Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and animator.

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois, to his father Elias Disney, and mother Flora Call Disney. Walt was one of five children, four boys and a girl.

When Walt was four years old his family moved from Chicago to a farm in Missouri, where he enjoyed the country life and first discovered his love of drawing.

Walt, too young for the armed forces, joined the Red Cross instead. In 1917 Walt and his parents moved back to Chicago. When the United States entered World War I, his brotherRoy joined the navy. Walt, too young for the armed forces, joined the Red Cross instead.

Soon Walt decided to start a career as a cartoonist. In 1923 Walt boarded a train to try his luck in Hollywood.

He came to Hollywood in August 1923 with forty dollars in his pocket He came to Hollywood in August 1923 with forty dollars in his pocket. So Walt tried to get a job in Hollywood, working in the picture business so he could learn it.

At the end of the 1920s, Walt created Mickey Mouse

On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds. Later on they would be blessed with two daughters, Diane and Sharon .

Having carried the one-reel animated cartoon to new heights, Walt now decided to tackle a feature-length film. The making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 would become one of the greatest challenges of his career.

The success of Snow White marked a profound turning point for Walt Disney. In 1936, Walt invented the "Multiplane Camera and in 1938, Walt began producing "Pinocchio", "Fantasia", and "Bambi".

"Dumbo", released in 1941, on Halloween, during the strike, was a success.

In 1950, Cinderella was released and was a big hit.

In 1951, Alice In Wonderland was released and was not as big of a hit.

In 1953, Peter Pan was released and did better.

In 1954 Disney successfully invaded television, and by the time of his death the Disney studio had produced : 21 full-length animated films, 493 short subjects, 47 live-action films, 7 True-Life Adventure features, 330 hours of Mickey Mouse Club television programs, 78 half-hour Zorro television adventures, and 280 other television shows.

"Sleeping Beauty", premiering in 1959, was the most expensive film to produce.

The idea for "Mary Poppins" came to Walt when he was reading a copy of the book in 1944, which belonged to his daughter. He and Roy sough out P.L. Travers, the author, for her permission to make it into a film and change some of the characters and plot a bit. Finally, she agreed in 1960 and the film premiered on August 27th 1964.

On July 18, 1957, Disney opened Disneyland in California, the most successful amusement park in history. The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. In 1971 Disney World in Orlando, Florida, opened. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France.

He has also earned four honorary Oscars. Walt Disney holds the records for the most number of Academy Award nominations (with fifty-nine) and number of awarded Oscars (twenty-two). He has also earned four honorary Oscars.

He died on December 15, 1966, at the age of 65, in Los Angeles, California. "The Jungle Book" was the last animated film that was in production while Walt was still alive.

Disney’s signature

Walter Elias Disney's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame