Alwyn Walter "Walt" Peregoy (November 17, 1925 – January 16, 2015) was an American artist who was a color stylist and

background artist A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can e ...

for

animated cartoons Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

. Among the studios he worked for were

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

1951–1964, 1974–1983,

Format Films Format Films was an animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators. History It was most active during the 1960s, producing episodes o ...

and

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

(1968–1971 & 1973). He received little publicity over his career, but was acclaimed for his

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

style. His dedication, creativity and contributions to animation while at Disney earned Peregoy the honor of being inducted into the

Disney Legends Disney Legends is a Hall of Fame award that is awarded by The Walt Disney Company to individuals who "

ave is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

made a significant impact on the Disney legacy." The honor was established in 1987, and was traditionally awarded annually during a spe ...

roster in 2008.

Life

Early years

Peregoy was born in

Los Angeles 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, ...

in 1925. He spent his early childhood on a small island (

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

) in

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

. He was nine years old when he began his formal art training by attending classes at the

California College of Arts and Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a Private university, private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. At 12 years old, Peregoy's family returned to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

's life drawing classes. At the age 17, Peregoy dropped out of high school and went to work as a traffic boy for a brief time before starting to work with Disney. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and served for three years in the Infirmary as a 1st Class Petty Officer. After World War II he continued his art education, studying at the University de Belles Artes, San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico, and with

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

in Paris.

Animation work

In 1951, Peregoy returned to the United States and resumed his career with The Walt Disney Studios. Although skilled with these more conventional projects, Peregoy's personal style began to surface. Peregoy's unique style began to mesh well with that of his contemporary, stylist Eyvind Earle. Peregoy and Earle's work on ''

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originate ...

'' (1958) was nominated for an

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 ...

in the short category. Their unique style of animation on ''Paul Bunyan'' was a departure for Disney. Peregoy continued to work at Disney for an additional 14 years, including select work on their TV commercial unit. Peregoy was lead background painter on ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

'' (1959) before embarking on the most ambitious, intelligent, and personal effort, his work as color stylist and background artist on ''

One Hundred and One Dalmatians ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American Animated film, animated adventure film, adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions with distribution by Buena Vista Distribution. Adapted fr ...

'' (1961), and '' The Sword in the Stone'' (1963). He later worked on ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on Septem ...

'' (1969), and other series produced by

. He returned to Disney (WED Enterprises in 1977 through 1983), contributing his unique view to the design of Epcot Center in Florida, where his influence included architectural facades, sculptures, fountains, show rides, and murals for The Land and "Imagination!" (formerly Journey Into Imagination) pavilions. Along with Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle and Joshua Meador, Peregoy was one of the featured artists in Disney's ''Four Artists Paint One Tree''

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

. This documentary illustrated the unique interpretation that each artist can bring to a single subject matter. Peregoy's work has been the subject of one Man Shows at: Stockton Museum, California; The University of Santa Clara, California; Galerie de Tour, San Francisco, California; Rutherford Gallery, San Francisco, California;

, Los Angeles, California; Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Dickie Hall Gallery, Laguna, California; Jack Carr Gallery, Pasadena, California. He has also participated in group shows at:

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Later years

Peregoy taught Background Styling at Brandes Art Institute from 1984 to 1985 as well as Principle of Drawing. In the last years of his life, he continued to draw and paint in the Los Angeles area right up to his death on January 16, 2015, at the age of 89.

References

External links

*
2005 Golden Award: Walt Peregoy2008 Disney Legends Award: Walt PeregoyObituary - Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peregoy, Alwyn Walter 1925 births 2015 deaths American artists Background artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Hanna-Barbera people