some of the finest studies of animal characters ever created at Disney Studios.

Marc joined Disney in 1935 as an apprentice animator on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and moved on to story sketch and character design on "Bambi" and "Victory Through Air Power." Over the years, he animated on such Disney classic features as "Song of the South," "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland," as well as shorts, including "African Diary," "Duck Pimples" and "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom."

Marc is probably best known as the father of some of Disney's most memorable animated women, including Cruella De Vil in "101 Dalmatians," Maleficent in "Sleeping Beauty" and Tinker Bell in "Peter Pan." When once asked to choose a favorite among his bevy of grand Disney dames, he replied, "Each of my women characters has her own unique style; I love them all in different ways."

He later transferred to Disney's design and development organization, today known as Walt Disney Imagineering. As one of Disney's original Imagineers, Marc contributed whimsical story and character concepts for such Disneyland attractions as the Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and The Jungle Cruise.

After 43 years with the Studio, Marc retired in 1978, but continued to lend his expertise to the development of EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland. He and his wife, Alice, who designed costumes for Audio-Animatronics characters featured in Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World, have been long-time supporters of California Institute of the Arts, which was founded by Walt Disney.

Marc Davis died January 12, 2000, in Glendale, California.