This Week in Disney History (April 12-18)
1887: Actor Christian Rub (Pinocchio in Pinocchio) is born in Austria.
1907: Animator Bernhard August Gramatky, Jr. (worked at Disney from 1929-1936) is born in Dallas, Texas.
1917: Actor Hans Conried (Mr. George Darling/Captain Hook in Peter Pan, The Cat From Outer Space, The Shaggy D.A., Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier) is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1921: Actor Peter Ustinov (Prince John in Robin Hood, Captain Edward “Blackbeard” Teach in Blackbeard’s Ghost) is born in London, England.
1926: Actress Jane Withers (Laverne the gargoyle in The Hunchback of Notre Dame) is born in Atlanta, GA.
1936: Actor Kenneth Mars (Marshal Woolly Bill Hitchcock in The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, King Triton in The Little Mermaid, Gunther the Innkeepter in Hannah Montana) is born in Chicago, Illinois.
1946: Actress Hayley Mills (Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, In Search of the Castaways, Summer Magic, Moon-Spinners, That Darn Cat!) is born in London, England.
1947: Actor James Woods (Hades in Hercules) is born in Vernel, Utah.
1950: Director, choreographer, and producer, Kenny Ortega (High School Musical films, The Cheeta Girls 2, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert) is born in Palo Alto, California.
1951: Disney Imagineer Bruce Gordon (Spalsh Mountain, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tarzan’s Treehouse, and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage-all at Disneyland) is born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
1954: Actor Rick Moranis (Tuke in Brother Bear, Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Audience) is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1957: Supervising animator Glen Keane (Treasure Planet, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Tarzan) is born in Arbington, Pennsylvania.
1960: Actor Brad Garrett (Fred in The Country Bears, Bloat in Finding Nemo, Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille) is born in Woodland Hills, California.
1961: Actress Jane Leeves (Ladybus in James and the Giant Peach, Athena in TV’s Hercules) is born in London, England.
1972: Actor Lou Romano (Bernie Kropp in The Incredibles, Snotrod in Cars, Linguini in Ratatouille) is born in San Diego, California.
1975: In Walt Disney World‘s Tomorrowland, Flight to the Moon closes.
1980: Disney’s The Watcher in the Woods premieres.
1983: In Japan, Tokyo Disneyland opens to guests (Tokyo’s Space Mountain is the first to open on a park’s opening day).
1984: In Disneyland’s Frontierland, the Alice in Wonderland ride opens.
1984: Actress America Ferrera (Yolanda in Gotta Kick It Up, Betty Suarez in Ugly Betty) is born in Los Angeles, California.
1992: In France, the Euro Disney Resort is unveiled to protests from French citizens.
1996: Disney’s James and the Giant Peach premieres.
2001: The Disney Channel Original Movie Hounded premieres.
2001: Walt Disney World‘s 4th Gate, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, opens to the public.
2002: The Disney Channel Original Movie Tru Confessions premieres.
2003: Disney’s Holes premieres
2003: Disney and Walden Media’s Ghosts of the Abyss premieres.
2006: Disney’s The Wild premieres.
