William Novey (1948–1991) was an American

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

guru in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, Head of Special Effects at

Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construc ...

in the 1970s, and co-founder of Art & Technology, Inc. with Disney executive Joe Garlington in the 1980s. At Disney, Novey was tasked with overseeing 6000 special effects in the Epcot Center near

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

and

Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...

. He invented over 300 projectors and helped inspire a new wave of special effects and technological innovations including the first use of holograms and vector-scanning laser projections in a theme park. At Art & Technology, Novey developed a number of memorable special effects and

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

exhibits seen in various

theme parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

around the world, including the first ever motion-simulator in a museum. Novey holds a number of US

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

Personal life

He was born William E. Novey in 1948 in

Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the village was ...

. Novey earned bachelor's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, and a Master's in Theater Technology from

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

. He was married to entertainment executive Jody Van Meter. He died in 1991 at age 43 from Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He is buried at the

Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery is the largest Jewish mortuary and Jewish cemetery organization, located in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of the central region of Los Angeles, California. Many notable Jewish people from the American ente ...

in the

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills is a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It borders Studio City, Universal City and Burbank on the north, Griffith Park on the north and east, Los Feliz on the southeast, Hollyw ...

. In October 2008, a bench was donated in Novey's honor in the Garden Walk at the library in his hometown of

with an inscription that reads: "William E. Novey, Who Made the World a Happier Place."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novey, Bill 1948 births 1991 deaths People from Downers Grove, Illinois Disney imagineers American special effects people Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Laser art