John C. Hench was an American Imagineer and Disney Legend. He attended the Art Students' League in New York City, New York and received a scholarship to Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. He also attended the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1939, he joined Disney as a sketch artist in the story department working on Fantasia.
Always eager to learn, John accepted a variety of tasks over the years, including painting backgrounds on Dumbo and layouts for The Three Caballeros. His other film credits included art supervision on Make Mine Music, cartoon art treatments for So Dear to My Heart color and styling for Peter Pan, and animation effects for The Living Desert. In 1954, his special effects work on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea won an Oscar. He also worked with Salvador Dali on the story of Destino in the 1940s and when the project was revived in 1999, he served as a consultant to help the team interpret the original artwork.
That same year, John left the Studio to work at what is today known as Walt Disney Imagineering, where his first assignment was to design attractions for the original Tomorrowland in Disneyland. Later in 1960, John worked closely with Walt in developing the pageantry, opening and closing ceremonies and daily presentations for the VIII Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley, as well as attractions for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. He later helped master plan Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland and develop ideas for theme parks, including Disney's California Adventure, Animal Kingdom, and Tokyo DisneySea.
John was also Mickey Mouse's official corporate portrait artist, having painted Mickey's portrait for his 25th (1953), 50th (1978), 60th (1988), 70th (1998), and finally, 75th (2003) birthdays. In 1999, John Hench celebrated his 60th year with the company. John Hench died on February 5, 2004, in Burbank, California.
He recalled one of those lessons, "Walt always said, 'You get down to Disneyland at least twice a month and you walk in the front entrance, don't walk in through the back. Eat with the people. Watch how they react to the work you've done down there.' This made an enormous difference in how we approached our work."
An eternal flame-bearer and senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, John carried on Walt's ideals and standards. His assistant and confidante, Sandy Huskins said, "Sometimes John says, 'Tomorrow, we're going to the Park,' and we'll go down, stand in line and pretend we're guests. I always come back with a full load of notes."
Filmography
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Fantasia | Background artist: "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" "Nutcracker Suite" |
| 1941 | Dumbo | Backgrounds |
| 1944 | The Three Caballeros | Layout artist |
| 1946 | Make Mine Music | Art supervisor Background artist: "Blue Bayou" Layout artist: "Willie the Operatic Whale" |
| 1947 | Fun and Fancy Free | Layout |
| 1948 | Melody Time | Layout artist - uncredited |
| 1948 | So Dear to My Heart | Cartoon art treatment |
| 1949 | The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad | Color and styling |
| 1950 | Cinderella | Color and styling |
| 1951 | Alice in Wonderland | Color and styling |
| 1951 | Nature's Half Acre | Animation effects |
| 1952 | Water Birds | Animation effects |
| 1952 | The Olympic Elk | Animation effects |
| 1952 | Water Birds | Animation effects |
| 1953 | Peter Pan | Color and styling |
| 1953 | Prowlers of the Everglades | Animation effects |
| 1953 | The Alaskan Eskimo | Animator |
| 1953 | The Living Desert | Animation effects |
| 1954 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Production illustrator - uncredited Special effects |
| 1954-1965 | The Magical World of Disney | Artist Animation effects Himself |
| 1955 | Contrasts in Rhythm | Story |
| 1959 | Donald in Mathmagic Land | Styling |
| 1984 | The Disney Family Album | Himself |
| 2000 | Clair de Lune | Background artist |
| 2003 | Destino | Story |
Gallery
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