John Hench

John 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 supervisorbackground 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 - uncreditedspecial effects
1954-1965	The Magical World of Disney 	ArtistAnimation effectsHimself
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==
John hench at work with salvador dali.jpg|Hench with Salvador Dali during the production of Destino.
John hench with claude coats, walt disney and mary blair.jpg|Hench with Mary Blair, Walt Disney, and Claude Coats
John hench with walt disney with layouts.jpg
John hench with walt disney.jpg
John hench 1.jpg
John hench 2.jpg
John hench 3.jpg
John hench 4.jpg
John hench and marty sklar.jpg|Hench with Marty Sklar scouting places for Epcot.
John hench interview.JPG|Hench in Cinderella: The Making of a Masterpiece.
Category:Males
Category:1900s births
Category:2000s deaths
Category:Deceased
Category:People from Iowa
Category:American people
Category:Disney Legends
Category:Imagineers
Category:Mickey Mouse
Category:Donald Duck
Category:Annie Award Winner
Category:Fantasia
Category:Dumbo
Category:The Three Caballeros
Category:Make Mine Music
Category:Melody Time
Category:Fun and Fancy Free
Category:The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Category:So Dear to My Heart
Category:Cinderella
Category:Peter Pan
Category:20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Category:Disney's Animal Kingdom
Category:True-Life Adventures
Category:Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color