WALT DISNEY

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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...