This article is about the person. For the company he founded, see The Walt Disney Company. For other uses, see Walt Disney (disambiguation).
Walt Disney
Walt Disney 1946.JPG
Disney in 1946
Born Walter Elias Disney
December 5, 1901
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died December 15, 1966 (aged 65)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Occupation Entrepreneur, animator, voice actor, film producer
Board member of The Walt Disney Company
Relatives See Disney family
Awards
22 Academy Awards
3 Golden Globe Awards
1 Emmy Award
Signature
Walt Disney 1942 signature.svg
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (/ˈdɪzni/;[1] December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer he received 22 Academy Awards from 59 nominations and has won more individual Oscars than anyone else. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and one Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (later The Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, Walt developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, Disney became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia, Pinocchio (both 1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and...