Now I know this is an exclusively Disney Princess page but I felt like before I start my articles on the movies themselves that an introduction was in order and what better way to do that then do an article on the man who started it all, enjoy!

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 to Elias and Flora Disney in Kansas. He had three older brothers (but one died before he was born) and a younger sister. He was closest to his brother Roy Oliver Disney who worked with Walt on their father’s farm. Walt eventually dropped out of high school and joined the Red Cross where he drove an ambulance in France during WWI.

In 1920 he created a company with a fellow cartoonist Ubbe Iwerks called ‘Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists’ the company did not work out but it did help Disney discover that he wanted to become an animator and he saw potential in cel animation. Walt created a new company this time it succeeded the ‘Laugh-O-Grams’ were a huge success in Kansas they just never made enough of a profit so that’s when Disney decided it was time to go to Hollywood.

Walt recruited Roy to go to Hollywood and there he got a deal to do his Alice Comedies, short live-action/animation shorts based upon Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass. When the series ended Disney decided to focus more on actual animation and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born but after a new business owner took control of Universal Pictures Walt discovered that he did not own Oswald like he thought he did and he left creating his own company, and to replace Oswald was Mickey Mouse. (It took the Walt Disney Company 78 years to get the rights to Oswald (2006).)

Disney got married to Lillian Bounds in 1925 and they had two daughters Diane Marie Disney (1933) and Sharon Mae Disney (1936, adopted).

Everything up until 1928’s Steamboat Willie had been silent but then through sound-synchronization Mickey Mouse broke the sound barrier. The next step was Technicolor which graced the screen in 1935 in Band Concert and the introductions of Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy.

Disney’s next step towards greatness was also known as his biggest folly he planned a full length cartoon, a movie, no one believed it was a good idea and everyone tried to talk him out of it in the end he went full steam ahead and in 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in theaters forever changing the cinema.

His speech for the grand opening of Disneyland “To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”

In 1966 after discovering a malignant tumor in his lung Walt lived for about a month more until his final days. When he was in the hospital his brother Roy ordered the lights at Disney Studio, which was across the street from the hospital, to be on at all times so that Walt could see it from his hospital room. Walt ended up dying December 15, 1966 of circulatory collapse due to his lung cancer, he had turned 65 ten days ago. Walt Disney World was started by Walt but seen through to the end by Roy who died two months after its completion.