Frank Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an
American entertainment businessman and also a 1953
Rhodes Scholar where he obtained his BA at
Oxford University.
Previously, Wells had worked for
Warner Brothers as its
Vice President of West Coast in 1969, then in 1973 as
President, and in 1977 as
Vice Chairman until he left the company in 1982. Disney shareholders
Roy E. Disney and
Stanley Gold recruited Wells to become Disney's President and Chief Operating Officer (1984–1994), along with
Michael Eisner as Chairman and CEO, in their bid to oust CEO/President
Ron W. Miller.
He came close to, but did not achieve, his goal of the
Seven Summits, climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents:
Kilimanjaro in Africa,
Denali (Mount McKinley) in North America,
Aconcagua in South America,
Elbrus in Europe,
Mount Everest in Asia,
Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, and
Vinson in Antarctica. Only Everest eluded him, as bad
weather forced his party to give up one day before reaching the
summit. His partner in the Seven Summits attempt,
Dick Bass, an entrepreneur who developed
Snowbird ski resort in
Utah, made it up all seven peaks, the first man to do so. At the
Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction at
Disneyland in
Anaheim, Wells' love of mountain-climbing is honored with exploration equipment emblazoned with the words "Wells Expedition" littered about an early scene.
Wells died in a
helicopter crash at age 62 at Easter 1994 while returning...
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