Alwyn Walter "Walt" Peregoy (November 17, 1925 – January 16, 2015) was an American artist who was a color stylist and

background artist A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can e ...

for

animated cartoons Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

. Among the studios he worked for were

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

1951–1964, 1974–1983,

Format Films Format Films was a television animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators. It was most active during the 1960s, producing episodes o ...

and

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

(1968–1971 & 1973). He received little publicity over his career, but was acclaimed for his

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

style. His dedication, creativity and contributions to animation while at Disney earned Peregoy the honor of being inducted into the

Disney Legends The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...

roster in 2008.

Life

Early years

Peregoy was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1925. He spent his early childhood on a small island (

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...

) in

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. He was nine years old when he began his formal art training by attending classes at the

California College of Arts and Crafts California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. At the age 12 years old, Peregoy's family returned to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art In ...

's life drawing classes. At the age 17 Peregoy dropped out of high school and went to work for Disney as an in-betweener. In 1942, he joined the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

and served for three years in the Infirmary as a 1st Class Petty Officer. After World War II he continued his art education, studying at the University de Belles Artes, San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico, and with

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

in Paris.

Animation work

In 1951, Peregoy returned to the United States and resumed his career with The Walt Disney Studios. Although skilled with these more conventional projects, Peregoy's personal style began to surface. Peregoy's unique style began to meshed well with that of his contemporary, stylist

Eyvind Earle Eyvind Earle (April 26, 1916 – July 20, 2000) was an American artist, author and illustrator, noted for his contribution to the background illustration and styling of Disney's animated films in the 1950s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yo ...

. Peregoy and Earle's work on ''

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the or ...

'' (1958) was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

in the short category. Their unique style of animation on ''Paul Bunyan'' was a departure for Disney. Peregoy continued to work at Disney for an additional 14 years. Peregoy was lead background painter on ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' (1959) before embarking on the most ambitious, intelligent, and personal effort, his work as color stylist and background artist on ''

One Hundred and One Dalmatians ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. The ...

'' (1961), and '' The Sword in the Stone'' (1963). He later worked on ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated television comedy, comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of Children's programming on CBS, the network ...

'' (1969), and other series produced by

. He returned to Disney (WED Enterprises in 1977 through 1983), contributing his unique view to the design of

Epcot Center Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unre ...

in Florida, where his influence included architectural facades, sculptures, fountains, show rides, and murals for The Land and "Imagination!" (formerly The journey into the Imagination) pavilions. Along with Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle and Joshua Meador, Peregoy was one of the featured artists in Disney's ''Four Artists Paint One Tree'' documentary. This documentary illustrated the unique interpretation that each artist can bring to a single subject matter. Peregoy's work has been the subject of one Man Shows at: Stockton Museum, California; The University of Santa Clara, California; Galerie de Tour, San Francisco, California; Rutherford Gallery, San Francisco, California;

, Los Angeles, California; Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Dickie Hall Gallery, Laguna, California; Jack Carr Gallery, Pasadena, California. He has also participated in group shows at:

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Later years

He taught Background Styling at Brandes Art Institute from 1984–1985 as well as Principle of Drawing. In the last years of his life, he continued to draw and paint in the Los Angeles area. Peregoy died on January 16, 2015 at the age of 89.

External links

*
2005 Golden Award: Walt Peregoy2008 Disney Legends Award: Walt PeregoyObituary - Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peregoy, Alwyn Walter 1925 births 2015 deaths American artists Background artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Hanna-Barbera people