Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Oprah Winfrey, Stan Lee Named Disney Legends (Exclusive)
Disney is ready to welcome Princess Leia into the pantheon. The late Carrie Fisher is among the all-star class tapped for enshrinement as Disney Legends, the highest honor the Mouse House confers upon artists who have made an indelible impact on the company. Joining Fisher is her Star Wars sibling, Mark Hamill, as well as Marvel maestro Stan Lee, and general force of nature Oprah Winfrey.
The quartet will be inducted as 2017 Disney Legends by CEO Bob Iger during a ceremony at the D23 Expo fan convention on July 14. Each will be presented with a bronze statuette and will have their handprints immortalized in bronze for display at the company’s studio lot in Burbank, Calif.
Aside from her classic Star Wars performances — from 1977’s A New Hope up through this December’s The Last Jedi — Fisher, who died last December, also appeared in Scream 3 (2000) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), both produced by Disney’s former subsidiary Dimension Films.
Hamill’s Disney portfolio likewise includes five Star Wars films as Luke Skywalker. The actor got his start on ABC’s General Hospital and has voiced roles on several Disney cartoons, including Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Miles From Tomorrowland, and Milo Murphy’s Law.
As the former editorial director and publisher of Marvel, Stan “The Man” Lee is credited with co-creating several of the greatest comic heroes, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, Black Panther, and Falcon. He has made cameos in dozens of Marvel films — as well as the wedding scene in Disney’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
The do-everything Winfrey will co-star as Mrs. Which in Disney’s upcoming Ava DuVernay-helmed adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, due in 2018. Her Disney bona fides also include the 1998 film Beloved and the role of Eudora in 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, and several ABC TV productions in which she starred and/or produced, including The Women of Brewster Place, Tuesdays With Morrie, Before Women Had Wings, and Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The complete list of nine honorees will be announced later today, and will bring the roster of Disney Legends to 276. Previous recipients include Tim Allen, Julie Andrews, Johnny Depp, Steve Martin, George Lucas, Angela Lansbury, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, and Annette Funicello.
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