Peter Ellenshaw: “Disney’s Painter of Movies”
Walt Disney made the decision for his studio to produce live-action films in the 1950s. The decision was made as collaborative effort with his brother, Roy, and as a result, they began hiring directors, cinematographers, and visual effects artists. One of the most remarkable talents they ever hired, was a man named Peter Ellenshaw. Peter Ellenshaw was known for having been a matte painter (matte painters painted the landscapes/locations forming the basis of scenery) on many early Hollywood films, and later he was hired by Walt Disney to work apply his matte skills to work on the very first live-action film the studio produced, Treasure Island (1950). When “Treasure Island,” was a hit, Ellenshaw was rehired by the studio a countless number of times to design matte paintings as well as visual effects and even art direction.
William Samuel Cook “Peter” Ellenshaw was born in London, England on May 24th, 1913. His biological father passed away when he was eight years old, and his mother remarried shortly after that to a movie matte painter named Walter Percy Day. Ellenshaw had to stop attending private school in order to help with the family finances as a result, but he developed artistic skills, encouraged by his mother. As a young adult, his stepfather took him under his wing and taught him to be a matte painter and at age 21, Peter Ellenshaw worked as an assistant matte artist on the Britain-produced film The Scarlett Pimpernel (1934). He also worked on other films produced in London such as The Ghost Goes West (1935) and Things to Come (1936). After working on some other British films, he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in WW2. Not long after his service was over, he met Walt Disney in London, who had seen as work on English films, and was eager to hire Ellenshaw as the head matte artist on “Treasure Island,” which was to be produced in Great Britain. Naturally, Ellenshaw signed on. While working on “Treasure Island,” he simultaneously worked on MGM’s (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s) Quo Vadis (1951) and Warner Bros. Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951).
Ellenshaw’s next Disney film was The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men in 1952. He followed that up with The Sword and the Rose and Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue the year after that in ’53. He also worked as the matte artist for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), which won the Oscars for Best Art Direction and Best Effects. He continued designing matte paintings for Disney films throughout the ‘50s, but by the time it came to Johnny Tremain (1957) Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959), he got to expand beyond that as the production designer for “Tremain,” and designing the special art styling and the photographic effects on “O’Gill.” He also was uncredited as the second unit director for the film The Light in the Forest (1958). In 1960, he designed the matte paintings for Universal’s Spartacus as well as Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson.
In the 1960s, Peter Ellenshaw was promoted to special effects designer at Disney. The first film he designed the special effects for was The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), which became the first live-action film ever at Disney to spawn a sequel, Son of Flubber (1963), and he worked on that as well. Around the time of “Son of Flubber,” Disney had officially been given the “green-light” for Mary Poppins (1964), and naturally Peter Ellenshaw was assigned to design the matte paintings and special effects for the that film as well, along with Hamilton Luske and Eustace Lycett. Their contributions to the film earned the film the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. (Fun fact: Peter Ellenshaw’s hand can be seen in “Poppins,” in the scene where Bert draws the country road in the pavement picture. The hand in the wide shot that draws the bridge on the picture is Ellenshaw’s, not Dick Van Dyke’s. Peter Ellenshaw also provided the voice of one of the dancing penguins in the “Jolly Holiday,” sequence.)
Ellenshaw continued working for Disney after Walt Disney’s death in 1966, designing mattes for films such as Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968) and the special photographic effects for The Love Bug (1968). He earned other Oscar nominations for his work as the production designer/set decorator for the films Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and The Island at the Top of the World (1974). He had planned to retire around this time, but he was later hired by Disney to do the production design for The Black Hole (1979), a role which reunited him with his effects partner from “Poppins,” Eustace Lycett, and the film also gave him the opportunity to work with his son, Harrison Ellenshaw, who is also an exceptional matte painter/visual effects artist, having worked on movies such as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), as well as Disney’s Tron (1982). Peter kept working films through the ‘80s until Touchstone’s Dick Tracy (1990). After that film, he officially retired, but continued to make paintings of Disney and non-Disney themed subjects
Peter Ellenshaw is a true Disney Legend, though it wasn’t until 1993 that he was officially named one. In one of the later interviews of his life he specifically said that Walt Disney “was the most marvelous man I ever worked for.” He cherished his time at the studio until his death on February 12th, 2007 at the age of 93. His legacy as a painter will live on at Disney years to come.
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