Yale Wilbur Gracey was a Chinese-American Imagineer, writer, and layout artist, who joined Disney in 1939 as a layout artist for Pinocchio. He also worked on animated shorts and films, including classics, such as The Three Caballeros and Fantasia.
By 1961, through years of hands-on experimentation and curiosity, Yale began his second career at Disney as a special effects and lighting artist at Walt Disney Imagineering - then WED Enterprises. Gracey created many of the special effects for Disneyland's attractions, like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion where he designed the iconic 'grim grinning ghosts' that inhabit the mansion as well as the realistic flames burning the overtaken city in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Gracey was also responsible for creating unique and creative illusions for Walt Disney's most beloved attractions, including the Carousel of Progress for the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair and it was later used in Space Mountain to block out the surrounding roller coaster structure. For the original EPCOT Center, Gracey created the breathtaking 'CenterCore' finale of the much missed World of Motion attraction.
He retired on October 4, 1975.[2]
Death and legacy
Gracey was murdered while sleeping on September 5, 1983 in Los Angeles, California by a burglar, 2 days after his 73rd birthday. Gracey's wife, Beverly, was injured in the attack as well.[3][4] Posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 1999, the Master Gracey character on the Haunted Mansion attraction is based on him. Every morning, Cast Members place a red rose on Master Gracey's grave. This is believed to have started in the 1980s after Gracey's murder as a tribute to the Imagineer.
Filmography
Gallery
_with_the_Hatbox_Ghost.jpg "Yale Gracey (R.I.P.) with the Hatbox Ghost.jpg (372 KB)")
