Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walt Disney was one of the famous motion-picture producers in history.
He first became known in the 1920's and 1930's for creating such cartoon film characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He later produced feature length cartoon films, movies about wild animals in their natural surroundings, and films starring human actors. Disney won 32 Academy Awards for his movies and for scientific and technical contributions to filmmaking. He also gained fame for his development of theme parks.

Walter Elias Disney was born on Dec. 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to Missouri, and he spent much of his boyhood on a farm near
Marceline. At the age of 16, Disney studied art in Chicago. In 1920, he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he helped make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movie theaters.

In 1923, Disney moved to Los Angeles to become a film producer or director. When he failed to find a job, he returned to producing cartoons.
He set up his first studio in the back half of a real estate office. For several years, Disney stuggled to pay his expenses. He gained success in 1928, when he released the first short cartoons that featured Mickey Mouse. Earlier filmmakers had found that animals were easier to animate than people. Mickey
Mouse, drawn with a series of circles, proved ideal for animation.

In 1927, sound that had been added to motion pictures, and a process for making movies in color was developed a few years later. Disney and his staff made imaginative use of sound and color. Disney himself provided Mickey Mouse's voice for Steamboat Willie (1928), the first cartoon to use synchronized sound.
His cartoon Flowers and Trees (1932) was the first cartoon in full Technicolor.

From 1929 to 1939, Disney produced a cartoon series called Silly
Symphonies, which played in theaters along with other animated films featuring
Mickey Mouse and other characters, like Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. After
1924, Disney actually did more of the drawing necessary for his animated films.
His genius lay in creating, organizing, and directing the films.

In 1937, Disney issued the first full-length animated feature film to be produced by a studio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It became one of the most popular movies in history. Disney's later full-length animated films included Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942),
Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the
Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), 101 Dalmations (1961), and the Jungle Book
(released in 1967, after his death). In 1950, Disney released Treasure Island, his first full-length movie to use only human actors.