Harrison Ford, Angela Bassett, Miley Cyrus and more honored as Disney Legends in emotional ceremony

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Harrison Ford held back tears, Miley Cyrus let them flow and several stars got emotional as they accepted the prestigious Disney Legends honor Sunday.

The company bestowed Legends status on 14 artists it says have had a “significant impact” on Disney’s legacy, including director James Cameron, film composer John Williams, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Ripa, among several others.

This year's class of Disney Legends was inducted into the company's version of the hall of fame in a ceremony Sunday at The Honda Center in Anaheim, California, as a part of the D23 fan convention. Ryan Seacrest hosted the show, which is now streaming on Disney+.

Ford, who was the first to accept the award, called himself an “assistant storyteller," noting the many contributions of his collaborators to his career.

“I love the life you've given me,” he said to the crowd of over 15,000. “I love the people I've had the opportunity to work with. Nobody does anything in this business alone.”

Ford was teary as he thanked Disney CEO Bob Iger, who presented him with the award, for his professional guidance and friendship.

The “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” actor received the honor more than 20 years after he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The revered actor is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World.”

Cyrus said she wasn't as strong as her fellow honorees who held back their tears as she accepted the award with an emotional speech.

“Legends get scared, too. I'm scared right now, but the difference is we do it anyway. All of you can do that every single day. It's legendary to be afraid and do it anyway,” Cyrus said. “There's no such thing as failure when you try.”

Country singer Lainey Wilson warmed the crowd up with a rousing performance of “The Best of Both Worlds” from Cyrus’ breakout show, “Hannah Montana,” and noted her personal admiration for Cyrus, whose popular character she impersonated in her early music gigs.

The “Flowers” singer, who rose to fame after starring as the titular popstar in “Hannah Montana” in 2006, is the youngest Legends recipient. Following her time on the sitcom, Cyrus has had a long-running career in music, winning her first Grammy Award in February.

Bassett, who appeared in “Black Panther” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” reunited with the film's director, Ryan Coogler, who presented her with the honor. Bassett also stars in ABC’s “9-1-1.”

“To the fans, you are the magic," Bassett said. “There are not enough words to let you know how much I appreciate you, how much I love you. I stand here today because you bought the tickets, you have watched the television shows, you have cheered me on my best days and lifted me up on the more difficult ones.”

Lindsay Lohan and Jodie Foster joined forces to present Curtis with her award. Foster said her “bestie” was “inventive, fearless and full of surprises" before bestowing old-fashioned Mickey Mouse ears upon Curtis.

“Legends aren't born, they're created,” Curtis said. “They're created and nurtured and taught and educated and then they make art and then we connect.”

Curtis has appeared in her share of projects under The Walt Disney Studios banner, from “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” to “You Again.” She is set to reprise her role in the upcoming sequel of the fan-favorite movie “Freaky Friday,” opposite Lohan. Curtis and Lohan surprised fans at Friday’s D23 presentation and shared a first look at “Freakier Friday.”

Ford stepped back out on stage to honor Williams, who created the iconic scores of Ford's “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” movies, as well as "Jurassic Park" and “Jaws,” among several others. Williams has created the “soundtrack of our lives,” Ford said.

The Pacific Symphony performed a medley of music Williams, who was not in attendance, composed specially for the occasion.

Kate Winslet and Zoe Saldaña, the stars of “Titanic” and “Avatar,” respectively, teamed up to celebrate James Cameron.

“It’s a dream come true,” Cameron said of being in a group with his fellow honorees. “There’s just such an incredible display of creativity and imagination here tonight and I’m just happy to be in this crowd, to be part of this club and part of the Disney family tonight.”

ABC talk show host and mainstay Ripa reunited with her former co-host Seacrest as he introduced her to accept her honor. Her career at the television network spans over 30 years and she now hosts “Live with Kelly and Mark” with her husband, Mark Consuelos.

