Harper Goff

Did you know?!

1. Big break

   In 1951, Harper Goff met Walt Disney in a London model-making shop. Both men were there because they wanted to buy the same model train.

2. 

   Behind the award

   Goff designed the exterior of the Nautilus and sets for every compartment inside the submarine for Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but the Academy gave the art direction award to his assistant John Meehan because Meehan held a union card.

3. A change of course

   During World War II, Goff developed a set of camouflage paint colors used as standard issue hues and a chemically impermanent camouflage pigment that could be removed when no longer needed.

4. Beyond film

   Goff also played banjo in Firehouse Five Plus Two, a seven-piece Dixieland band. Other Disney staff formed it, and trombonist Ward Kimball led it, with animator Frank Thomas on piano.

5. Early training

   Goff studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Westlake, Los Angeles, before moving to New York City to work as a magazine illustrator.

6. Behind the camera

   Goff also did a great deal of the early concept art and renderings for Mickey Mouse Park, the proposed park that turned into Disneyland, plus several areas of the Walt Disney World theme park.