Bob Iger kicked the ceremony off as the master of ceremonies. He noted previous history on announcements at the expo and how he expects this year's expo to be the biggest and best yet. Iger teased what's coming to this year's expo previews of the Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, and Star Wars. Iger promised a lot of Star Wars news this weekend. He also promised George Lucas that Disney will carry on the legacy the Lucas created with Star Wars. Iger stated he already saw Star Wars and reminded fans only 126 days until Episode VII.
The Legends Ceremony was then officially kicked off with another montage honoring past and the current class. The montage ended with a nice touch of honoring legend Robin Williams who had passed away last year. The first inductee was first Disney Ambassador, Julie Reihm Casaletto.
Casseletto shared stories of working with Walt in her thank you speech. She remembered the day when Walt asked her to become Disney's first ambassador it was a tall order but it was like an 'E-ticket ride' and she was off. Caseletto said her life has been filled with "pixie dust and magic" ever since the day Walt called her on to the position. She also said Walt would be proud and pleased with what the Walt Disney Company is today.
Next on stage was a surprise performance from Disney Legend and musical genius, Richard Sherman. He began solo with a performance of "Kiss Goodnight," the song he wrote for the Disneyland Forever fireworks. He was later joined by Broadway's original "Mary Poppins" Ashley Brown in a duet of the song. George Bodenheimer was next to be honored.
Bodenheimer is a former ESPN president who began with the company as a mailroom clerk. He said that Disney acquiring ESPN changed the game and that Disney's support is what has made ESPN today. He also said sports is what built ESPN as a company. New to be honored was Eyvind Earl where his daughter accepted the award on his behalf. She said, "Creating art was his passion." Actress Susan Lucci was the next to be honored as a Disney Legend.
Iger said Lucci was a valued member of the Disney community that he has known and worked with throughout his entire career at Disney. Lucci thanked Disney as she believes that because of it, she was able to be an actress. She said, "It's all prime time to me as far as I'm concerned because it's so much fun to do what I do." In her speech if she could design a theme park ride about her career she said, "it would be a lot of husbands, and definitely a rollercoaster." Carson Van Osten was next.
Carson Van Osten noted that he had his mother to thank for his love of art. He also took a look back on the story of the day he was offered a full-time position to draw Mickey Mouse comic-strips. After Van Osten's speech a In Memorium montage played with Frank Gifford who just passed last week and once again ending in a wonderful tribute to the late Robin Williams. Singer Ne-Yo sang "Friend Like Me" as a tribute to Williams. Animator Andreas Deja was the next to be honored.
Deja was most known for his drawings of famous Disney villains Gaston, Jafar, and Scar. His work at Disney Animation was noted as he worked on films "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and many more Disney films. Deja mentioned to the crowd how "The Jungle Book" and how much of an impact it had on him and his home country of Germany. He even asked Iger for a Jungle Book attraction in Disneyland Paris. Composer Danny Elfman was the next to be honored as a Disney Legend.
Elfman scored "The Nightmare Before Christmas,""Alice in Wonderland," "The Avengers," "Dick Tracy," and much more. In honor of Elfman, Broadway star James Monroe Inglehart performed Elfman's famous "Oogie Boogie" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Elfman said that working with Disney today must feel like how it felt to work during the Golden Age in Hollywood. The crowd then erupted as what was thought to be the final presentation for Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas was honored.
Iger reiterated that Disney will strive to continue George Lucas' legacy of Star Wars. Lucas was welcomed to the stage by C-3PO and R2-D2. "Disney has always given me a great deal of inspiration," Lucas said on the impact Disney has had on him. He also revealed that Jar Jar Binks was based off of Goofy. He professed his love of Disney and how it inspired him on his career path to making Star Wars. He ended with saying it took years to get more Star Wars and Indiana Jones into the theme parks and it finally took Iger and Disney to buying his company for it to happen.
Then the surprise came as Johnny Depp famous for his roles as Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films and the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland."
Johnny Depp was surprised and started off with saying, "Hi, I don't know why I'm here." He thanked his fans in saying, "Thanks for this great opportunity to basically do stupid stuff for a living." He said he was honored just to be in the same room with likes of George Lucas and Dick Van Dyke. Depp ended with saying he hopes he could meet Mickey Mouse. Iger said he wished he could dress like Johnny Depp. Iger ended the ceremony by thanking the new inductees and the fans.
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