Walt Disney was born in Chicago in 1901 and moved to Missouri and Kansas City as a child. He developed a love for drawing and film, and eventually opened his own studio in Hollywood with his brother Roy. Disney created Mickey Mouse and won numerous awards, and later built Disneyland and Walt Disney World before passing away in 1966.
Walter Elias Disney was born December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a director, engineer, animator and entrepreneur. Walt Disney is famous for its many movies, innovative theme parks and the animated character Mickey Mouse.
As a child, Walt Disney lived with his parents, Elias and Flora Disney, in Chicago. When Walt was five years old, the family moved to Marceline, Missouri, where he lived for four years. This is where he learned to love drawing and trains. Disney’s uncle Michael Martin was a railway engineer in Marceline. The next stop for the Disney family was Kansas City, where Walt attended Benton Grammar School along with his sister Ruth. Disney’s friend in Benton, Walter Pfeiffer, had a family involved in vaudeville and movies and because of them, Disney took a keen interest in film and theater.
The Disney family moved back to Chicago in 1917, as Elias had bought shares in a gelatin factory there. There, Walt attended McKinley High School and also started night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. Disney’s early days of work included artwork design jobs for magazines, newspapers, and movie posters. He and fellow artist, Ubbe Iwerks, eventually opened their own commercial art studio and later Walt’s brother Roy helped him open a film studio in Hollywood, California.
The Disney brothers’ studio, called Walt Disney Productions, was located on Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood. Today the company is known as the Walt Disney Company. Walt’s wife Lillian was hired as a secretary at the studio before she and Walt were married on July 15, 1925. Walt and Lillian had two daughters: Diane Marie, born to the Disneys on December 18, 1933, and Sharon Mae, adopted by the Disneys and born on December 21, 1934.
Disney’s most famous character, Mickey Mouse, actually started out with the name Mortimer, but Lillian thought Mickey Mouse was a better name. Walt Disney won a special Academy Award in 1932 for creating Mickey Mouse. Disney got pretty famous after that. He holds the record for the most Oscar nominations as he has been nominated for 59 of them, as well as seven Emmys.
In the late 1940s, Disney began sketching ideas for a Disney theme park. Disneyland was inspired by Disney’s trip to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, California. During the construction of Disneyland, Walt Disney Productions produced many successful films such as Treasure Island in 1950, The Shaggy Dog in 1959, The Parent Trap in 1961 and the mega-hit Mary Poppins in 1964. The Mickey TV show Mouse Club started in 1955 and has been a great success.
In 1964, Walt Disney was on a secret mission to buy land in Florida for his next dream of building a bigger version of Disneyland which he wanted to call The Magic Kingdom. Roy Disney took over the project after Disney, a lifelong cigarette smoker, died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966. The Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, opened in 1971 and Roy Disney died three months After.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
