Walt Disney mourns loss of its genie of the lamp
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Your support makes all the difference.THE GIANT Walt Disney Company was in mourning yesterday after the death in a helicopter crash of its president and chief operating officer Frank Wells, one of the most influential figures in Hollywood.
The 62-year-old executive, an avid skier and mountaineer, was one of three people killed during a heli-skiing expedition in the Ruby mountains in north-east Nevada after a helicopter went down in a remote area.
His death is a blow to the Disney empire, whose fortunes he did much to revive during a 10-year partnership with the chief executive Michael Eisner. In this time, the company's market value rose from dollars 2bn to dollars 22bn in one of the biggest turnarounds in American corporate history. The death has also come as a shock to the White House because Wells was one of the key Hollywood supporters of President Clinton.
Wells and Eisner, who were recruited together after a power struggle which almost broke up the Disney empire, are credited with restoring its lagging studio with box office hits such as Sister Act and Pretty Woman. They reinstated Disney's reputation for great full-length animated feature films with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Meanwhile, revenues from theme parks and resorts tripled.
Wells operated behind the scenes, but he wielded almost as much power as Eisner. He arrived after a successful Hollywood career as chairman of Warner Brothers. By 1990, he had the highest salary in California - a package, with stocks and bonuses, worth dollars 51m.
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