Harper Goff, born Ralph Harper Goff, was an American artist, musician, and actor. For many years, he was associated with The Walt Disney Company, in the process of which he contributed to various major films, as well as to the planning of the Disney theme parks. During World War II, he was also an advisor to the U.S. Army on camouflage.
During World War II, by his own account, Goff was approached for advice about camouflage paint by the U.S. Army, because he had been "making paint and working on a do-it-yourself painter's kit". Assigned to a camouflage research facility at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he developed a set of paint colors that were used as "standard issue" hues for camouflage, as well as a camouflage pigment that was chemically impermanent, enabling its removal when it was no longer needed. Later in the war, he transferred to the U.S. Navy where "I was working on confusing the silhouettes of ships" .
Film career
Returning to the U.S., Goff moved back to California and worked as a set designer for Warner Bros., producing the sets for such memorable films as Sergeant York, Charge of the Light Brigade, and Captain Blood. Goff was a lifelong model train enthusiast. In 1951, while in a London model-making shop, he met Walt Disney when they both wanted to buy the same model train. As a result of having met Disney, he joined the Los Angeles artistic team of the Walt Disney Studios, a relationship that continued, off and on, until his death in 1993. His extraordinary work gave a distinctive character to a number of Disney productions. He is specifically credited with many of the finest inventive effects in Disney's groundbreaking live-action film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which he art-directed, even though the movie credit reads: "Production Developed By..." Goff designed the exterior of the Nautilus, along with sets for every compartment within the submarine. The film was awarded two Academy Awards, for color art direction and best special effects. At that time, in 1954, the Art Directors Union had created a bylaw within the Academy of Motion Pictures, which stated that only union art directors could win the award. The Academy gave the award for "Best Art Direction — Color 1954", to Goff's assistant, John Meehan, because he had a union card. Goff went on to get a union card, but was never given the award. Years later, Goff created the submarine, Proteus, for the film, Fantastic Voyage, and art-directed the highly acclaimed Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Goff also contributed heavily to the early renderings and concept art for Disney's proposed Mickey Mouse Park, which became the theme park known as Disneyland, and several areas of Walt Disney World theme park. He also played the banjo in the seven-piece Dixieland band called Firehouse Five Plus Two, formed by other Disney staff and led by trombonist Ward Kimball. When Tom Sawyer Island opened in 1973 at Magic Kingdom, they named Harper's Mill after him. In 1993, he was posthumously named a Disney Legend.
