Disney

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney was the co-founder with his brother Roy O. more...

Disney of Walt Disney Productions. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney Company, makes revenues of about US $30 billion annually.

Walt Disney is particularly noted for being a successful storyteller, a hands-on film producer, and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in amusement park design. He and his staff created a number of the world's most popular animated properties, including the one many consider Disney's alter ego, Mickey Mouse.

1901-1936: The Early Years

Childhood

Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois to Elias Disney and the former Flora Call. He was of English, Irish and German heritage. Walt was named after his father and after his father's close friend Walter Parr, the minister at St. Paul Congregational Church. In 1906, his family moved to a farm near Marceline, Missouri. The family sold the farm in 1909 and lived in a rented house until 1910, when they moved to Kansas City. Disney was nine years old at the time.

According to the Kansas City Public School District records, Disney began attending the Benton Grammar School in 1910, and graduated on June 8, 1911. Disney later enrolled in classes at the Chicago Art Institute. He left school at the age of sixteen and became a volunteer ambulance driver in World War I, after he changed his birth certificate to show his year of birth as 1900 instead of 1901, in order to be able to enlist in the service. He served as a member of the American Red Cross Ambulance Force in France until 1919.

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