Renie Bardeau, former Chief Photographer at Disneyland, has passed away at the age of 86.
Debbie Bardeau, Facebook
- Bardeau’s daughter, Debbie, shared the news of her father’s passing on Facebook.
- Bardeau worked at Disneyland as a photographer for 39 years and nine months, retiring in 1998.
- He began working in Disneyland’s photography department in 1959 and became a full-time employee in 1964.
- He eventually became Disneyland’s chief photographer in 1975.
- Bardeau snapped many memorable Disneyland photos, including the classic of a casual Walt walking beneath the arch of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
- He received his own Main Street window – above the photography store — in March, 1999.
- Bardeau received a degree in business form the University of Arizona and served in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1958.
- In 1966, he took the final photos of Walt Disney in Disneyland before he passed, including one in which he is joined by Mickey Mouse in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle in the Disneyland Fire Department “Engine No. 1,” as detailed by the Disney Parks Blog.
- Prior to his retirement, Renie told the Los Angeles Times, “There is a little story of when I was shooting that particular picture. It was shot on a Rolleiflex, and there are 12 pictures on a roll. I had shot 11 pictures of Walt at different angles… watching for his smile, watching to make sure Mickey was looking the right way, making sure the (castle) spires weren’t hanging out of Mickey’s ears. Anyway, I had shot 11 pictures, and I had said, ‘Thank you, Walt, that’s it.’ He asked me if I was sure, and I told him I was. He then told me that at the Studio we treat film like paper clips. You shoot, shoot, shoot all the film you need because if it’s not in the can, you will never have it. So he asked me to shoot one more. So, I shot one more and he said, ‘That’s fine, thank you, Renie,’ and he walked away.”