Mémoires et biographies de personnalités Disney (dirigeants, Imagineers, animateurs...)

Hyperion Avenue va publier en septembre prochain les Mémoires de... Scott Lang aka Ant-Man Look Out for the Little Guy est livre in-Universe écrit par Scott Lang et partagé avec le monde, comme on le voit à l'écran dans le nouveau film Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania de Marvel Studios.


Look Out for the Little Guy de Scott Lang (Hyperion Avenue, 2023)






Description de l'éditeur : Look Out for the Little Guy is the in-movie memoir by Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man, that he's written and shared with the world, as seen onscreen in the new Marvel Studios film Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Hyperion Avenue is proud to bring this book to real life.

This is the incredible story of an ex-con turned world-saving Super Hero.

In Look Out for the Little Guy, Scott Lang shares with the world a bracingly honest account of his struggles and triumphs, from serving time to being a divorced dad to becoming Ant-Man and joining The Avengers. These are stories of epic battles won and lost, as this everyman turned Super Hero finally tells all--from the official account of what really happened between The Avengers and Thanos to how shrinking down to ant-size really feels to the challenges of balancing the roles of hero and dad.

Across his many adventures big and small, Scott has gathered the wisdom of countless amazing experiences into this, the first memoir from a real-life Avenger. Once you learn the unforgettable details of his epic journey, you won't need to be reminded . . . to look out for the little guy.

Frenchy's Poor Nose : Taking it Right on the Nose - My Life at the Walt Disney Studios: Hollywood & Burbank, Calif. 1930-1943 avec la participation de J.B. Kaufman (Skyway Press, 2022).






Description de l'éditeur : Gilles Armand René "Frenchy" de Trémaudan worked as an animator and writer at the Walt Disney Studio during its peak years, and enjoyed an unusually long tenure, from 1930 to 1943. Inside the pages of this volume are the souvenirs he saved from this period, including photographs, gag sketches (by himself and other artists), and other mementoes, along with his autobiographical notes. As a special, added bonus, hundreds of frames from Frenchy’s personal home movies have been included. These treasures provide a rare glimpse at life inside, and beyond, the walls of the Walt Disney Studio during its golden age.

What Have We Here ? : Portraits of a Life, les Mémoires de l'acteur Billy Dee Williams, sortira au début de l'année prochaine chez l'éditeur américain Knopf (membre de Penguin Random House).


What Have We Here ? : Portraits of a Life de Billy Dee Williams (Knopf, 2024)


Description de l'éditeur : A film legend recalls his remarkable life of nearly eight decades—a heralded actor who's played the roles he wanted, from Brian’s Song to Lando in the Star Wars universe—unchecked by the racism and typecasting so rife in the mostly all-white industry in which he triumphed.

Billy Dee Williams was born in Harlem in 1937 and grew up in a household of love and sophistication. As a young boy, he made his stage debut working with Lotte Lenya in an Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill production where Williams ended up feeding Lenya her lines. He studied painting, first at the High School of Music and Art, with fellow student Diahann Carroll, and then at the National Academy of Fine Art, before setting out to pursue acting with Herbert Berghoff, Stella Adler, and Sidney Poitier.

His first film role was in The Last Angry Man, the great Paul Muni’s final film. It was Muni who gave Billy the advice that sent him soaring as an actor, “You can play any character you want to play no matter who you are, no matter the way you look or the color of your skin.” And Williams writes, “I wanted to be anyone I wanted to be.”

He writes of landing the role of a lifetime: co-starring alongside James Caan in Brian’s Song, the made-for-television movie that was watched by an audience of more than fifty million people. Williams says it was “the kind of interracial love story America needed.”

And when, as the first Black character in the Star Wars universe, he became a true pop culture icon, playing Lando Calrissian in George Lucas’s The Empire Strikes Back (“What I presented on the screen people didn’t expect to see”). It was a role he reprised in the final film of the original trilogy, The Return of the Jedi, and in the recent sequel The Rise of Skywalker.

A legendary actor, in his own words, on all that has sustained and carried him through a lifetime of dreams and adventure.

