When I was first offered to interview Stan Jolley, I had never heard of him. During our initial phone conversation he claimed to have worked on everything from Zorro to Old Yeller to Donald in Mathmagic Land. He said he was one of the designers for the western street on the Disney Studios backlot in Burbank, California, and was heavily involved in the initial design of Disneyland and even designed Walt’s office for the Disneyland TV series.

Initially I was skeptical. If he had done all of that, why haven’t I heard of him? So I popped Donald in Mathmagic Land in my DVD player, and there was Stan’s name as art director. The more research I did, the more everything he said checked out.

Stan’s impressive career extends much past Disney, including work in various capacities such as director, production designer, and art director. In fact, Stan said when he first became an art director he was the youngest art director in Hollywood!

His large list of movie credits include Caddyshack, Witness and Superman and television credits include Mr. Ed, MacGyver and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. As the art director for the pilot episode of Get Smart, Stan designed the classic title sequence with the doors and phone booth, as well as iconic props such as the “cone of silence.”