Walter Elias Disney (1901 - 1966)

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Walt Disney was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur who played a central role in the development of modern animation and family entertainment in the twentieth century.

Biography

Walt Disney was a Classic Disney cast member.

This profile is part of the Disney Name Study.

Early Life

Walter Elias Disney was born on 5 Dec 1901 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. He was the son of Elias and Flora (Call) Disney. Elias was Irish-Canadian and Flora was of German and English descent. Walt's great-grandfather, Arundel Elias Disney, who immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1834, descended from Robert d'Isigny, a Frenchman who had traveled to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. The family eventually changed the d'Isigny name to "Disney" and settled in the English village now known as Norton Disney, south of the city of Lincoln, in the county of Lincolnshire.

Disney with his sister Rose

Disney was the fourth of five children, his siblings being Herbert (1888–1961), Raymond (1890–1989), Roy (1893–1971) and Ruth (1903–1995).

In 1906, Disney's parents moved their family to a farm near Marceline, Missouri, where Disney spent much of his childhood. He attended elementary school at Park School in Marceline beginning in 1909. The Disney family were also active members of a Congregational Church at Marceline. Marceline's small-town atmosphere and nearby railroad line, along with those of several other small American towns, later served as inspirations for themes and imagery that would appear in Disney's films and theme parks.

Young Walt Disney

In 1911, the Disney family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, where Disney attended the Benton Grammar School. His father had purchased a newspaper delivery route for The Kansas City Times and Kansas City Star, so Disney and his brother, Roy, woke up at 4:30 every morning to deliver the Times before school, repeating the route for the evening Star after school. On Saturdays, Disney took courses at the Kansas City Art Institute and also completed a correspondence course in cartooning.

The family returned to Chicago in 1917, where Disney attended McKinley High School and contributed cartoons to the school newspaper. At the same time, he took night classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

World War I

During the final months of the First World War, Disney sought to enlist in the United States Army, but was rejected because he was underage. Instead, he altered the birth date on his application and joined the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. Arriving in France in November 1918, shortly after the armistice had been signed, he decorated his ambulance with cartoons and contributed illustrations to the army newspaper Stars and Stripes.

World War I

Early Animation Career

After returning to Kansas City, Disney pursued a career in commercial art, working for several advertising and film companies where he learned the basics of animation.

'The Alice Comedies' featuring Virginia Davis as Alice

In 1922, Disney founded his first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram Films, in Kansas City. The company produced short animated fairy-tale films such as modernized versions of Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, but despite the popularity of the cartoons, the studio soon fell into financial difficulty and declared bankruptcy in 1923.

Determined to continue working in animation, Disney moved to Hollywood later that year with his brother Roy O. Disney. There, the two founded the Disney Brothers Studio, marking the beginning of the enterprise that would later become The Walt Disney Company. The studio's first success came with the Alice Comedies, a series of short films combining live-action footage with animation that ran from 1923 to 1927 and helped establish the young studio financially.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbitt

In 1927, the studio created the animated character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Universal Pictures. When Disney lost control of the character in a contract dispute in 1928, he developed a new character during a train trip from New York to California—an animated mouse who soon became Mickey Mouse. The experience also convinced Disney that he needed greater control over his creative properties and business agreements.

Marriage and Family

Walt and Lillian Disney

While working at the studio in the early 1920s, Disney met Lillian Bounds, a young ink-and-paint artist employed in the studio’s animation department. Their professional relationship soon developed into a personal one, and the couple married on 13 July 1925 in Lewiston, Idaho, the hometown of Lillian’s family.^[1]

The Disneys had two daughters. Their first child, Diane, was born in 1933. In 1936 the couple adopted a second daughter, Sharon.

Mickey Mouse and the Rise of the Disney Studio

Mickey Mouse made his cartoon debut in the animated short Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first cartoons to successfully synchronize sound with animation. The film was an immediate success and established Mickey Mouse as one of the most recognizable animated characters in the world. Mickey was followed by other Disney characters including Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932 and Donald Duck in 1934. Disney, himself. provided the original voice for Mickey Mouse in many early cartoons from 1928 until 1947.

Steamboat Willie

During the early 1930s, Disney expanded his studio’s output with a series of Mickey Mouse cartoons and the innovative Silly Symphonies series, which allowed artists to experiment with music, storytelling, and new animation techniques. The studio’s core creative team included a group of leading animators later nicknamed the “Nine Old Men", whose work helped define the distinctive style of Disney animation.

Disney received a special Academy Award in 1932 for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Over the course of his career, he ultimately received 22 competitive Academy Awards and four honorary awards, more than any other individual in the history of the Oscars.

Snow White and the Classic Disney Library

The release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 marked a major milestone in the history of cinema. The film was the first full-length cel-animated feature produced in the United States and became a major commercial success, establishing animated feature films as a viable form of popular entertainment.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Disney followed this achievement with several ambitious animated films, including Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), and Dumbo (1941). However, the studio also faced internal conflict when animators staged a major strike in 1941 over wages and working conditions. The dispute lasted several weeks and had a lasting impact on Disney’s relationship with his employees.

