By Kayla DeKraker
While at the Movieguide® Awards, former Disney chairman Dick Cook reflected on his time working in the entertainment industry and why creating family-friendly content is so important.
“I’ve known Ted for, gosh, now well over 35 maybe 40 years, and he was just instrumentally great in my career,” he said of Movieguide® founder Dr. Ted Baehr. “And all the way through, [he’s] been very supportive. And we’ve become really very good, good friends. And there’s not much I wouldn’t do for him, frankly.”
At the Awards Gala, which occurred last month, Cook presented Dr. Baehr with the Visionary Award™ for Furthering Entertainment with Faith & Values.
“This is a labor of love for me, to have a chance to honor him and to introduce him,” Cook explained. “You can’t get any more special than that for me.”
Related: Former Disney Chairman Dick Cook Celebrates Movieguide®’s Hollywood Impact
“Visionaries not so much…see the future but…see what was possible. So it is with my friend Dr. Ted Baehr,” Cook said in his speech. “He has the ability not to predict the future, but to understand human condition and see the enormous possibilities for greatness and optimism for our future.”
He believes a cultural shift is happening right now, and people want more stories about faith and hope.
“They do pray for it. I think they have for a long time,” he said of moviegoers, “and I think you even feel it now…Things get tough, and things get a little rough around their edges, and you’re not quite sure where you stand. You need that stability. You need to have hope. You need to have the that shining star that’s kind of going to help you lead the way, you know, and I think that’s what we’re all feeling right now.”
Cook added, “I think…you know, films that kind of build up the triumph of the human spirit, that make hope and love and all those things abound, those are what the kinds of things that people want to see. I think they always do. But it’s just like heightened right now.”
Throughout his time at Disney, Cook felt God’s presence with him.
“There are a lot of times. You know, I think anytime we had any success at all, you know where it comes from, and you know how fortunate it is that you are to be there and to be a part of that,” he explained. “All that, that time, that wonderful time of all that animation and the redo of so much of the animation, and starting with like LITTLE MERMAID, going all the way up to THE LION KING… and the birth of Pixar…those were the, you know, some real highlights and some things that you’ll never forget…magical times.”
People like Dr. Baehr and Cook remind us that that there are people in Hollywood trying to bring hopeful and faith-based content into the industry.
Read Next: 10 Epic Faith-Based Movies From Classic Hollywood
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