Charles Shows, scénariste de télévision, a travaillé une dizaine d'années pour Disney. 

Le premier volume du roman graphique retraçant la vie et la carrière de George Lucas est sorti aux éditions Deman (208 pages) :

Citation :

Scrupuleusement fidèle à la réalité historique, méticuleusement documenté, Les Guerres de Lucas met en scène l’invraisemblable épopée de George Lucas, enfant rebelle passé à côté de la mort, prodige du nouvel Hollywood et visionnaire indomptable.

Une exploration inédite des coulisses de Star Wars, de l’enfer du casting au tournage cauchemardesque, où querelles entre acteurs, histoire d’amour secrète et désastres en pagaille jalonnent le quotidien. Un bourbier gigantesque dont sortira pourtant une œuvre majeure qui changera à jamais le cinéma.

Les Guerres de Lucas est une plongée en apnée dans les affres de la création, intense et poignante, mais drôle malgré tout. Making of ultime, success-story jouissive et leçon de cinéma, une ode à la magie de l’enfance et à la persévérance.

Quelques extraits :

Bob Weis publiera ses Mémoires cette année, sortie annoncée pour après l'été chez Disney Editions :

Dream Chasing : Four Decades of Failure and Success with Walt Disney Imagineering de Bob Weis (Disney Edition, 2024).


Description de l'éditeur : Disney Global Imagineering Ambassador Bob Weis inspires with his life journey, told through this entertaining narrative memoir.
Dreams come from a place of infinite possibilities, from a part of us that doesn't recognize limits. Dreams are exciting, frustrating, and sometimes illusive, as hard to hold on to as pixie dust, like glitter falling through your fingers. Sometimes they are meant to happen, and they do, sometimes they are meant to happen, and they don't.

During the early 1950s, Walt Disney began to gather a rag tag team of artists and engineers to help him formulate dreams that more than seven years later would become Disneyland. Walt's team of dreamers all shared certain attributes. They could expand on his notions, give them form and shape, and reality. They had no fear of opening new doors or trying new things. They were curious, and willing to explore ideas down new paths. Ultimately, Walt described his dreamers as possessing a blending of creative imagination with technical know-how. They called it "Imagineering," and most of all they could dream together. They could collaborate with Walt, and they could collaborate with each other.

Bob Weis was part of the second generation of Imagineers. During his 40-year career at Walt Disney Imagineering, he spent a lot of time chasing dreams along a bumpy road to great achievement.In this entertaining illustrated volume, Bob shares his journey--growing up a half hour from Disneyland, pursuing an architecture degree, and how taking a part-time job at the Happiest Place on Earth would lead to an unimaginably creative career culminating as the president of Walt Disney Imagineering.

A venir à l'automne (octobre 2024), les Mémoires de Martha Blanding, devenue la toute première Afro-Américaine à réaliser une carrière d'un demi-siècle au sein de The Walt Disney Company.

L'histoire passionnante et émouvante d'une jeune femme du sud de Los Angeles (Watts et Compton, quartiers où vivaient majoritairement des Afro-Américains, théâtre d'importantes émeutes raciales) qui a tenté sa chance, a défié tous les pronostics.

Ce livre est un voyage personnel à travers cinquante ans du Disneyland Park raconté comme jamais auparavant.

Martha Blanding a commencé à travailler à Disneyland Park en 1971 comme première guide touristique de couleur du parc.

En moins d'un an, elle a été promue hôtesse VIP, accompagnant des personnalités légendaires du divertissement telles que Diana Ross, Elton John, Olivia Newton-John, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson et de nombreux représentants gouvernementaux nationaux et internationaux, y compris une délégation de l'URSS.

Martha est rapidement devenue la toute première femme de couleur à rejoindre les cadres de Disneyland Park, devenant une experte en achats de marchandises et finalement la directrice des événements spéciaux de Disneyland Resort, supervisant des événements générant plusieurs millions de dollars !