During the Second World War, the studio produced a number of training and propaganda films for the United States government while also releasing animated features such as Bambi (1942). Limited financial resources during the war years led the studio to produce several “package films” made up of shorter segments, including Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944).

The Jungle Book

Following the war, the studio returned to full-length animated productions. Cinderella (1950) proved to be a major financial success and helped restore the company’s stability. Other animated features followed, including Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), which introduced a new animation technique using xerography to transfer drawings directly to cels.

Disney also expanded into live-action filmmaking. Among the studio’s most successful productions were Treasure Island (1950), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and the musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964), which won several Academy Awards and became one of Disney’s most celebrated productions.

Disney’s final animated feature released during his lifetime was The Jungle Book (1967), which premiered shortly after his death.

Theme Parks, Television, and Other Interests

By the early 1950s, Disney had become increasingly interested in creating forms of entertainment that audiences could physically experience rather than simply watch on screen. In 1952 he founded WED Enterprises (later known as Walt Disney Imagineering) to design and develop new entertainment concepts, including a planned theme park in California.

Disneyland, 1969

Disneyland opened in Anaheim on 17 July 1955 and introduced a new concept of themed environments designed around storytelling and family entertainment. The park quickly became one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States and influenced the design of theme parks around the world.

Television also became an important part of Disney’s enterprise. In 1954, he launched the television series Disneyland on the ABC network, which helped promote the new park and introduced Disney productions to a national audience. The program later evolved into the long-running series Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Disney

Disney’s company also designed several attractions for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, including “It’s a Small World” and “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln". During this period, Disney also testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during congressional investigations into alleged communist influence in the American film industry.

In the final years of his life, Disney began planning a large-scale development project in Florida known as EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). Although he did not live to see it completed, the project eventually became part of the Walt Disney World resort, which opened in 1971 under the leadership of his brother Roy O. Disney.

Death

In November 1966, Walt Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer after doctors discovered a tumor during a medical examination. A longtime cigarette smoker, he underwent surgery to remove part of his left lung, but his condition continued to decline in the weeks that followed.

Disney died on 15 December 1966 at St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank, California, at the age of 65.^[2] His death occurred just weeks before the release of the animated feature The Jungle Book, the last film produced under his personal supervision. Following a private funeral service, Disney was cremated and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.^[3]

U.S. Census Summaries

1910

• 1910 Census: "1910 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1910; Census Place: Marceline, Linn, Missouri; Roll: T624_795; Page: 1b; Enumeration District: 0084; FHL microfilm: 1374808
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7884 #185902683 (accessed 12 March 2026)
  Walter E Disney (Example) (8), single son, in household of Elias Disney (57) in Marceline, Linn, Missouri, USA. Born in Illinois.

1920

• 1920 Census: "1920 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1920; Census Place: Kansas City Ward 10, Jackson, Missouri; Roll: T625_926; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 166
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6061 #85023320 (accessed 12 March 2026)
  Walter E Disnay (18), single brother, Artist Cartoonist, in household of Herbert A Disnay (31) in Kansas City Ward 10, Jackson, Missouri. Born in Illinois.

1930

• 1930 Census: "1930 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0004; FHL microfilm: 2339867
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6224 #90185348 (accessed 12 March 2026)
  Walter E Disney (28), married, Producer, head of household at 2495 Lyric Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA. Born in Illinois.

1940

• 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1940; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: m-t0627-00393; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 60-78A
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #72056218 (accessed 12 March 2026)
  Walter E Disney (38), married, Motion Picture Producer, head of household in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Born in Illinois.

1950

• 1950 Census: "1950 United States Federal Census"
  National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 1562; Page: 77; Enumeration District: 66-368
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62308 #259362327 (accessed 12 March 2026)
  Lillian B Disney (48), wife, in household of Walter E Disney (48) in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA. Born in Idaho.

Research Notes

For information on the Disney family history in Canada, see: https://www.huroncountymuseum.ca/?s=Disney

Sources

1. ↑ "Idaho, U.S., County Marriages, 1864–1950", Original data: Idaho, County Marriages, 1864–1950. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013; FHL Film Number: 1516570, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry ca Record 60269 #177720 (accessed 27 May 2024).
2. ↑ State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics. (Ancestry.com link)
3. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #284

• "U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947", National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 466, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry ca Record 2238 #18163522 (accessed 27 May 2024), Name: Walter Elias Disney; Gender: Male; Race: White; Age: 40; Relationship to Draftee: Self (Head); Birth Date: 5 Dec 1901; Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA; Residence Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; Registration Date: 15 Feb 1942; Registration Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; Employer: Walt Disney Productions; Height: 5 10; Weight: 165; Complexion: Ruddy; Hair Color: Brown; Eye Color: Brown; Next of Kin: Roy G Disney; Household Members (Name) Relationship: Walter Elias Disney Self (Head).

• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 628; Volume #: Roll 0628 - Certificates: 45250-45499, 14 Nov 1918-15 Nov 1918

See also

See also:

• Wikipedia: Walt Disney
• Disney family
• IMDB: Walt Disney
• Disney Wiki: Walt Disney
• WikiTree: Classic Disney Project
• Wikidata: Item Q8704