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Walt Disney Was Born
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. Walt Disney was one of five children, four boys and a girl. His father was Elias Disney, an Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora Call Disney, was German-American. -
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Disney's Young Life
In 1911, his family moved to Kansas City, and attended McKinley High School in Chicago, where he took drawing and photography classes and was a contributing cartoonist for the school paper. When Disney was 16, he dropped out of school to join the Army but was rejected for being underage. Instead, he joined the Red Cross and was sent to France for a year to drive an ambulance. -
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Disney's Early Career
In 1919, Disney moved to Kansas City cartoonist for a news article. During his jobs, he saw his brother Roy and met cartoonist Ub Iwerks and Fred Harman. Soon, Disney decided to open his own animation business. Walt and Harman made a deal with a local theater to play their cartoons. The cartoons were very popular, and Disney was able to buy his own studio. Disney, Roy, Iwerks, and Harman did a series of fairy tales called Alice in Cartoonland. -
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Disney Brothers' Studios
In 1923, Disney was forced to declare bankruptcy. Disney and Roy moved to Hollywood. Iwerks also moved to California, and the Disney Brothers' Studio was founded. They made a deal with distributor Margaret Winkler, to share their cartoons. They created a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and made $1500 for each short. Walt created a new character called Mickey Mouse after he realized Winkler had stolen rights. In 1925, Disney hired an artist named Lillian Bounds, who he married later. -
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Disney's Theme Park
The first animated shorts featuring Mickey were silent films. Sound was then added to the film, and became a huge success. Within a few years, Disney began plans for a new theme park. Disney's $17 million Disneyland theme park opened on July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California, with actor (and future U.S. president) Ronald Reagan hosting. It was still under construction when Walt was diagnosed with lung cancer. -
Disney's Death
He died on December 15, 1966, at the age of 65. Disney was cremated, and his ashes live at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. After Walt's death, Roy carried on the plans to finish the Florida theme park, which opened in 1971 under the name Walt Disney World.
