In the 100 years that The Walt Disney Company has existed, there are a handful of people whose influence has been so important that it changed what the name Disney even meant. Walt and Roy Disney are, of course, on that list, as is Mickey Mouse creator and Imagineer Ub Iwerks. But there’s another name that should be celebrated alongside that of those luminaries: Howard Ashman.
His name was in the news a lot recently. The documentary film, Howard, about his life that’s on Disney+, had been on the list of Disney shows recently removed from the streaming service, which shocked and upset many people, as it was set to happen both on the same day that The Little Mermaid, the film that won him the first of two Oscars, was being released in live action, and on the eve of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, as Ashman may be the single most prominent gay voice in the history of Disney.
