Claude Dixon Coats was an American Imagineer and background artist, best known for his conceptual work on the Disneyland attraction The Haunted Mansion.
Coats was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Polytechnic High School. On an athletic scholarship, he attended the University of Southern California as an architecture student, but later received his bachelor's degree in drawing in 1934.
He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1991.
He died on January 9, 1992, 8 days before his 79th birthday.
Filmography[]
Claude Coats did extensive work for the Walt Disney Studios as a background artist, through an apprenticeship, for many animated features and shorts, before joining WED Enterprises in 1955. Coats worked on the following films:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Dumbo (1941)
- Bambi (1942)
- Saludos Amigos (1942)
- Victory Through Air Power (1943)
- The Three Caballeros (1944)
- Californy 'er Bust (1945)
- Dog Watch (1945)
- Tiger Trouble (1945)
- Make Mine Music (1946)
- Peter and the Wolf (1946)
- Song of the South (1946)
- Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
- Melody Time (1948)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Motor Mania (1950)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- The Little House (1952)
- Uncle Donald's Ants (1952)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- How to Dance (1953)
- How to Sleep (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Up a Tree (1955)
- Hooked Bear (1956)
- Disneyland (1956–1963)
Imagineering[]
In 1955, Walt Disney selected Coats to become an Imagineer for WED Enterprises (which became Walt Disney Imagineering in 1984) to help with the design of Disneyland. Coats would remain with Imagineering until his retirement in 1989. Coats worked on many Disney theme park attractions at several parks.
Disneyland[]
- Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (1955–present)
- Snow White's Scary Adventures (1955–present)
- Submarine Voyage (1959–1998)
- Grand Canyon and Primeval World Dioramas (1958–present)
- Pirates of the Caribbean (1967–present)
- The Haunted Mansion (1969–present)
1964-1965 New York World's Fair[]
Magic Kingdom[]
- Mickey Mouse Revue (1971–1980 at the Magic Kingdom, 1983–2009 at Tokyo Disneyland)