The 3-day ultimate Disney fan event, D23 Expo, began on Friday at Anaheim Convention Center, Southern California, with the reveal of winners of the 2017 Disney Legends Awards.
They included Mark Hamill, and the late Carrie Fisher, best known as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia from the "Star Wars" movies, Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee, talk show host Oprah Winfrey, Oscar winning actress Whoopi Goldberg and six more.
Stan Lee, founder and chairman emeritus of Marvel Entertainment LLC, right, speaks on stage with Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co., during the Disney Legends Awards at the D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California, US, on Friday, July 14, 2017. /VCG Photo
The awards were granted to the 11 winners in recognition of their extraordinary and integral contribution to the Walt Disney Company.
Lee accepted the award in person, just a few days after his wife passed away.
"I loved Walt Disney," Lee said, "he was more than a man, he was an inspiration. He was something to reach for, to be like him. To think that today I'm standing here in the house that Disney built... it is so thrilling."
Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, sent a tribute read by the company's chairman and CEO Bob Iger.
"We went to Disneyland so much that I now realize she might have even loved it more than I did," Lourd wrote. "So to become part of the Disney family is a big moment for her... Being a Disney princess and a Disney Legend would have been her ultimate dream."
Television personality Whoopi Goldberg, right, speaks on stage with Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co., during the Disney Legends Awards at the D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California, US, on Friday, July 14, 2017. /VCG Photo
Meanwhile Hamill, Fisher's co-star in the "Star Wars" movies, said "I would love to give my deepest respects for the super cool space sis I have in Carrie Frances Fisher."
"We were like siblings – the good and the bad. There was a comfort with her. We can rely on one another."
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends Awards used to be an annual private event, but has been awarded biennially and publicly since the first D23 Expo in 2009.
Over 5,000 fans attended this year's award ceremony.
Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co., left, speaks on stage with actor Mark Hamill during the Disney Legends Awards at the D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California, US, on Friday, July 14, 2017. /VCG Photo
"I am very glad to see this year's award winners," Ashley Gilmore, a Disney fan said after the awards ceremony, "I would not be more honored to see Mark Hamill, and to be here to honor Carrie Fisher."
(Source: Xinhua)
