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Roy Williams (artist)

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Name
  
Roy Williams

Role
  
Artist

Born
  
Died
  
November 7, 1976, Burbank, California, United States

Movies and TV shows
  
The Mickey Mouse Club, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Elmer Elephant

Similar People
  
Dick Huemer, Jack Kinney, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, Norm Ferguson

Roy Williams (July 30, 1907 – November 7, 1976) was an artist and entertainer for The Walt Disney Studios, perhaps best known as "Big Roy," the adult mouseketeer for four seasons on the Mickey Mouse Club television series.

Roy Williams (artist) Roy Williams Disney History

Early life and career

Roy Williams (artist) Roy Williams D23

Williams was born in Colville, Washington and raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Fremont High School. After graduating, he was hired as an artist by Walt Disney in 1930. He worked on animated shorts while attending Chouinard Art Institute at night. He later also developed story ideas for Disney. He also designed over 100 insignias for the U.S. armed forces during World War II, and is credited with designing the mouse ears worn on the Mickey Mouse Club.

Roy Williams (artist) Mickey Mouse Club Cast Roy Williams

Disney director Jack Kinney described Williams as a "big fat balding hot-headed unpredictable bastard", but hugely admired his prolific talent, saying that he could "sit down and grunt out a few pounds of gags as if it were nothing".

Roy Williams (artist) Roy Williams Artist Fine Art Prices Auction Records for Roy Williams

The Mouseketeers who worked with him on the original Mickey Mouse Club series, conversely, remembered him fondly. Former Mouseketeer Lonnie Burr, appearing on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show on NBC in 1975 to talk about the Mickey Mouse Club at the time of its 20th anniversary, called Williams "a warm guy, who liked kids, always had time for kids, and always helped us any way he could."

Roy Williams (artist) Brian Mitchell39s Sketchbook A ROY WILLIAMS ORIGINAL

Williams also produced one-panel gag cartoons for The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines.

Roy Williams (artist) Mickey Mouse Club Cast Roy Williams

The historic Roy Williams Airport on Sunfair Road in Joshua Tree, California is named after Williams. In 2015, the airport site was proposed to be converted to a solar farm.

Williams died in Burbank, California on November 7, 1976. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. He was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 1992.

References

Roy Williams (artist) Wikipedia