Walt Disney

 

Bambi + Thumper in BambiDumbo in DumboSnow White in Snow White

Biography

Walt Disney

Grace Kelly
I don't make pictures just to make money
I make money to make more pictures

Remarkable:

Mickey Mouse has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s located between Highland avenue and Orange Drive.

Born:

December 5, 1901

Born as:

Walter Elias Disney

Died:

December 15, 1966

Walter was born in Chicago (USA). He spent most of his boyhood on a farm in Missouri, and at age 16, during World War I, he lied about his age to join the American Red Cross.

During 1920–2 he was in Kansas City where he and pioneer animator Ub Iwerks made simple cartoon advertisements. The two then went to Hollywood in 1923 to set up a studio with financial backing from Walt's brother, Roy.

Their series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was launched in 1927, and saw the studio's animation growing more fluid and imaginative. In 1928, Walt discovered that some business associates, had stolen the rights to the character and all his animators (except for Ub Iwerks) away from him. So in 1928 he created a new character, Mickey Mouse which debuted in the silent cartoon, Plane Crazy.

Always quick to adopt the latest technology, Disney's Flowers and Trees (1932) was the first film of any kind made in complete Technicolor.

By the mid 1930s Disney decided to devote the company's resources to producing the first full-length animated feature. In 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released to great acclaim.

Beginning with Treasure Island in 1951, Disney added live-action movies to his output, while still producing animated classics. Thereafter, his studio produced several television programs (1950),animal stories (Greyfriars Bobby, 1960) and musical fantasies (Mary Poppins, 1964).

In 1955, recognizing the market for themed pleasure parks, Disney oversaw the launch of Disneyworld in Anaheim which was immediately successful.

Today, Walt Disney's animation/motion picture studios and theme park have developed into a multi-billion dollar television, motion picture, vacation destination and media corporation that carries his name.

Academy awards:

1969 Won Best Short Subject for: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
1965 Nominated Best Picture for: Mary Poppins (1964)
1963 Nominated Best Short Subject for: A Symposium on Popular Songs (1962)
1962 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Aquamania (1961)
1961 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Goliath II (1960)
1961 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Islands of the Sea (1960)
1960 Nominated Best Documentary for: Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
1960 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Noah's Ark (1959)
1960 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Mysteries of the Deep (1959)
1959 Won Best Short Subject for: Grand Canyon (1958)
1959 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Paul Bunyan (1958)
1958 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: The Truth About Mother Goose (1957)
1957 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Samoa (1956)
1956 Won Oscar Best Documentary for: Men Against the Arctic (1955)
1956 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: No Hunting (1955)
1956 Best Short Subject for: Switzerland (1955)
1955 Won Documentary for: The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
1955 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Pigs Is Pigs (1954)
1955 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Siam (1954)
1954 Won Oscar Best Documentary for: The Living Desert (1953)
1954 Won Best Documentary for: The Alaskan Eskimo (1953)
1954 Won Best Short Subject for: Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (1953)
1954 Won Best Short Subject for: Bear Country (1953)
1954 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Rugged Bear (1953)
1954 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Ben and Me (1953)
1953 Won Best Short Subject for: Water Birds (1952)
1952 Won Best Short Subject for: Nature's Half Acre (1951)
1952 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1951)
1951 Won Best Short Subject for: Beaver Valley (1950)
1950 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Toy Tinkers (1949)
1949 Won Best Short Subject for: On Seal Island (1948)
1949 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Mickey and the Seal (1948)
1949 Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Tea for Two Hundred (1948)
1948 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Chip an' Dale (1947)
1948 Nominated Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Pluto's Blue Note (1947)
1947 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Squatter's Rights (1946)
1946 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Donald's Crime (1945)
1945 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: How to Play Football (1944)
1944 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Reason and Emotion (1943)
1943 Won Best Short Subject for: Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)
1943 Nominated Oscar Best Documentary for: The Grain That Built a Hemisphere (1942)
1943 Nominated Best Documentary for: The New Spirit (1942)
1942 Won Best Short Subject for: Lend a Paw (1941)
1942 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Truant Officer Donald (1941)
1942 Honorary Award for: Fantasia (1940)
1942 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
1940 Won Best Short Subject for: Ugly Duckling (1939)
1940 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: The Pointer (1939)
1939 Won Best Short Subject for: Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
1939 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Brave Little Tailor (1938)
1939 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Good Scouts (1938)
1939 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
1939 Honorary Award for: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
1938 Won Best Short Subject for: The Old Mill (1937)
1937 Won Best Short Subject for: The Country Cousin (1936)
1936 Won Best Short Subject for: Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
1936 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935)
1935 Won Best Short Subject for: The Tortoise and the Hare (1934)
1934 Won Best Short Subject for: Three Little Pigs (1933)
1934 Nominated Best Short Subject for: Building a Building (1933)
1932 Won Oscar Best Short Subject for: Flowers and Trees (1932)
1932 Nominated Oscar Best Short Subject for: Mickey's Orphans (1931)
1932 Honorary Award For the creation of Mickey Mouse.

Selected Movies:

Books:

 

Goofy and Mickey in Mickeys fire brigade

News

This week 67 years ago Symphony hour premiered (March 20, 1943)

41 years ago, December 15, 1966 Walt Disney died.

Trivia

Walt Disney provided Mickey Mouse’s voice from 1928 until 1946. Source / More (Book)

Ub Iwerks animated the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Plane crazy, all by himself. He did 700 drawings in a day. Today an animator turns out about 80 to 100 drawings a week. Source / More (Book)

Mickey Mouse has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s located between Highland avenue and Orange Drive.

Walt has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s located between Orange Drive and La Brea Avenue.

Walt Disney called his key animators in the 1950’s his nine old men, after Franklin D. Roosevelt's nine old men on the supreme court

When Walt wanted to do something expensive, Roy Disney always responded with: “Junior’s got his hand in the cookie jar again”

In 1932 Disney launched his first Technicolor movie, Flowers and trees, three years before the first live-action color movie Becky Sharp.

Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy

Milkman Clarence Ducky Nash (1904-1985) was Donald's voice for 50 years.

In 1947 America was in the midst of a heightened Communist awareness. Senator McCarthy wanted Hollywood stars to testify for the House Un-American Activities Committee. Disney supported the House by testifying about the Red Menace in Hollywood. He was not only a so called friendly witness, but also an officer for the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Source / More (Book)

Disney theme parks:
Disneyland (1955)
Disneyworld (1971)
Tokyo Disneyland Park (1983)
Disneyland Paris (1992)
Tokyo Disney Sea (2001)
Hong Kong Disneyland (2005)

In the beginning of his career Walt wanted to distribute his films through MGM. However Louis B. Mayer (1882-1957) MGM’s founder didn’t like Mickey Mouse: “Every woman is scared of a mouse, admit it. A little tiny mouse, admit it. And here you think they’re going to laugh at a mouse that’s ten feet high” Source / More (Book)

There are rumors that Walt was not born to Elias and Flora Disney and perhaps not even in the USA. Legend says he was born in Mojacar(Spain). The FBI used Disney’s uncertainty about his origins to let him spy for them. Source / More (Book)

Bibliography