Animation/ Cartoons/ Disney

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist. He was the son of Flora and Elias Disney, and had three brothers and one sister. more...

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As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $30 billion.

Walt Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer, and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He was nominated for 48 Academy awards and 7 Emmys, holding the record for most Oscar nominations. He also had two daughters, Diane and Sharon. He and his staff created a number of the world's most famous productions, including the one many consider Disney's alter ego, Mickey Mouse. He is also well-known as the namesake of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, a few years prior to the opening of his Walt Disney World dream project in Orlando, Florida.

1906-1937: The beginnings

Chicago

Walt Disney's ancestors had emigrated from Gowran, County Kilkenny in Ireland. His father Elias Disney had moved to the United States after his parents failed at farming in Canada. As a child Elias moved with his family all around the United States, as his father chased various business ventures. He also worked as a mailman in Kissimmee (Orlando), Florida, future home of Walt Disney World. Elias moved to Chicago in the late 1800s soon after his marriage to Flora Call. Walt was born in Chicago.

Later, Elias grew disenchanted with the violence in Chicago and moved to Marceline, Missouri where his brother owned property. While in Marceline, Disney developed his love for drawing. One of their neighbors, a retired doctor named "Doc" Sherwood, paid him to draw pictures of Sherwood's horse, Rupert. He also developed his love for trains in Marceline. He would put his ear to the tracks in anticipation of the coming train. He would look for his uncle, engineer Michael Martin, running the train.

Chicago

In 1916 Disney began his freshman year at McKinley High School in Chicago and began taking night courses at the Chicago Art Institute. Disney was the cartoonist for the school newspaper. His cartoons were very patriotic, focusing on World War I. Disney dropped out of high school at 16 so he could join the Army, but the army didn't take him because he was too young.

Instead, Walt and one of his friends decided to join the Red Cross. They were supposed to be 17 to join but, against his father's will, his mother forged Walt's birth certificate saying he was born in 1900 instead of 1901. The Red Cross sent him to France for a year. During that year, he drove an ambulance covered from top to bottom with his imaginative Disney characters.

Read more at Wikipedia.org