Walt Disney was an American motion picture and television producer and entrepreneur. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of The Walt Disney Company, he became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded is now one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
Walt Disney was a pioneer in the development of animation as an industry. He introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As the creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, he became one of the world’s most famous cartoon characters and helped to cement the place of animation in American popular culture.
Disney was also an early adopter of television, using it as a tool to promote his films and, later, his theme parks. He pioneered the use of live-action filmmaking techniques to combine animation and live-action footage.
Table of Contents:
1. Early life
2. Career
3. The creation of Mickey Mouse
4. The Walt Disney Company
5. Disney and television
6. Live-action films
7. Animation
8. Disneyland
9. Later years and death
10. Legacy
11. Top Walt Disney Quotes
Early life
Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. He was the fourth son of Elias Disney, a farmer and construction contractor, and Flora Call Disney, a schoolteacher. Disney had five brothers and one sister.
As a child, Disney was fascinated by trains and he would often spend hours playing with his toy train set. When he was four years old, his family moved to Marceline, Missouri, where he spent his childhood. It was here that he developed his love of drawing and storytelling.
In 1917, Disney’s family moved to Kansas City, where he attended McKinley High School. After high school, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute, but he dropped out after a year to join the Army.
After the war, Disney returned to Kansas City and took a job as a commercial artist. He met a fellow artist, Ub Iwerks, with whom he would later collaborate on many projects, including the creation of Mickey Mouse.
Career
In 1923, Disney and his brother Roy moved to Hollywood, where they founded the Disney Brothers Studio. The studio produced a series of short animated films, most notably the “Alice Comedies,” which featured a live-action girl named Alice who interacted with animated characters.
The Alice Comedies were successful, but Disney was not satisfied with them. He wanted to create a new kind of animation that would be more expressive and realistic. To that end, he began experimenting with a new technique called “rotoscoping.”
Rotoscoping involves tracing over live-action footage frame by frame to create an animation. Disney used rotoscoping for the first time in the 1928 short film “Plane Crazy,” which featured a character based on the aviator Charles Lindbergh.
The Creation of Mickey Mouse
In 1928, Disney and Iwerks created a new character, Mickey Mouse. Mickey made his debut in the short film “Steamboat Willie,” which was an instant success.
Mickey quickly became a cultural phenomenon and the face of the Disney studio. He appeared in a series of successful shorts, including “The Galloping Gaucho” (1928) and “Plane Crazy” (1928).
In 1932, Disney released his first full-length animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The film was a massive success and is still considered one of the greatest animated films of all time.
The Walt Disney Company
In 1923, Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Studio. The studio produced a series of successful short animated films, most notably the “Alice Comedies” and the “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit” series.
In 1929, the studio was renamed The Walt Disney Company. The company’s first feature-length animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” was released in 1937 and was an instant classic.
The company continued to produce successful films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, including “Pinocchio” (1940), “Fantasia” (1940), and “Bambi” (1942). In 1955, the company opened Disneyland, its first theme park.
Disney and Television
In the early 1950s, Disney began to explore the new medium of television. He was initially hesitant to enter the medium, but he eventually saw the potential of using television to promote his films and theme parks.
In 1954, Disney launched his first television show, “Disneyland.” The show was an instant success and helped to increase the popularity of Disneyland.
In 1961, the company launched another successful television show, “The Mickey Mouse Club.” The show featured a cast of young performers, known as “Mouseketeers,” who sang and danced along with Mickey Mouse.
Live-action Films
In addition to animated films, Disney also produced a number of successful live-action films. His first live-action film, “Treasure Island,” was released in 1950.
Other successful live-action films included “The Swiss Family Robinson” (1960), “Mary Poppins” (1964), and “The Love Bug” (1968).
Animation
Disney was a pioneer in the field of animation. He introduced several innovations in the production of cartoons.
One of his most important innovations was the use of sound in animation. Disney was the first to use synchronized sound in an animated film with “Steamboat Willie” (1928).
Another important innovation was the use of color. Disney was the first to use color in an animated film with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937).
Disneyland
In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland, his first theme park. The park was an instant success and quickly became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
Disneyland was followed by the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971. Disney World is the largest and most popular of the Disney theme parks.
Later Years and Death
In the early 1960s, Disney’s health began to decline. He was a heavy smoker, and this eventually took a toll on his health.
On December 15, 1966, Disney died of lung cancer at the age of 65. He was survived by his wife, Lillian, and his two daughters, Diane and Sharon.
Legacy
Disney was a pioneer in the field of animation. He introduced several innovations in the production of cartoons. As the creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, he helped to cement the place of animation in American popular culture.
Disney was also an early adopter of television, using it as a tool to promote his films and theme parks. He pioneered the use of live-action filmmaking techniques to combine animation and live action footage.
Disney’s legacy extends beyond his work in film and television. He was also a successful businessman, and his company, The Walt Disney Company, is now one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
Top Walt Disney Quotes
Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.
I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible because dreams offer too little collateral.
I resent the limitations of my own imagination.
Fantasy and reality often overlap.
I am corny, you know? But I think there are just about 140 million people in this country who are just as corny as I am.
After the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life. After the pain, the joy will still be here.
All you’ve got to do is own up to your ignorance honestly, and you’ll find people who are eager to fill your head with information.
Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.
Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.
I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous.
Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.
A man should never neglect his family for business.
When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage.
My greatest reward is that I have been able to build this wonderful organization.
I believe in being a motivator.
Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.
I have never been interested in personal gain or profit. This business and this studio have been my entire life.
You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.
Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.
When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.
Everyone falls down. Getting back up is how you learn how to walk.
People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.
Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.
We did it Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster – closed and forgotten within the first year.
If you can dream it, you can do it.
The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.
The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be.
Most of my life I have done what I wanted to do. I have had fun on the job.
For every laugh, there should be a tear.
Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.
I’d say it’s been my biggest problem all my life… it’s money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.
When I was a kid, a book I read advised young artists to be themselves. That decided it for me. I was a corny kind of guy, so I went in for corn.
I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.
I don’t make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures.
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.
There is great comfort and inspiration in the feeling of close human relationships and its bearing on our mutual fortunes – a powerful force, to overcome the “tough breaks” which are certain to come to most of us from time to time.
I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.
I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.
Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from
There’s nothing funnier than the human animal.
A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.
We allow no geniuses around our Studio.
We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.
Money doesn’t excite me, my ideas excite me.
Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.
We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.