Walt Disney

He married Lillian Bound in 1925. The couple was blessed with a daughter, Diane Marie Disney in 1933. They adopted Sharon Mae Disney in 1936.

He died on December 15, 1966 due to lung cancer. Two days later, he was cremated and his ashes were interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Walter Elias ‘Walt’ Disney was born to Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney. His father was an Irish-Canadian by descent and his mother was a German-American. He had four siblings, three brothers and a sister.

At the age of four, he shifted base to Marceline, Missouri, with his family. It was here that he developed his life-long fascination for drawing and painting.

The family moved to Kansas City in 1911 where he received his early education. Walter Pfeiffer, theatre aficionado, became an early guiding light for him as he introduced young Disney to a world of vaudeville and motion pictures.

Moving to Chicago in 1917, he enrolled himself at the McKinley High School. At night, he used to attend course at the Chicago Art Institute. He worked as a cartoonist for his school newspaper.

Soon, he dropped out of school to join the Army but was rejected because he was underage. He then served as the driver of an ambulance for Red Cross.

Moving back to Kansas City in 1919, started working at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, as ad-writer. It was there that he met Ubbe Iwerks.

In 1920, he found employment with Kansas City Film Ad Company. His profile included making commercials from cutout animations. He developed an interest in animation and decided to become an animator.

However, finding true interest in cel animation, he left the company to start his own business venture. He offered employment to Fred Harman, who was his colleague at Kansas City Film Ad Company.

He entered into a business deal with a local theatre owner, Frank L Newman to screen the cartoons which he named, Laugh-o-Grams. The popularity of the cartoons led to the opening of Laugh-o-Grams studio. However, financial debt caused the closure of the studio in 1923.

Impervious to the bankruptcy, he aimed to set up a studio in California. Together with his brother Roy, and Iwerks, he opened Disney Brother’s Studio.

He gave the world of animation a new ideology to work on and is believed to be responsible for the Golden Age of Animation. Most of the cartoon characters that we reckon today, Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and so on are the brain-child of this international icon, who became a major figure in the American animation industry in 20th century. Disneyland, the most popular theme park of the world, was also conceptualized and created by him.