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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,...