Page 46 - CelebrationsSpring2020

by Jamie Hecker
Robert Downey Jr.
As the Walt Disney Company approaches its centennial year in 2023, it’s worth reflecting on how the company has grown, shifted, and adapted through the years. Animation, both in short- and long-form, led to live-action films. Television programming evolved from rudimentary shows to the inclusion of networks such as ABC and ESPN. Film studio brands started with Disney Productions and later Touchstone Pictures, and eventually the purchase and stewardship of Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel Studios. With the latter, filmgoers have been treated to over twenty films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where characters and stories all live within the interconnected worlds of Marvel, both terrestrial and celestial. The MCU features a wide range of characters, but perhaps best known is Iron Man and Tony Stark, his alter ego, masterfully portrayed by actor Robert Downey Jr.
His early hit was Weird Science in 1985, one of his generation’s “brat pack” films, and he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for one season that same year. Other early career hits included Air America in 1990, Soapdish in 1991 and Home for the Holidays in 1995. However, it was his breakout performance as the title character in Chaplin that revealed the acting prowess of Downey. The biopic, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, portrays pioneer filmmaker Charlie Chaplin whom Downey portrayed from the ages of 19 to 83. Chaplin was noted for his broad physical comedy and Downey deftly portrayed that. The following year, Downey was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for his role but didn’t take home the coveted Oscar.
However, Downey was more than a gifted actor, perhaps the best of his generation. His off-screen persona was bedeviled by personal demons. Downey openly acknowledges his troubled past with substance abuse, and Downey’s dance on the razors edge finally caught up with him when he was arrested in 1996 on various charges. What followed over the ensuing years was a vicious cycle of
Jamie Hecker has been a lifelong fan of Disney, and is passing on his love to his sons. He and his family visit Orlando annually and always look forward to their next trip. When not in Orlando, he resides in northern Virginia with his beautiful wife Suzanne, two boys and four cats.
You can read more about his “hidden Disney” musings at myhiddendisney.blogspot.com/
46 · Celebrations