Richard "Dick" Irvine (April 5, 1910 – March 30, 1976) was an American

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

. He is best known for his

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nomination in the category Best Art Direction for the 1941 black and white film '' Sundown''. Over his long career, he worked as an art director in 31 films between 1939 and 1953. In the early 1950s, Walt Disney asked Irvine to help Construct Disneyland. He moved from 20th Century Fox to the Walt Disney Studio in 1952 and became a senior figure 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 ...

(WDI). Until his retirement in 1973, he headed design and planning for all Disneyland attractions including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Irvine became executive vice president and chief operations officer at WDI in 1967.

Personal life

Irvine was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, on April 5, 1910. Following his graduation in

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, he attended the Chouinard Art Institute. Irvine died on March 30, 1976, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, after suffering an illness that prevented him from visiting the complete

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

, which opened in 1971. In his honor, one of the original Walt Disney World riverboats was named after him (See Richard F. Irvine Riverboat). However, it was renamed the ''Liberty Belle'' in 1996, following which one of the Magic Kingdom ferries was named in his honor. He was named a Disney Legend in 1990.

Selected filmography

* '' Sundown'' (1941) * ''

The Three Caballeros ''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action and animated musical propaganda anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the ...

'' (1944) * ''

Miracle on 34th Street ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas film, Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century-Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story ...

'' (1947)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Richard American art directors Artists from Salt Lake City 1910 births 1976 deaths Disney imagineers