Walt Disney

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Walt Disney (1901-1966), was one of the most famous motion-picture producers in history. Disney first became known inthe 1920'sand 1930's for creating such cartoon film characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He later produced feature-length cartoon films, movies about wild animals in their natural surroundings, and film starring human actors. The Dis ney studio has won more than 50 Academy Awards for its movies and for scientific and technical contributions to filmmaking.

Disney achieved one of his greatest successes in 1955, when he opened Disneyland, a spectacular theme park in Anaheim, California. Most of the exhibits, rides, and shows at the park are based on Disney film characters.

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago. His family moved to Missouri, and he spent much of his boyhood on a farm near Marceline. At 16, Disney studied art in Chicago. In 1920, he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he helped to make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movie theatres.

In 1923, Disney moved to Los Angeles to become a film maker. After he failed, he returned to drawing movie cartoons. He set up his first studio in a garage. For several years, Disney struggled just to pay his expenses. He finally gained success in 1928, when he released the first short cartoons that featured Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse, drawn with a series of circles, proved ideal for animation. From 1929 to 1939, Disney produced a cartoon series called «Silly Symphonies». Mickey Mouse appeared in these and later cartoons, along with such characters as Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Throughout his career, Disney actually drew few cartoons. His genius lay in creating, organizing, and directing the films.

In 1937, Disney issued the first full-length cartoon film, «Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs». It became one of the most popular movies in history. Disney's later full-length animated films included «Pinocchio» (1940), «Fantasia» (1940), «Dumbo» (1941), «Bambi» (1942), «Cinderella» (1950), ((Alice in Wonderland» (1951), «Peter Pan» (1953), «Lady and the Tramp» (1955), and «The Jungle Book» (issued in 1967, after his death). In 1950, Disney released ((Treasure Island», his first full-length movie to use only human actors. «Mary Poppins» (1964), which combines human actors with animation, probably is the most successful of Disney's later films.

During World War II, Disney's studio made educational films. After the war, he concentrated on making films that starred real animals or human actors.

In 1949, Disney released «Seal Island». This short movie was the first in a series of "True - Life Adventures" that show how animals live in nature. Disney released his first full-length nature film, «The Living Desert», in 1953. All his nature movies include scenes of animal life rarely seen by human beings. Disney also produced a number of movies especially for television and served as the host of a weekly TV show that presented Disney films.