Special Exhibit Walt's Comedies: The Stable of Stars When Walt found talent, he was hesitant to let it go – whether the talent was in animation, writing, designing or performing. A quick review of some of Walt’s outstanding comedies reveal a number of actors who appear again and again. Following are excerpts from short biographies of five – taken, with permission from Disney Archivist Dave Smith, from the Disney Legends biographies. Dean Jones When Dean Jones began his motion picture career in 1956, he was just biding his time until he got his real break. The former crooner-turned-actor once recalled, "I wish I could say I had this master plan for a career, but I always thought acting was something I'd just do until I had a hit record." While Dean's hit record proved elusive, he scored a number of hit movies while under contract with The Walt Disney Studios. By 1975, "Variety" named six of his Disney features all-time box-office champions, including "The Love Bug," "That Darn Cat," "Snowball Express," "The Ugly Dachshund," "The $1,000,000 Duck," and "Blackbeard's Ghost." Dean's clean-cut appeal and good-natured hijinks made his name synonymous with Disney motion pictures. As former president of Walt Disney Pictures David Vogel once said, "When you think of Disney, you think of Dean Jones." Hayley Mills Walt Disney once called actress Hayley Mills "the greatest movie find in 25 years." Indeed, her unaffected and naturally expressive acting style made her an instant favorite among audiences when she made her U.S. debut in Disney's "Pollyanna," for which she earned a special Oscar® in 1960. Among her numerous Disney credits, however, Hayley is probably best remembered for "The Parent Trap," in which she played twin sisters who scheme to reunite their divorced parents, played by Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara. The daughter of famed British actor Sir John Mills and playwright and author Mary Hayley Bell, she recalled her first meeting with Walt Disney, who was then seeking the perfect youngster to star in the title role of his film "Pollyanna." Born on April 18, 1946, in London, England, Hayley made an auspicious screen debut at 13, portraying a frightened little witness in one of her father's films, "Tiger Bay." Her able performance caught Walt Disney's attention and he quickly signed her to a five-year contract in 1960. Among her Disney credits are "In Search of the Castaways," starring Maurice Chevalier, "Summer Magic," with Burl Ives, "The Moon-Spinners," with Eli Wallach, and "That Darn Cat," starring Dean Jones. Hayley also released a Buena Vista record album, "Let's Get Together" named after the hit song she performed in "The Parent Trap." As songwriter Richard Sherman of the Sherman Brothers recalled, "'Let's Get Together' was just a scene in 'The Parent Trap,' but kids were going into the movie house with little tape recorders and taping it!" The recording was re-released in 1997 as part of Walt Disney Records' Archive Collection. Fred MacMurray Over the years, Fred MacMurray told interviewers he was "a personality not an actor." While Billy Wilder, who directed the affable Fred in such films as "Double Indemnity" with Barbara Stanwyck and "The Apartment" with Shirley MacLaine, summed up his personality well, when he called him "everybody's nice fellow." "Fred MacMurray," Wilder said, "gives people the feeling that he's kind to dogs, children, mothers and widows." A versatile actor, Fred could play every kind of role ranging from screwball comedy to romance to film noir. Yet, he is probably best remembered for the befuddled characters he made famous in such Disney films as "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber," in which he plays Professor Ned Brainard of Medfield College. Some who knew Fred say his bewilderment on camera actually reflected his innate shyness off camera. Born August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, and raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Fred was the son of a concert violinist. After high school, he worked as a band saxophonist and vocalist to pay his way through Carroll College in Wisconsin. In the late 1920s, Fred moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the California Collegians vocal ensemble. He traveled with the group to appear on Broadway in such shows as "Three's a Crowd" with Fred Allen, and later was cast as Bob Hope's understudy in "Roberta." A Paramount talent scout spotted the blue-eyed Fred and arranged for a screen test, which won him a studio contract. In 1935, he became a movie star, virtually overnight, when he played opposite Claudette Colbert in "The Gilded Lily." Walt Disney personally cast Fred in the Studio's first live-action comedy, "The Shaggy Dog," released in 1959, which was one of the biggest and most unexpected film milestones in Disney history. In all, Fred appeared in seven Disney feature films including, "Bon Voyage" with Jane Wyman, "Follow Me, Boys!" with Vera Miles and Kurt Russell, and "The Happiest Millionaire" with Greer Garson, which was the last live-action movie supervised by Walt before his untimely death in December 1966. Fred's last Disney film was "Charley and the Angel" with Harry Morgan, released in 1973. Tommy Kirk Thomas Lee Kirk was born in 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Los Angeles. He was just 13 years old when discovered in Will Rogers, Jr.'s production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse. The All-American boy was brought to the attention of Walt Disney, who cast the teenager as half of "The Hardy Boys" on the popular serial seen on the "Mickey Mouse Club." Tommy appeared in more television programs including "Frontier," "Gunsmoke," and "The Loretta Young Show," before returning to Disney to film a serial sequel to the first "Hardy Boys" adventure. Larger, varied, and more significant Disney roles followed, among them a brilliant performance as Arliss Coates in Old Yeller (1957), a comic turn in The Shaggy Dog (1959), romance and adventure in Swiss Family Robinson (1960), more comedy in The Absent-Minded Professor, and musical comedy in Babes in Toyland (1961). He guest-starred in Moon Pilot (1962) and the sequels Son of Flubber and Savage Sam (1963) and the TV films "The Horsemasters" (1961) and "Escapade in Florence" (1962). Personal problems caused Tom some difficulties during the early 1960s. On the set of Disney's Bon Voyage (1962), star Fred MacMurray gave Tom "the biggest dressing-down of my life" for his behavior, and Tom confesses that he fully deserved the scolding. Tom's last two films for the Studio featured him as the teenage genius, Merlin Jones, in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) and The Monkey's Uncle (1965). Kevin Corcoran One of seven children of MGM studio policeman Bill Corcoran, Kevin Corcoran was born in 1949 in Santa Monica, California, and began acting when he was two. During his onscreen career, he would come to embody an "American Everykid." "The Mouseketeers were entertainers and role models, and Tommy Kirk and Kurt Russell were teen faves," says film writer Donald Liebenson. "But kids in the audience related more to Corcoran, who created a character who was part All-American boy and part hellion." Corcoran's first film appearance was as the kid version of Tyrone Power's character in Henry Kings' adventure film Untamed (1955), after which he and sisters, Noreen and Donna, played Quaker farmer Ernest Borgnine's children in Violent Saturday. In 1956, Kevin auditioned for a serialized segment of the "Mickey Mouse Club" called "Adventures in Dairyland." He won the role of a character whose name was "Moochie," a nickname that seemed to suit his rambunctious personality. Walt Disney was so impressed with Kevin's Disney debut that he had a special role written for "Moochie" in another "Mickey Mouse Club" serial, "The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty." Kevin went on to co-star in the Disney theatrical features Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson, and played the title role in Toby Tyler (1960). He also appeared in Babes in Toyland (1961), Bon Voyage!, The Mooncussers (1962) Savage Sam (1963), and A Tiger Walks (1964). Kevin was top-billed in the Disney TV projects "Moochie of the Little League" (1959), "Moochie of Pop Warner Football" (1961), and "Johnny Shiloh" (1963). He credits Walt Disney for being a caring father figure. Kevin remembers going to Walt's office after one contract negotiation. "He called me up there and said, 'This is between you and me. I want to know if you feel you're being treated fairly.' I know darn well if I had said I was unhappy, he would have done something about it." Be sure to also visit: The Story of Walt’s Comedies Exhibit The Special Effects of Walt’s Comedies Exhibit Walt’s Thoughts on the Comedies