Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois. He was one of five, four boys and a girl. After Walts's birth they moved to Marceline, Missouri because of such violent acts as two boys killing a police officer.They would spend most of his childhood there. Early on he would sell his drawings to neighbors to make money. He loved art and pursued it by going to McKinley High School in Chicago. In fall of 1918 he entered for military service. However, he was rejected because he was only 16 at the time and was underage.
Since he could not enlist in the military, he joined the Red Cross and was sent to France to drive ambulances. Once back from France, Walt started really going after his career in commercial art and eventually started a company called "Laugh-O-Grams," which ended up bankrupt. With $20 in his pocket, Mr. Disney ventured to Hollywood to start all over. On July 13, 1925, he would marry Lillian Bounds who was also one of his first employees. A few years later they had two girls, Diane and Sharon. At home with his daughters, Disney was very affectionate, understanding and loving. He never missed anything and was very involved. His daughter Diane once said, "Daddy never missed a father's function no matter how I discounted it. I'd say, 'Oh, Daddy, you don't need come. It's just some stupid thing.' But he'd always be there, on time."
Three years after their wedding, he created a new character, Mickey Mouse. In 1932 the first colored cartoon "Flowers and Trees" gave Disney his first of many Academy Awards. On December 21, 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" appeared and it cost $1,499,000 to create.
After creating his successful "Snow White," Walt and his brother, Roy bought their parents, Elias and Flora a home close to them at the studios. Not even a month later, their mother, Flora died of asphyxiation, or suffication, caused by a faulty furnace in their new home. The guilt that Walt had never went away until his death.
Then in 1955, Walt Disney's dream came true: Disneyland. About the Park he said: "I first saw the site for Disneyland back in 1953. In those days it was all flat land - no rivers, no mountains, no castles, or rocket ships - just orange groves, and a few acres of walnut trees." A $17 million dollar investment very quickly paid itself off and after its first 25 years the park entertained more than 200 million people including kings, queens, and some of the most famous people across the world. He stated that, "It is something that will never be finished. Something that I can keep developing...and adding to."
About a decade later Walt Disney died from a severe case of lung cancer he had been battling. He died in a hospital bed on December 16, 1966. He was 65 years old. Contrary to popular belief Mr. Disney was not cryogenically frozen or anything similiar to that; he was cremated and laid to rest in a vault at Forrest Lawn.
God rest his soul.