En partie Mémoire et en partie histoire culturelle et sociale, Groundbreaking Magic est doux, perspicace, parfois direct, parfois déchirant, souvent drôle et surprenant, offrant le tout premier récit de l'histoire de Disney vue à travers les yeux de "Martha B" .



Groundbreaking Magic : A Black Woman’s Journey Through The Happiest Place on Earth de Martha Blanding (Disney Editions, 2024)


Description de l'éditeur : An empowering and moving story of a young woman from South Central Los Angeles (Watts and Compton) who took a chance, defied the odds, and became the first-ever Black American to achieve a half-century-long career with The Walt Disney Company.

Disneyland was groundbreaking when it opened in 1955 and continues to possess a legacy of being a trend setter in both the world of themed, immersive, entertainment and workplace culture, experiences, and training. Although change was inevitable it didn’t always come easy.

Here is the incredible story of a young woman from South Central Los Angeles (Watts and Compton) who took a chance, defied the odds, and became the first-ever Black American to achieve a half-century-long career with The Walt Disney Company.

When Martha Blanding started working at Disneyland Park in 1971, it was already a wildly successful and internationally beloved travel destination that had welcomed more than 100 million guests. This book is a personal journey through fifty years of Disneyland as told like never before . . . through the eyes and perspective of a successful Black woman who was indeed an example of Groundbreaking Magic.

This book tells how a twenty-year-old college student came to work in Walt Disney’s original theme park during the racially charged era of the early 1970s, starting as the park’s first Black tour guide and eventually overseeing multi-million dollar generating merchandise-based events, many featuring globally acclaimed artists and celebrities. Martha also had a unique vantage point as she saw how societal changes impacted and changed Disneyland while she helped make much of that change possible.

In addition to all the Disney pixie dust, an incredibly loving, resilient, and close American family is at the heart of this book. With her bedrock parents who had joined the Great Migration out of the Deep South, her family witnessed firsthand some of our country’s most shameful events while never faltering in their faith or pride in being Black Americans.

Part memoir and part cultural history, Groundbreaking Magic is sweet, insightful, sometimes blunt, occasionally heartbreaking, and often funny and surprising, providing the first-ever account of Disney history as seen through the eyes of “Martha B.”

Un visuel pour les Mémoires de Bob Weiss annoncé en début d'année :

Kevin Edward Thompson a joué un Ewok dans la saga Star Wars. Dans l'épisode VI, Star Wars : Le Retour du Jedi, il était l'un des cinq acteurs américains à réaliser toutes les cascades en forêt d'Endor.

Pendant la pandémie de Covid et étant confinée à la maison, Tracey McCoy Thompson en a eut assez d'entendre toutes les histoires de son mari   sur son tournage du Retour du Jedi et a finalement décidé de s'asseoir avec lui et d'écrire ce livre.


My Journey to Endor de Tracey McCoy Thompson (Kevin Edward Thompson (auto-édition), 2022)






Description de l'éditeur : Star Wars was the most anticipated movie in 1977. Who knew that when Kevin Thompson stood in line at the theater with the rest of the world, he would later be taking you on his journey from the secretive audition and getting the part on the most sought-after movie of all time five years later. It was destiny, a trilogy was born. A dream that many people dream about. He is a story teller and this book promises you emotionally and physically that you are with him on his Journey to Endor. He played an Ewok in the Star Wars Saga, Return of the Jedi. He was one of five American Actors who did all the stunts in the forest. Swinging on vines, explosions, and battling the Storm Troopers. The struggles of being only 4 foot 5 inches tall and running in costumes that had 2 inches thick of foam and fur while not being able to see in the Ewok costume heads. He got to play make-believe in a real world of imagination. George Lucas' imagination.

Everything he did on Return of the Jedi at 22 years old actually molded his life in a universal way. Kevin Thompson was pushed physically and mentally performing stunts that otherwise he would have never known he was capable. He grew up quick on the set. He proved to himself that his stature was not going to hinder him on Endor and in his life. His protective bubble living with his family and friends on a cul-de-sac popped wide open and he has lived his life with no restrictions and no regrets.

Get ready for this hero journey. It is as if you are sitting in the tree tops with him blowing the horn ready for battle with his fellow Ewoks.

