Disney Legend Don Iwerks, Circle-Vision Pioneer and Star Tours Engineer, Dies at 96

Don Iwerks, the son of animation pioneer Ub Iwerks, spent 35 years building the camera and projection systems behind Circle-Vision 360, Captain EO, Star Tours, and the effects in Mary Poppins. He died on the evening of July 9 at age 96, remembered by Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro for his heart and ingenuity.

Don Iwerks, the Disney Legend whose camera and projection systems shaped attractions and films from Circle-Vision 360 to Star Tours, died on the evening of July 9 at the age of 96. The son of animation pioneer Ub Iwerks, he spent 35 years building the technology behind some of Disney's most immersive experiences.

Josh D'Amaro, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, remembered Iwerks in a statement.

"Don embodied that rare combination of heart, ingenuity, and passion that has always defined Disney," D'Amaro said. "Through his innovative contributions to some of our most iconic films and attractions, he helped create experiences that have delighted generations of fans around the world."

From the machine shop to 20,000 Leagues

Iwerks followed his father, the animator and effects innovator Ub Iwerks, to Walt Disney Productions in 1950, starting as a laboratory technician in special photographic processes. He worked only briefly before being drafted into the Korean War, serving two years in the Signal Photo Corps before returning to Disney. In January 1953 he moved to the Studio Machine Shop, took a camera technician role, and worked on his first major film, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954). He went on to lead both the Machine Shop and the Camera Service Department, along with the Technical Engineering and Manufacturing Division.

Bringing Circle-Vision to Disneyland and the world

Among Iwerks' signature achievements was the 360-degree Circle-Vision camera, first used in the Circarama, U.S.A. attraction when Disneyland opened in 1955. Its first film, "A Tour of the West," ran on eleven 16mm projectors, and later films used nine. For the 1961 exposition in Turin, Italy, Iwerks taught an Italian crew to operate the camera. "America the Beautiful" became the most enduring of the early films, playing at Disneyland for more than 17 years and later at Magic Kingdom. A reshot Circle-Vision 360 version went on to run at EPCOT Center, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.

World's fairs, Captain EO, and Star Tours

Iwerks built film equipment for the 1964 and 1965 New York World's Fair, engineered 3-D film and in-theater effects for Captain EO, and designed the projection system for Star Tours. He also worked with his father to refine the sodium vapor process, developing cameras and optical printers that combined painted backgrounds, animation, and live action for the 1964 Academy Award winning film "Mary Poppins," including its "Jolly Holiday" sequence. Iwerks often pointed to EPCOT as the high point of his career.

"In my career, EPCOT was most outstanding," he once said. "The American Adventure was a huge rear-projection theater with set pieces in front of it. It remains one of the most powerful experiences at EPCOT."

An honored career and a family legacy

Iwerks received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1997 for his large-format and simulated film innovations. He was named a Disney Legend at the first D23 Expo in 2009, and his handprints, alongside his father's, sit at Legends Plaza on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. Father and son also share a window on Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom reading "Iwerks-Iwerks Stereoscopic Cameras." After 35 years at Disney, Iwerks founded Iwerks Entertainment in 1986, a maker of giant-screen theaters and 3D attractions that SimEx acquired in 2001.

He credited Walt Disney and his father for teaching him to prize detail and quality.

"There was a 'can-do' attitude I learned from Walt and my father. If you're doing a really first-class job, you don't need to worry about the money. It will come. Walt gave everyone a feeling that they were creating things that others had never thought of before, of being a part of history," he once said.

What his work means for Disney fans

Iwerks' daughter Leslie has carried the family's connection forward as a documentary filmmaker chronicling Disney's history, while he was preceded in death by his daughter Tamara. For park guests, his fingerprints are everywhere the picture wraps around you or the screen puts you inside the scene, from the France pavilion at EPCOT to the cockpit of a Star Tours flight. Those experiences outlast the man who engineered them.