John Samuel "Sammy" McKim was a Canadian film actor and inspirational sketch artist who storyboarded Disney films such as Johnny Tremain, The Shaggy Dog, Nikki, Wild Dog of the North, Big Red, Bon Voyage!, The Gnome-Mobile and episodes for Disney's television series Zorro. More notably, he contributed to sketch designs for what would become Disneyland.
He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1935, during the Great Depression, and, at age 10, he was spotted by a casting director while visiting a relative at MGM and began work as a movie extra throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 with his brother, David, where he served in the American Infantry Division during World War II. Upon his return stateside, he enrolled at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and graduated in 1950 with Bachelor of Arts degree; the day after his graduation he was drafted into the Korean War. After serving 14 months, during which his decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, he returned to the United States and attended the Chouinard Art Institute for advanced art courses.
McKim's new career as an artist led him to eventually accepting a job at WED Enterprises through Disney Studios in 1954. He created inspirational sketches for the layout of Walt Disney's new theme park - "Disneyland". Among his first sketches were Slue-Foot Sue's Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland. As the park grew, McKim contributed designs to attractions such as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Carousel of Progress, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland Monorail System, It's a Small World, Ford Magic Skyway, and The Haunted Mansion, some of which debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair. He also contributed to Florida theme park attractions, such as The Hall of Presidents in Magic Kingdom and Universe of Energy in EPCOT. In addition, he developed inspirational sketches for the Disney-MGM Studios before retiring in 1987.
Known as the "master map maker," McKim was brought back in 1992 to help his son, Matt, on the Disneyland Paris project (Euro Disneyland). McKim created the map for the park just as he had done for various Disney parks in America. During the process, he suffered a heart attack which led him to asking Tony Baxter for a replacement on the map project which was refused by Baxter because he would have rather waited until McKim was done with his map. McKim eventually finished the map for the park three weeks after the opening of Euro Disneyland. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1996.
McKim died in 2004 Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. Two years after his death, McKim received a window display on Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland.
Trivia[]
- Both of his sons worked at Disney. Matt, for a time, was senior production designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, and Brian was a Disney artist.