Un visuel pour les Mémoires de Martha Blanding annoncé en février :

Pendant quarante-cinq ans, le tubiste Stanford Freese a consacré sa vie à apporter la magie du divertissement dans les parcs Disney du monde entier, avec des artistes de qualité, sur les scènes et dans les allées des parcs !


Music, Mayhem and the Mouse : My "Tubazar" Life de Stanford Freese (Skyway Press, 2023).





Description de l'éditeur : For forty-five years, Stan Freese dedicated his life to bringing live entertainment magic to the Disney Parks around the world. From marching bands to rock groups, circus aerialists to wild animals, and beyond, Stan filled park stages and street corners with quality performers to carry on Disney's legacy of fine family entertainment. But some of the shenanigans he came into weren't always family friendly—both inside and outside the parks.

Filled with incredible insights, crazy stories, and sober reflection, Music, Mayhem and the Mouse is a journey through the remarkable life of a Midwestern tuba player turned entertainment impresario. It's an eyewitness account of aspects of Disney Parks history seldom covered. And it's an inspiring story of personal struggle and redemption.

Deux biographies de l'acteur Harrison Ford, l'une datant de 2017, l'autre de fin de l'année dernière :


Harrison Ford : L'acteur qui ne voulait pas être une star de Alexis Orsini (Dunod Editeur, 2017).

Dunod Editeur (Groupe Hachette Livre) a écrit:

Alexis Orsini, auteur et journaliste, nous invite à découvrir le parcours atypique de cette légende du cinéma américain dont on sait finalement peu de choses. De ses débuts sur les planches à Blade Runner 2049, il retrace en détail son parcours hors normes au rythme d’anecdotes méconnues et de photos emblématiques.

Harrison Ford : L’étoffe d’un héros de Guillaume Evin (Hugo Publishing, 2023).

Tout chaud sur Chronique Disney, le site, retrouvez la critique de l'essai de Bob Iger, Leçons de Leadership Créatif :Mon Aventure à la Tête de l'Entreprise qui Transforme la Magie en Réalité.

Sortie début mai 2025 d’une biographie de l’acteur Harrison Ford dans la célèbre collection Little Golden Books : 

Harrison Ford : A Little Golden Book Biography (Penguin Random House, 2025).

L'indicible lutte pour la succession chez Walt Disney Productions après le décès de son fondateur et la transformation générationnelle qui a conduit à la naissance de l'industrie moderne de l'animation.

L’histoire de haut en bas des dirigeants et des animateurs qui se sont affrontés et ont collaboré pour maintenir en vie l’entreprise la plus célèbre d’Amérique pendant la période la plus incertaine de ses cent ans d’histoire.

Sortie en mars de l'année prochaine.



After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America's Favorite Media Company de Neil O'Brien (Post Hill Press, 2025).







Description de l'éditeur : The untold succession struggle at Walt Disney Productions following the death of its founder, and the generational transformation which led to the birth of the modern multibillion-dollar animation industry.

Walt Disney left behind big dreams when he died in 1966. Perhaps none was greater than the hope that his son-in-law, Ron Miller, would someday run his studio. Under Miller’s leadership, Disney expanded into new frontiers: global theme parks, computer animation, cable television, home video, and video games. Despite these innovations, Ron struggled to expand the Disney brand beyond its midcentury image of wholesome family entertainment, even as times and tastes evolved. Tensions between Miller and Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, threatened to destroy the company, leading Wall Street “Gordon Gekko” types to come after Mickey Mouse.

At the same time, the aging Animation Department—once the core of Walt’s business—was one memo away from shutting down forever. Rather, thanks to the radical efforts of Walt’s veterans to recruit and nurture young talent, it was revived by this sudden influx of artists who would go on to revolutionize the film industry. Additionally, this new generation would prove over time that animation was so much more than just kids’ stuff—it was a multibillion dollar industry.

This is the upstairs-downstairs story of the executives and animators who clashed and collaborated to keep America’s most storied company alive during the most uncertain period in its one hundred year history.