Richard Fyfe Irvine was an American art director who worked as an artist and Imagineer for The Walt Disney Studios.
Irvine was born on April 5, 1910. Following his graduation in Stanford University and the University of Southern California, he attended the Chouinard Art Institute. Beginning his art career in the late 1930s, Irvine served as an art director between 1939 and 1953 for Hollywood features such as Miracle on 34th Street, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, The Gunfighter, Vicki, and Sundown where he received an Academy Award nomination in the category Best Art Direction. During this time, he had worked on Disney's Victory Through Air Power and The Three Caballeros where directed its live-action sequences.
He would gain full employment with the company in 1952 when Walt Disney asked him to help construct Disneyland. He soon became a senior figure at Walt Disney Imagineering where he oversaw designing and planning of several attractions including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 1967, he became executive vice president and chief operations officer at Walt Disney Imagineering until his retirement in 1973.
Irvine died on March 30, 1976 in Los Angeles, California after suffering an illness that prevented him from visiting the completed Walt Disney World, which opened in 1971. In his honor, one of the original Walt Disney World riverboats was named after him and, in 1990, was named a Disney Legend.
Trivia[]
- Nine out of his ten children went on to work for the Walt Disney Company, particularly his daughter Maggie Irvine Elliot who would become Senior Vice President of Creative Administration for Walt Disney Imagineering
- One of his sons married Kim Thomas, an art director at WDI, who is Imagineering colleague Leota Toombs' daughter.
External links[]
Richard Irvine on Wikipedia
Richard Irvine on IMDb
Richard Irvine at Find a Grave- Richard Irvine at D23, The Official Disney Fan Club
