Walt Disney

Walt Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. He won 22 Academy Awards during his lifetime, and was the founder of theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World

Early Life
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 to Elias and Flora Disney. Elias Disney moved from Canada to the United States in 1878. He searched for gold in California, but after an unlucky streak, he moved in with his parents in a town near Ellis, Kansas. His mother, Flora Call was born in Steuben, Ohio in 1868. Walt and his sister Ruth attended the Benton Grammar School after moving to Kansas City in 1911.

In the fall of 1917, Disney began his freshman year at McKinley High School and began taking night courses at the Chicago Art Institute. Disney became the cartoonist for the school newspaper. His cartoons were very patriotic, focusing on World War I. Disney dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to join the Army, but the army rejected him because he was underage. After his rejection from the army, Walt and one of his friends decided to join the Red Cross. Soon after, Walt was sent to France for a year, where he drove an ambulance.

Beginning Of Animation
At Pesmen-Rubin, Disney created ads for newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters. It was here that he met a cartoonist named Ub Iwerks. When their time at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio expired, they were both without a job, and they decided to start their own company. In January 1920, Disney and Iwerks formed a short-lived company called, "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists". However, following a rough start, Disney left temporarily to earn money at Kansas City Film Ad Company, and was soon joined by Iwerks who was not able to run the business alone. While working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made commercials, Disney took up an interest in the field of animation, and decided to become an animator. He was allowed by the owner of the Ad Company, A.V. Cauger, to borrow a camera from work, which he could use to experiment with at home.

The Creation of Mickey Mouse
Disney felt the need to come up with a new character. He based the character on a mouse he had adopted as a pet while working in Kansas City. Ub Iwerks remade the Disney's sketches so that it was easier to animate them. However, Mickey's voice and personality was all Disney's job. As many of the old animators have commented, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but Walt gave him his soul." Besides Mickey, a similar mouse-character is seen in Alice Comedies, Ike the mouse. Mickey Mouse was originally named "Mortimer", but later christened "Mickey Mouse" by Lillian Disney (Walt's wife) who thought that the name Mortimer did not fit. Mortimer later became the name of Mickey's rival, who was taller and had a Brooklyn accent.

The first animated short with Mickey in it was titled, Plane Crazy, which was, like all of Disney's works, a silent film. After failing to find a distributor for Plane Crazy or its follow-up, The Gallopin' Gaucho, Disney created a Mickey cartoon with sound called Steamboat Willie. A businessman named Pat Powers provided Disney with distribution . Steamboat Willie became an instant success, and Plane Crazy, The Galloping Gaucho , and all future Mickey cartoons were released with soundtracks. Disney himself provided the vocal effects for the earliest cartoons and performed as the voice of Mickey Mouse until 1946. After the release of Steamboat Willie, Walt Disney would continue to successfully use sound in all of his future cartoons.

Snow White; Start a of legend
In 1934, Walt declared it was time to move forward and create an animated feature-length film. Roy (Walt’s brother, and financial officer) was alarmed at Walt’s decision. Fiscal returns from previous films came in slow. Profits were down. Walt wanted to spend at least $50,000 to make this film.

Walt kept working on Snow White throughout 1935 while overseeing the production of regular shorts. Finally, on December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opened to the public at the Carthay Circle Theater, in Los Angeles. The audience laughed at Dopey’s antics, and cried at the death sleep of Snow White, in the end the audience gave a standing ovation for the film.

More Movies
After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney released multiple films including Fantasia, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. When WWII began, the US Army took over part of the studio to house troops, but Disney still managed to produce Bambi. When Disney released Cinderella, and it was an instant hit. It was their biggest success since the release of Snow White.

The Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney purchased land in California and built the Disneyland theme park. They had over one million visitors in just two months. Walt purchased land in Florida to build a theme park called Epcot, which would be a peek into the technology of "tomorrow." It was an idea that eventually grew into Disney World.

Health and Death
Walt was diagnosed with cancer towards the end of his life. In November of 1966, he went to the doctor complaining of neck and back pain. They did an X-ray and found tumors on his left lung. He was always a heavy smoker, which explains why he developed lung cancer. The doctors said that it would be best to do surgery so Walt agreed; however, he went back to the studio to ensure that certain things were taken care of. The surgery confirmed that the tumor was cancerous and as a result his entire left lung was removed. Two weeks later, Walt was released from the hospital. He spent Thanksgiving with his family and when he arrived back home he collapsed and was brought back to the hospital. He died on December 15 1966 at 9:30 in the morning. The cause of his death was a heart attack

Apperances
Disneyland: He appears as a statue with mickey mouse

Family Guy: he appears multiple times

Robot Chicken: in the segment "Fun for all ages" he explains that Disneyland is a happy place on earth and for hand jobs

Fairly Odd Parents: Walt Disney's name appeared in "Escape From Unwish Island' in the lockers revealing that he had Fairy Godparents in his youth.  In the episode, Hassle in the Castle, it was revealed that Cosmo and Wanda were once Walt Disney's fairy godparents.

Kung Fu Blander (parody of Kung Fu Panda 2): the Soothsayer mentions Walt Disney.