Obituary: Irving Ludwig

* Irving Ludwig, Disney distribution executive, died age 95.

Irving Ludwig, a film distribution executive who helped to launch such Disney films as Fantasia, Mary Poppins and The Love Bug, has died, aged 95.

Ludwig joined the Walt Disney Company in 1940, just in time to manage the release of Fantasia. The innovative animated film, which showed characters interpreting classical music pieces, had trouble finding distribution, so Ludwig and his group bought old theatres in some cities to screen the movie.

He went on to help create Disney's distribution arm, Buena Vista Distribution, becoming its president in 1959.

Ludwig, who was born in Russia, emigrated to the United States in 1920. He entered the entertainment industry in 1929 as a part-time usher at New York's Rivoli Theatre, where he later became manager.