Yale Gracey

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.http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Yale+Gracey
==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.http://www.mouseplanet.com/8867/Ghostly_Gracey_The_Merlin_of_WEDhttp://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hU8aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Rg4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6886,4243211&dq=yale+gracey&hl=en 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==
Year 	Film 	Position
1940 	Pinocchio 	layout artist
1940 	Fantasia 	segment "The Pastoral Symphony"
1941 	The Reluctant Dragon 	art direction: cartoon sequences
1942 	Saludos Amigos 	backgrounds/layout artist - uncredited
1943 	Figaro and Cleo 	layout artist - uncredited
1944 	Donald's Off Day 	layout artist
1944 	The Three Caballeros 	layout artist
1945 	The Eyes Have It 	layout artist
1945 	No Sail 	layout artist
1946 	A Knight for a Day 	layout artist
1946 	Lighthouse Keeping 	layout artist
1946 	The Story of Menstruation 	layout artist - uncredited
1946 	Frank Duck Brings 'em Back Alive	layout artist
1946 	Double Dribble 	layout artist
1947 	Straight Shooters 	layout artist
1947 	Clown of the Jungle 	layout artist
1947 	Bootle Beetle 	layout artist
1947 	Foul Hunting 	layout artist
1947 	Chip an' Dale 	layout artist
1948 	They're Off 	layout artist
1948 	Inferior Decorator 	layout artist
1948 	Soup's On 	layout artist
1948 	Three for Breakfast 	layout artist
1948 	Tea for Two Hundred 	layout
1949 	Donald's Happy Birthday 	layout artist
1949 	Sea Salts 	layout artist
1949 	Winter Storage 	layout artist
1949 	Honey Harvester 	layout artist
1949 	All in a Nutshell 	layout artist
1949 	The Greener Yard 	layout artist
1949 	Slide, Donald, Slide 	layout artist
1949 	Toy Tinkers 	layout artist
1950 	Lion Around 	layout artist
1950 	Crazy Over Daisy 	layout artist
1950 	Trailer Horn 	layout artist
1950 	Hook, Lion and Sinker 	layout artist
1950 	Bee at the Beach 	layout
1950 	Out on a Limb 	layout artist
1951 	Chicken in the Rough 	layout artist
1951 	Dude Duck 	layout artist
1951 	Corn Chips 	layout artist
1951 	Test Pilot Donald 	layout artist
1951 	Lucky Number 	layout artist
1951 	Out of Scale 	layout artist
1951 	Bee on Guard 	layout artist
1952 	Donald Applecore 	layout artist
1952 	Lambert the Sheepish Lion 	layout artist
1952 	Two Chips and a Miss 	layout artist
1952 	Let's Stick Together 	layout artist
1952 	Uncle Donald's Ants 	layout artist
1952 	Trick or Treat 	background artistlayout artist
1952 	Pluto's Christmas Tree 	layout artist
1953 	Don's Fountain of Youth 	layout artist
1953 	The New Neighbor 	layout artist
1953 	Rugged Bear 	layout artist
1953 	Working for Peanuts 	layout artist
1953 	Canvas Back Duck 	layout artist
1954-1968	The Magical World of Disney 	layout artiststylist ("The Plausible Impossible")
1954 	Spare the Rod 	layout artist
1954 	Dragon Around 	layout artist
1954 	Grin and Bear It 	layout artist
1954 	The Flying Squirrel 	layout artist
1955 	No Hunting 	layout artist
1955 	Bearly Asleep 	layout artist
1955 	Beezy Bear 	layout artist
1955 	Up a Tree 	layout artist
1956 	Hooked Bear 	layout artist
1956 	In the Bag 	layout artist
==Gallery==
WEDCrew.0.jpg|A 1965 group photograph of Disney artists in the WED parking lot in Glendale, California, from left to right: Herbert Ryman, Ken O'Brien, Collin Campbell, Marc Davis, Al Bertino, Wathel Rogers, Mary Blair, T. Hee, Blaine Gibson, X. Atencio, Claude Coats, and Yale Gracey.
Yale Gracey (R.I.P.) with the Hatbox Ghost.jpg|Yale Gracey with the Hatbox Ghost.
==References==
nl:Yale Gracey
Category:Imagineers
Category:Disney Legends
Category:1910s births
Category:Deceased
Category:1980s deaths
Category:Males
Category:The Haunted Mansion
Category:Pirates of the Caribbean
Category:Writers
Category:Layout artists
Category:American people
Category:Pinocchio
Category:Fantasia
Category:The Three Caballeros
Category:Saludos Amigos
Category:The Reluctant Dragon
Category:Donald Duck
Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios
Category:Animators
Category:Chinese people
Category:Asian people
Category:Disneyland
Category:Chip 'n Dale
Category:Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color