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Page 27 of 28 Vision of the Future: Walt's  Death

Marc Davis
 

Marc Davis came to work for Walt in 1935 during the production of 'Snow White',  and continued to make major contributions 31 years later, when Walt died.

He had lunch with John Hench and a few others and told them about the cancer. He asked them about their current projects and then returned with them to the WED offices. "When he got over there, his voice took on enthusiasm and deepened," said Hench. "We had a few laughs and went over a few things. . . . We went over the Moon Ride. We had a full-scale mock-up of a space center control room, with which he checked out the viewing angles from public areas. He was interested in seeing how the ideas suggested at the last meeting had worked out. And he came over to see the pirate ride mock-up." Walt then walked over to artist Marc Davis' office, where he chuckled at sketches of bears that Davis was preparing for Mineral King. Davis commented on how much weight Walt had lost, "He looked at me with big, sad eyes," recalls Davis, "and God, I could have bitten my tongue off." When he left, "I stayed at the door," the artist remembered, "and watched him walk down the hall. He was, I guess, about 50 feet away. He turned and said, 'Good-bye Marc.' He never said good-bye. It was always, 'See ya later.'
Walt told everyone at the studio and WED that with the removal of the one lung he was practically good as new. But rumors flew. He was back at the studio the next couple of days, visiting the set of "Blackbeard's Ghost." The next day was Thanksgiving, which Walt and Lilly celebrated with the Miller family. "We were sitting there," Diane recalled, "and that's when I brought him a drink and a little dish. And he said, 'I don't smoke, kid. But they're still not sure that smoking causes lung cancer.' He couldn't admit that maybe it did. I had gotten on his back the last five years of his life about smoking. I said, 'You've got to stop it, Daddy. You've got to cut it out. At least smoke filter tips. He'd say, 'Knock if off, kid.'"
    After a one-night stay in Palm Springs, he was back in the hospital on November 30. From there, his health failed far more rapidly than the doctors, or his family, had anticipated. "I trusted the doctors," said Lilly. "I really didn't know he was going to go. Neither did he. We had a trip planned for him to recover." The last days of his life Walt was heavily sedated -- and in some pain.
   Every year for decades, Walt had sent his sister Ruth a Christmas letter, accompanied by a check. In 1966 the letter was written by his secretary, Tommie Wilck. After a little small talk, she wrote, "When Walt is back in his office, I'm sure you'll get a more up-to-date and personal note from him. In the meantime, he sends his love." The night before he died, Roy visited and reported that Walt was staring at the ceiling and pointing to where everything was going to fall at EPCOT, including the entrance and exit roads. On December 15, 1966, Walt died.
EPCOT

EPCOT was the last project on Walt's
mind when he died. According to Roy,
Walt was still planning the lay-out
using the ceiling tiles above his 
hospital bed as a grid reference.

Walt

Walt had just turned 65 when he died
on December 15, 1966

Diane: "Mother called us -- we lived nearby -- and said the hospital called and said there's been a turn for the worse. I quickly drove over to pick her up. I remember it took her forever to get dressed. Meticulously putting on her earrings. I was impatient to get there. I think Mother and I both knew, without saying it. Ron was there ahead of us. As we came down the hall, I saw Ron start into the room, and back out, as if someone had pushed him out. I don't think he expected to find Dad dead. I did. And then we went in and Roy was already there, standing at the foot of his bed, with his hand on one of Dad's feet, kind of rubbing his feet, with that sweet half smile that was always his expression. And he was saying something, I forget exactly what it was -- nothing corny or trite or anything. Something loving. The older brother. Then my brother-in-law Bob came to the room with Sharon. I had some kind of peculiar energy. Bob asked me to take her in. And I did, and I put her hand on Dad's and she said, "Now Daddy, now you won't hurt anymore." After he left the room, Roy's grief was intense. "I'd never seen him cry," said his daughter-in-law Patty. "And I put my arm around him and he walked away. He wanted to be alone." 
Ruth was stunned to hear the news on the radio. "It was said so casual," she recalled with a tone of disbelief in her voice. "Then right on to the next item." "It was a great shock," said his niece Dorothy Puder. "I don't think I realized that he was that near death." Marvin Davis ? a studio designer who had married Walt's niece Marjorie -- was in a conference room at WED. "Margie called me and I excused myself, and I went out and came back and said, 'Well, gentlemen, I'm afraid I have bad news.' And everybody's faces all dropped. They knew exactly what it was."
     "I don't think he believed it would ever happen," said Ward Kimball. "I don't think he accepted it, knowing Walt. Not until he closed his eyes for the last time was he ever convinced."
.

Ward Kimball

Ward Kimball said of Walt's death that
'I don't think he accepted it, knowing Walt'. Ward, one of Walt's 'Nine Old Men', died in 2002.
 

 
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