“It is a very rare thing, anybody can tell you in this industry, to be employed consistently in this industry, but to be employed by the same company for 34 years is my great good fortune," Ripa said. “I owe everything to Disney.”

Danny DeVito, one of director James L. Brooks’ long-runnning collaborators and friends, presented the “Simpsons” and “Mary Tyler Moore Show” creator with the award, calling him a “genius.”

“There will never be another writer, director, producer, like my dear friend,” DeVito said.

Disney also honored six behind-the-scenes creatives who have contributed to groundbreaking films, art and Disney experiences.

Those honorees include Colleen Atwood, an Oscar-winning costume designer; Mark Henn, a prominent animator known for his work animating several Disney princesses; Steve Ditko, the late comics artist known for characters such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange; Frank Oz, a noted puppeteer of “Muppets” characters and a filmmaker; Martha Blanding, a longtime manager at The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland, and Joe Rohde, a former Disney Imagineer.

Previous Disney Legends include Elton John, Steve Jobs, Betty White, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Downey Jr. and Whoopi Goldberg. They are among more than 300 honorees since the program’s inception in 1987.

Tasha Black, left, and Raena Rubenstein are dressed as Wilderness Explorers from the Pixar movie Up as they wait to get into D23 during the Disney FanFest in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, August 9, 2024. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP)

Andrea Feale is dressed as Lego Darth Vader as she waits to get into D23 during the Disney FanFest in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, August 9, 2024. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The last time Khadija Ahidid saw her son, he came to breakfast in 2021 looking “homeless” with big hair so she offered to give him $20 so he could go get a shave or a haircut that day. Hours later, he shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in the college town of Boulder.

She saw Ahmad Alissa for the first time since then during his murder trial on Monday, saying repeatedly that her son, who was diagnosed after the shooting with schizophrenia, was sick. When one of Alissa’s lawyers, Kathryn Herold, was introducing her to the jury, Herold asked how she knew Alissa. Ahidid responded “How can I know him? He is sick,” she said through an Arabic interpreter in her first public comments about her son and the shooting.

Alissa, who emigrated from Syria with his family as a child, began acting strangely in 2019, believing he was being followed by the FBI, talking to himself and isolating from the rest of the family, Ahidid said. His condition declined after he got Covid several months before the shooting, she said, adding he also became “fat” and stopped showering as much.

There was no record of Alissa being treated for mental illness before the shooting. After the shooting, his family later reported that he had been acting in strange ways, like breaking a car key fob and putting tape over a laptop camera because he thought the devices were being used to track him. Some relatives thought he could be possessed by an evil spirit, or djinn, according to the defense.

No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter. Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. The defense says he should be found not guilty because he was legally insane and not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors and forensic psychologists who evaluated him for the court say that, while mentally ill, Alissa knew what he was doing when he launched the attack. They point to the planning and research he did to prepare for it and his fear that he could end up in jail afterward to show that Alissa knew what he was doing was wrong.

Alissa mostly looked down as his mother testified and photographs of him as a happy toddler and a teenager at the beach were shown on screen. There was no obvious exchange between mother and son in court but Alissa dabbed his eyes with a tissue after she left.

The psychiatrist in charge of Alissa's treatment at the state mental hospital testified earlier in the day that Alissa refused to accept visitors during his over two year stay there.

When questioned by District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Ahidid said her son did not tell her what he was planning to do the day of the shooting.

She said she thought a large package containing a rifle that Alissa came home with shortly before the shooting may have been a piano.

“I swear to God we didn’t know what was inside that package,” she said.

Dougherty pointed out that she had told investigators soon after the shooting that she thought it could be a violin.

After being reminded of a previous statement to police, Ahidid acknowledged that she had heard a banging sound in the house and one of her other sons said that Alissa had a gun that had jammed. Alissa said he would return it, she testified.

She indicated that no one in the extended family that lived together in the home followed up to make sure, saying “everyone has their own job.”

“No one is free for anyone,” she said.

FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)