The coronation award highlighted a star-studded event that featured music and performances by Anika Noni Rose, who sang “Go the distance” the theme from “Hercules, ” a medley…
Mark Hamill wiped a tear from his eye as he watched a tribute to Carrie Fisher’s career roll on a screen at the Walt Disney Co.’s Disney Legends ceremony.
As he got up to accept his award, Hamill, known for playing the iconic Luke Skywalker, said very much like their characters in the “Star Wars” films, the two co-stars were inseparable off screen.
“I would love to give my deepest respect to the super cool space sis I have in Carrie Frances Fisher, ” Hamill said as the crowd erupted. “We were like siblings – the good and the bad. There was a comfort with her. We can rely on one another. And there was a deep respect.”
Fisher, who played Princess Leia, died in December.
On Friday, July 14, Disney kicked off the D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center by presenting the company’s highest honor, Disney Legends, to 11 individuals, who “have significantly contributed to the company’s legacy.”
The award ceremony, with 5,000 in attendance, is the company’s “sincere expression of our deep, deep gratitude, ” Disney CEO Bob Iger said.
In the morning, they bestowed a surprise honor to actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg.
“I’ m part of Disney’s family now, ” said Goldberg, who was wearing Minnie Mouse shoes with bows, after cementing her hands on a plaque. The Disney Legend plaques are placed in a plaza in front of Disney’s headquarters in Burbank.
The coronation award highlighted a star-studded event that featured music and performances by Anika Noni Rose, who sang “Go the distance” the theme from “Hercules, ” a medley from “The Lion King” cast, and dancers from “Dancing with the Stars.”
Oprah Winfrey, who received the award for her work as host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show, ” which ran for 25 seasons, said Disney Media Networks subsidiary ABC “let me be me.”
“Since 1984, when we launched ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,’ everyday Disney/ ABC 7 let me be me, ” Winfrey said. “More than anything, being a legend… is about the common experience that we all share. And everyday on that show, I was able to tell common stories.”
Just a week after his wife’s death, Stan Lee, made an appearance to accept his award. He choked up when he talked about his late work partner, Jack Kirby, who also received a Legend award. Kirby helped create “Fantastic Four, ” “X-Men” and the “Hulk.”
“So well deserved, ” Lee said before turning toward Iger. “Thank you.”
Hamill recited Lou Gehrig’s famous, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world.”
“It’s true, ” he said.
Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, who was not in attendance, penned a touching tribute ready by Iger.
“We went to Disneyland so much that I now realize she might have even loved it more than I did, ” Lourd wrote. “So to become part of the Disney family is a big moment for her. She secretly wanted to be a Disney princess. Being a Disney princess and a Disney Legend would have been her ultimate dream.”
The other awardees included Wayne Jackson, a Disney Imagineer who helped develop attractions at Disney theme parks around the world; Julie Taymor, a Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning filmmaker best known for her work adapting “The Lion King” to the Broadway musical; and posthumous awards went to Clyde Geronimi, one of Walt Disney’s original animators; Manuel Gonzales, also a Disney animator; and Garry Marshall, a producer, writer and actor known for his work on “Happy Days, ” “Laverne & Shirley” and “Pretty Woman.”
