subject: After Walt: The Dark Ages Of Disney [print this page] No one had expected Walt Disney to die in 1966; barely two months passed between the initial discovery of his lung cancer and his death. The Disney company, which had flourished under his hand, was left without a leader. Although Walt's brother Roy stepped in as CEO, he died unexpectedly in 1971, resulting in the Disney company without the Disneys--a cult of personality that had lost its person. Without direction or clear leadership, the company descended into a slow decline in the 1970s and early 1980s: the Dark Ages.
After Roy's death, Donn Tatum became the Disney chairman and Card Walker took over duties as president. Both men had been with Disney for several years already--Walker had been a major force behind the development of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney's son-in-law, Ron Miller, became the president in 1980; CEO in 1983; he created the Touchstone distribution label in hopes of releasing more mature, adult-oriented films without tarnishing the Disney reputation for family-friendliness. Miller also oversaw the initial development of ambitious projects Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Tron.
On the cartoon side, the animation department quietly descended into utter chaos behind the scenes, even as they released well-received features like Robin Hood. The times were changing; the original Nine Old Men, the animators who'd been with Disney from the start, were all but retired; they began handing the reins over to a new generation of artists. These animators included Don Bluth, Glen Keane, Ron Clements, and Brad Bird--men who would go on to play vital roles in modern animation history. 1977's The Rescuers was the studio's first animated success since The Jungle Book in 1967. The Nine Old Men would never again work (in a significant capacity) on a Disney film, after the release of The Fox and the Hound in 1983. The last vestiges of the Disney studio's foundation were slowly withering away.
To make matters worse, the company was extremely vulnerable from a financial standpoint. Even with the success of theme parks (including new installations like Epcot in 1982), the studio was struggling creatively; Walt Disney's talents were singular and impossible to replicate. Disney releases were being crushed at the box office--most insultingly by the films of Don Bluth, once a promising asset to the company. Ron Miller's direction was widely criticized, and Disney became the target of corporate raiders; he was ousted as CEO after just one year, and replaced by Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew.
Then, in 1984, financier Saul Steinberg attempted a hostile takeover, with the intent of dissolving the entire company. Disney successfully fought back with the help of friendly investors, but the corporate heads knew that this might be their last chance to turn fortunes around. Roy Disney and investor Sid Bass ended up hiring three men: Frank Wells, a previous Warner Bros Chief; Jeffrey Katzenberg, the President of Production at Paramount; and Michael Eisner, an up-and-coming businessman and producer. Things at Disney would never be the same.
